I bought a rye bread at Whole Foods bakery department yesterday and wish to pay tribute to it, so I am reviving this thread.

Black Forest Rye. At first I didn't like it as well as WF's Prussian rye, which has more of a sourdough taste and firmer crust. Black Forest rye has a softer texture, which at first I found disappointing. Also, it didn't have the tang that I usually prefer. But it is full-bodied, has seeds and things like you wouldn't believe--shredded wheat, shredded rye (whatever do they mean by "shredded"?), sourdough starter (even though I couldn't taste it), varied textures, just excellent.

Panera's "bread" is awfully mediocre.

Nancy Silverton started La Brea, but the commercial operation sold out to Swiss conglomerate Aryzta a few years ago. I'm not sure if she still controls the original location on La Brea, but she has an interest in several restaurants (Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza being the best known).

Acme is terribly mediocre. I think you can find local bakeries all over the US that wipe the floor with what they have become. The sad thing is that Acme basically has the Bay Area food scene wrapped up, so great restaurants like Zuni and Chez Panisse use their boring bread.

I don't necessarily think "all the bread is better in Paris" but I generally think that the average baguette in Paris is 10 times better than what you find here.

If you want great rye bread, go to Bea's Bakery on Reseda and Ventura Boulevards in Los Angeles. They are the ones who bake the famous rye for Langer's downtown. Its ridiculously good.

There are really two versions of La Brea Bakery. There is the parbaked crap that is sold in various supermarkets around the country. Then there is the awesome stuff that they bake in Los Angeles for sale in the local market.

1) I really don't see how you can say "we don't take much of an interest in cheese." There is a TON of great cheese in this country, and a lot of interest taken in it. It mostly comes from artesinal cheese makers California and Wisconsin, but it most certainly does exist and is often more on the cutting edge than traditional French cheeses.

2) Bread in the US is bad when it is mass marketed. Its fantastic when someone does something special with their individual bakery.

People reading this thread and contributing must be passionate about it .... so why note make it.

I wish more people would make their own bread at home. It is so rewarding and so easy and so quick. I make bread once a day ... sometimes twice. The preperation is so quick .... a few minutes. French bread better than you have ever tasted. Focaccia. Ciabatta. Bagels like you cannot ever buy - I've spent a while developing a recipe which is like the bagels I use to eat from the all-night bakery in Vallance Road in the East-end of Lonodon. It is also so cheap and you can use the best ingredients. And of course there's making real pizza using sour-dough (bigga) just like they do in Naples.

There can be very few things more rewarding than baking and eating your own bread every day.

Even with a very busy life style, bread can become a real passion.

What do I have to do?

TRY IT! :)

I'm all for making bread at home, but... if you want truly excellent bread, you need a professional (read: hot) oven. No getting around it.

For me, the best bread I've ever had in the US (and continued to have, for several years) was from the bakery attached to Balthazar in NYC. While the restaurant is pricey, the bakery is not, and the products rival that of any boulagerie in Paris.

I highly recommend it. :-:

Errr ..... notsosmart ( :) )..... what temperature do you think that bread bakes at exactly? I actually started to write a lengthy reply to this but it's obvious I'd be arguing with someone who fairly clearly hasn't made any bread and doesn't know how to. It is really quite easy - particularly if you have a mixer with dough hook - and an ordinary domestic oven is perfectly adequate. Some other odds and sods make it easier and pleasurable but not absolutely required.

The majority of breads are cooked at around 220 c 'ish. All domestic ovens reach that easilly. Baking bread higher will burn it with a raw inside. I'm trying to work out where your confusion comes from and perhaps you're confusing the idea of using steam for some breads - particularly baguettes - for the first 10 minutes of baking. This is relatively easy to replicate at home. Basically - I mean this nicely - what you have said is simply incorrect :)

Now .... if you thought you could make superb bread at home ...... would you try it?

All of a sudden I developed a craving for La Brea Bakery rosemary olive oil bread.

True for "most" breads, but small or flat breads with a crisp crust require baking at 280C (550F) as well as using a stone. Some US ovens cannot go above 500F (maybe some silly safety regulation) though mine does go to 550F. While it does reach that temperature easily, it is also the maximum that can be set :)

Bimini bread at Ernies in Ft. Lauderdale.

You hit the nail on the head.

Moved here from YUL decades ago, still miss the rye bread and freshly baked French bread....by the time O got home, my wife always found half a loaf !

Found good double baked rye bread at Star Bakery Deli in Southfield, outside DTW.

