GOLD FEVER
CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH
In 1848, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas became part of the United States when they were surrendered by Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This, along with the finding of gold in California, spurred fortune-seeking Anglo-Americans to head west (Pilcher 2001, 659-660). This mining community was mostly made up of unmarried young men who came from all parts of the United States, as well as other countries, and therefore, their “tastes and values differed radically” (Conlin 1985, 224). What united these men was “the goldlust that had launched the great emigration” and their experiences searching for gold (Conlin 1985, 224).
WESTERN MINING SOCIETY
Thus, the California Gold Rush produced a society so bent on “striking gold,” that tasks such as cooking became an afterthought and were “to be dispatched as quickly as possible and strictly as an incidental” (Conlin 1981, 34). The monotonous diet of miners is described as mainly consisting of “bread and beans and bacon” (Conlin 1981, 30). Thus, the staple of sourdough bread seems to have been born out of the need for simple and easy to prepare meals on the mining frontier.
ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT: TIME
Since time is an essential element in sourdough bread, particularly in the fermentation process of the starter, it may seem contradictory to the need for simple and easy meals on the mining frontier. However, “a crock of starter would stay fresh for years, because new material was added each time to equal the amount taken out, and so the batter never got old” (White 1956, 93). Indeed, sourdough cultures dating back to the middle of the 19th century still exist today, such as one from 1847 that is distributed around the world by The 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Starter Preservation Society (Harris 2003, 76). Thus, the process of making sourdough bread allowed miners to devote time to searching for gold, while still being able to have freshly baked bread.
SAN FRANCISCO SOURDOUGH
The way miners baked bread in their camps was soon adopted by local bakers who set up shop in mining towns produced by the Gold Rush (Conlin 1981, 36; Tamony 1973, 267). Although this process occurred across the west, it is in San Francisco that the trademark sourdough French bread emerges and becomes a staple for the community. Indeed, the San Francisco sourdough bread was a bestseller in bakeries, especially since housewives generally baked with yeast at home (Tamony 1973, 267). San Francisco sourdough is known for its "distinctive tang," which is attributed to the wild yeast present in the air in this region (Brones 2016).
