CHP Escort for 165-year-old Dough
From the Fox TV 40 website in Sacramento, CA
VACAVILLE, CA -
The Mother Dough has landed in Vacaville, complete with CHP (California Highway Patrol) escort.
First cultured in 1849, the Mother Dough is the sourdough starter created by Isidore Boudin. According to Boudin Bakery, each loaf they make uses a portion of the Mother Dough.
Part of the Mother Dough was delivered Wednesday morning to the new Boudin SF store at the Nut Tree. The dough traveled from the main bakery in San Francisco to Vacaville with a CHP escort.
This portion of the sourdough starter will be used in loaves baked at the new Boudin location.
http://fox40.com/2014/02/05/chp-escort-for-165-year-old-dough/
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Vacaville Reporter 02/05/2014 02:03:53 PM PST
'Mother dough' arrives at Vacaville's newest bakery
http://www.thereporter.com/breakingnews/ci_25068799/mother-dough-arrives-at-vacavilles-newest-bakery
The silly things people do! It may be an important part of their operation, but can it really be that big of a deal, to need Highway Patrol escort? I bet if they just stuck a little in a Ziploc bag and put it in their pocket, they could have taken it to the new location and nobody would have known or cared! Since when does the California Highway Patrol work for a bakery's PR or marketing department?
This out to help sales at the new location some. I don't know how much they moved but Boudin uses 'old dough' to ferment the next days bake so it is a huge amount, I'm guessing they made and held back twice their usual amount of old dough at the old bakery to have a huge pile of 'old dough' for the next day's bake at the new place and old place.
I would have paid the cops to do it if they would not do it for free - maybe this is what happened?
In the second article, it states the San Francisco headquarters is going to re-supply the branch (about 80 miles north of San Francisco) once a month with new starter to prevent the flavor changing.
I would love to get my hands on some of that starter. I would be willing to bet, however, it's more the process they use and how they handle and use the starter then the unique properties of the starter itself that creates that famous SF Sourdough flavor.
I stopped there a few times c. 1990 when it was a coffee shop in decline. But this is a critical junction for travelers heading north out of SF/OAK so I'm glad somebody is trying to revive it.
Interesting they will "refresh" the starter by bringing new from San Francisco vs. just cultivating there in Vacaville, CA. That's saying they will use the starter they bring from the mother ship to make bread but not save any for a new batch? You're still close to the SF Bay so I wonder how different this could be from a starter brought from the city, but nurtured here?