A reader question for the community:
Greetings! I hope this finds you well and warm in the midst of this stormy winter. Probably due to the dark and cold, this time of year I find myself craving fresh bread. Baguettes, brioches, ryes, sourdoughs, I love them all.
I am curious to know what kind of bread fellow readers prefer, and from where you get it. Do you make your own bread, or do you buy it from a local bakery, a supermarket, or a farmers’ market? And how do you like to serve and eat it?
Lewis Hawaiian bread.
ReplyDeleteThe cornbread they used to serve at Maddie's Sail Loft. After that, the Bimini Bread at Soutport Raw Bar.
ReplyDeleteI love Southport Raw Bar. I was there last week. But I've never understood the infatuation with Bimini Bread. It's too sweet. It's more like cake than bread. Southport is the best place in town for oysters on the half shell, though.
DeleteHmmm, it's definitely sweet, but nothing cake-y going on there, lol.
DeleteIt depends on what is eaten with it. However, sourdough probably goes well with the most things.
ReplyDeleteI make my own bread. When I don’t make it we have Ezekial.
ReplyDeleteI prefer Reising's French Bread.
ReplyDeleteAnything by Borealis in Waldoboro, Maine. If pressed, Rosemary and their baguettes are our favorite.
ReplyDeleteFrom my own oven, my husband makes it. He learned during lockdown and one can always find some time to do it. Following the "grain crisis" in Europe and markets being flooded with ukrainian technical grain, we want to be sure that our bread is made out of organic flour.
ReplyDeleteIn the US I like the bread from Panera (especially the white miche since they tok away the honey wheat.) In Europe I like the brown bread in the UK and Ireland (Allinsons, Hovis, etc.) and on the continent a good French baquette (best in France or at my local Franch bakery).
ReplyDelete--EM
You have not tasted bread until you eat Koenraad Van de Meer’s whole spelt bread. Koenraad scoured Europe until he found a pure strain of spelt, un hybridized over time. He now grows this spelt strain in Upstate New York on the sunny side of the Taconics. It is truly a (w)holy bread. It is sold in Western Massachusetts, Northwest Connecticut and in Columbia County NY. Every year on Michaelmas and on the feast of the Ascension he gathers the morning dew. A drop of dew from each day is added to every batch of bread he bakes. The bread is divine.
ReplyDeleteRock Hill Bakehouse, Glens Falls New York, bakes marvelous bread. And their biscotti is the best this side of Prato.
ReplyDeleteBorealis always comes through! Thanks much!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be the total opposite of "artisan" and say Market Basket (beloved Massachusetts supermarket) store brand Split-top Wheat.
ReplyDeleteMarket Basket carries a great variety of Jessica’s Oven breads. The rustic pane is the best. I do make a lot of sourdough during the winter.
Delete"Seeduction' bread from Whole Foods... Unfortunately it is becoming difficult to find "real" bread as most 'bread' now arrives at stores from a fara-way factory as frozen loaves, then 'proof boxed' and 'baked' on the premises...
ReplyDeleteWe love sourdough and mostly buy it at Costco, made by a bakery in Santa Cruz. Good breads abound here in San Francisco, we can get wonderful loaves any number of places.
ReplyDeleteI live outside of Vancouver BC. There are many fantastic Artisan bread bakeries in Vancouver. Flourist, The Bench, Bad Dog and Livia to name a few. Even so, I was gifted a starter and went to the Clever Carrot blog and now I DIY. It is fairly simple and the results are as good as any bakery.
ReplyDeleteWheat bread, mainly Sarah Lee because is makes good toast for sandwiches. After watching a YouTube channel, The Scottish Isle, making bread from home ground wheat berries, I feel inspired to make my own bread.
ReplyDeleteFresh baked is best. If you live in New England, my ex-brother in-law's bakery, Nashoba Brook Bakery in Concord, MA, makes several kinds of really good bread - I prefer sourdough and seven grain; rye and wheat are also very good. Sold locally in their own bakery and many stores, and they ship nationwide.
ReplyDeleteMass production, Trader Joe's San Francisco-style sourdough is pretty good.
Wonder bread with Land o' Lakes butter, cold cut ham, American Cheese and chocolate milk...you had to stir in the powder. My mom would feed me and a lot of neighborhood kids with this combination...with little to no warning. Their moms fed me and the others with this combination as well. Early '70's. I remember one boyhood friend remarking that my mom made the best sandwiches. Our bikes would litter the front yard...no helmets, no water bottles, often no shoes...we would start before the sun had fully risen and well after it had set. We were all fit, tan, tough and allergy free.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I hadn't thought of Wonder Bread for a long time and I got a little carried away.
