Sourdough appears as a signature dish in 1 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
San Francisco sourdough · San Francisco
San Francisco sourdough is a tangy, open-crumb white loaf made with a wild starter unique to the city's foggy climate, used for sandwiches and as the base of cioppino bread bowls.
French baker Isidore Boudin started Boudin Bakery in 1849 at the height of the Gold Rush, keeping a starter alive his descendants still use; a lactic acid bacterium isolated in the loaves was named Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis in 1971. The bread's sour profile comes from the local microbial mix, not the recipe. Acme Bread, founded 1983 across the bay in Berkeley, raised the city's bread standard a generation later; Tartine, founded by Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt on Guerrero Street in 2002, redefined what a country loaf could look like.
Where to eat in San Francisco:
- Boudin Bakery
- Tartine Bakery
- Acme Bread
- Josey Baker Bread
- Jane the Bakery