Behind the Scenes at Boudin Bakery in Disney California Adventure Park

We love the aroma of freshly baked bread, especially the distinctive tang of Boudin sourdough. Guests at Disney California Adventure park get an inside look at how bakers take the ingredients from dough to delicious on The Bakery Tour – Hosted by Boudin Bakery, but these photos offer a peek at the big bakery where 10,000 to 15,000 loaves are baked daily for the Disneyland Resort.

Guests at Pacific Wharf Café are there for the freshly baked bread “bowls” filled with soups and salads. But up one flight of stairs, a bustling bakery is kneading, proofing and baking even more of that delectable sourdough that Boudin is so famous for.

“Our ‘mother dough’ base comes from the original dough that was produced back in 1849 in San Francisco,” says Chef Juan Mendoza. The Boudin family found that the wild yeasts in the San Francisco air imparted a tang to their traditional French bread, creating the unique “San Francisco sourdough.”

“We use about 1.5 million pounds of flour a year,” says Mendoza. “And it’s a combination of ingredients: well-balanced flour, water at the right pH, temperature, moisture, mixing, and fermenting for 16 to 20 hours – plus a touch of passion to make every loaf perfect.”

The Disney bakers don’t just settle for ordinary loaves. They have lots of fun creating special designs that guests love to buy ($7.50 a loaf) and carry home: a snake for Lunar New Year; the face of Mickey Mouse; holiday pumpkins, shamrocks and bunnies – even a Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen from “Cars” are just a handful of their doughy ideas.

Any time you get a taste of the tangy, chewy sourdough at Disneyland Resort, you can bet the loaf came from the Pacific Wharf bakery, says Mendoza. Restaurants in both Disney California Adventure and Disneyland parks, and in all three hotels place orders daily with Mendoza’s team.