Will
Ever try a breakfast of Cocoa Puffs with milk and chocolate milk for a chaser?
DeleteI found that Count Chocula had a better mouth feel and more chocolatey notes. Another favorite was Coca Cola and salted peanuts. I would put the peanuts in the bottle of Coke to free up my other hand for the comic book.
DeleteWill
Anonymous at 4:38 PM:
DeleteCoco Who?
No, because most of us want to keep on living.
Nothing beats Cap'n Crunch Peanut butter Crunch! Heaven!
DeletePerfect with your whole grain toast is the the Hershey Kisses Cereal. Excellent.
DeleteTrix in a big bowl is a treat!
DeleteRIP Roman Meal.
ReplyDeleteMy two favorites are Ezekiel Bread and Trader Joe's Soft Multigrain Rustico Bread
ReplyDeleteSalt rising bread and it seems to only exist below the Mason Dixon line. We live above it. It is for toast. Distinctive smell but delicious. Have not had it I. Years, about extinct. Bread chains quit making it as far as I know and bakeries are hit or miss and we don’t live near them now.
ReplyDeleteJudies Peasant Bread was the cat's meow around the New Haven area for many years. Since that is no longer, bread just isn't bread.
ReplyDeleteI have been using this recipe: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/fresh-milled-miche-recipe since 2018. I made my own sourdough starter which is not difficult to instructions are also available via King Arthur website. This is a delicious bread that is excellent toasted with your preferred topping and keeps me full until lunchtime.
ReplyDeleteFresh bread, right out of the oven, still too hot to slice less than an inch thick, spread with butter (best) and/or peanut butter (2nd best). Bread starts going stale immediately out of the oven and IS stale two days later. The ONLY way to stop the going stale is Eat it (best), Freeze it (2nd best), or Dehydrate it (3rd best). Three-Day old bread is best sliced thin, cut into quarters on the diagonal, fried in a skillet with butter, then sprinkled with garlic salt. Enjoy with morning coffee.
ReplyDeleteSpoiled, live in NYC. Balthazar and Sullivan Street Bakery
ReplyDeleteI would cross the ocean for the Herb Bread from Something Natural (https://www.somethingnatural.com/)
ReplyDeleteNothing compares to homemade with its yeasty aroma and fresh taste. I’ve made sourdough, whole wheat, oat, unbleached and lately, spelt. Variations are endless: garlic parmigiana, cheddar, rosemary, cranberry walnut, fig pecan, to name a few. For ease, a bread machine works wonders, especially when you use the timer and wake up (or come home) to a just-baked loaf.
ReplyDelete- EDR
I like to support local bakeries but I do like Pepperidge Farm's Very Thin toasted until crisp with butter and jam.
ReplyDeleteDave's ThinSlice Organic Powerseed , lightly toasted, with butter and Bonne Mamam Orange marmalade.
ReplyDeleteI've made our own bread exclusively for close to 10 years now. We eat this bread daily and I make loaves 2-3 times a week (we have a child who loves toast) I have a fail-proof no-knead recipe that's quick and easy. This can be used with both whole wheat or white flour, or a combination. If you use wheat, omit the sugar. 4 cups of flour, 1 heaped teaspoon (I use a literal teaspoon) of salt, 2 heaped teaspoons of sugar, 2 heaped teaspoons of yeast, 2-2.5 cups of water. Mix together until cohesive. Proof until doubled. Deflate, shape into a rough ball and put in a buttered loaf pan. While the dough is rising for the second time, preheat your oven to 425. I usually place the pan right on the stovetop so that it rises quicker. Once the oven is preheated, bake for 20 minutes at 425. After this, turn down the oven to 375 and bake another 20 minutes for white flour, or 30 minutes for a wheat or wheat/white combination. Check to make sure the temperature has reached 200 degrees. Cool on a rack and Bob's Red Mill is your uncle.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother, who is about as quintessentially “WASP” as one can be (religiously, socially, fiscally) eats half an English muffin every morning and has for as long as I can remember. If eating a tomato sandwich, she will opt for some variety of sliced bread. If you consider crackers bread (speaking to those carb fearing readers), then she also enjoys crackers with cheese for dinner every so often.
ReplyDeleteAnything from Seven Stars Bakery here in Rhode Island. most notable, their olive batard and Vermont cheddar bread.
ReplyDeleteJudy's Peasant Bread, only seen at Bishop's in Guilford.
ReplyDelete