This is followed by Sourdough Batard at some Trader Joe's.

if you have a Smart and Finals store they have pretty good bread for packaged bread ,

Good Rye bread and also Sourdough plus a few others , That and Traders Joes are good places if you cannot find a real bakery

Soarer

To be honest ... I think this is arguing just for the sake of it.:p

I don't know what flat breads you mean but most thin flat breads are cooked at a much higher temperature than 280 in a tandoor or a beehive type oven for example and most other are cooked on pans over hob heat. Achievng sufficient heat in a domestic oven for this is easilly achieved by cooking under a grill on top of a preheated cast iron skillet with the grill set on high. A stone makes virtually no difference for breads cooked in a few seconds or a minute or two but you can buy a stone pretty easily if you want one.

Anyway, nobody in the thread said that they were yearning for a bit of flat bread and even using your number - most ovens sold now are fan assisted in which case 280 in a standard oven is equivalent to around 240/250'ish in a fan oven which covers 99% of domestic ovens sold.

I was however responding to this specific comment ....

...... which is ..... wrong!

I'm sorry I answered it now! :(

Uk1 I know how you make pizza. Okay, let me rephrase: *most* people need a professional hot oven. ;)

Yes, I've actually turned out some decent loaves at home starting with a biga, but I realized that (unlike with pizza) it is not worth the effort, if a good bakery is around. Ya know?

Have it your way. The idea that most people need a professional oven to make first class bread is rediculous and I've never heard any serious bread maker say so in any book or article. I think I know what good bread tastes like and my domestic oven does it.

Let's move on otherwise we'll simply bicker.

When I was growing up, my mother made bread. As much as I love a baguette in France or La Brea bread, I have never had any better than my mother's bread, still warm from her piece of crap oven. :D

There is something so primevil about making bread at home. It seems so imenseley and disproportionately fullifilling and seems to satisfy so many underlying subliminal needs. Well it does for me .....

Funnily enough I've developed a really easy going ritual which gives us extraordinary quality baguettes twice a day. Only one dough batch per day whichj is shared between morning and evening - but on a simple three day cycle ie day 1 poolish starter - day 2 mix dough day 3 bake using half in morning half in evening.

So in essence every day I'm just mixing a little yeast and flour (100gm mix of rye and plain) and water in a square bowl and putting it on the window ledge. I'm mixing yesterdays starter with some flour water and salt and putting into the square tub which goes into the fridge for 24 hours to mature and rise. I'm using yesterday square tub of dough from the fridge for todays bread. As I'm emptying and refilling the rectangular dough box in the fridge each day it's only one tub needed and doesn't take up much room in the fridge.

It really just takes around 10 minutes a day and beats anything shop bought and provides 4 fresh baguettes morning and evening every day for around 50p in total. The morning it's with jame - and in the evening it's either with salami, or cheese or a sausage or something.

Sometimes there's some olive and oregano sourdough bread for lunch or something else to divert me but every day is a fresh bread day .......

I sound obsessed with bread don't I? How sad does that make me?

I don't know where to put this so mods please move to a better place if there is one.
I came across this article from Food & Wine magazine (my friend's son's bakery is listed) and I thought it might be of interest to some. Of course it is subjective....best bread in every state.
https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/r...xPJ_71Puvxno9I

Fun article - I didn’t know avast of Sf. There are so many great choices.

Thanks for posting that. Best I've had in AZ are the baguettes at JL Patisserie and Bianco (mentioned in the linked story) - I'd have to have them side by side to make a decision.

https://jlpatisserie.com/product/french-baguette/

That was much better than I was prepared for. I found it interesting how many of the bakeries were located in college towns. I was expecting each state’s largest city to be represented, but that was not the case. Gorgeous pictures too.

The pictures had me drooling like a St Bernard. And then you mentioned Hawaiian rolls...more drool.

i looked up the Sf spot. All their bread is whole wheat based. Alas they only sell at a farmers market that’s 30 minutes away and I’m just not into farmers markets. With or without apostrophes, it’s unimportant for me. There are so many places in Sf I’ll avoid due to the drive time.

Costco ftw on Hawaiian rolls :-)

Thanks for posting this. I just placed and order at Breadshop. Can't wait for tomorrow!

We're having friends over for brunch this weekend, one of whom is a super taster who has requested white bread (Wonder type, not artesianal) with peanut butter. As a food lover I can't even imagine. (We'll send the rest of loaf home as a gift, since we won't eat it )

I love me some wonder bread for a PB & J sandwich but I can not for the life of me imagine requesting it especially when going to your house for brunch. You & the Mr are great cooks...why, just why? Actually I wouldn't request anything unless I knew it was something the host makes that is special.

also what is a super taster?
and a peanut butter on bread without grape jelly?

Google it! Very picky eaters...

Corky, thanks for posting this link. Before I started reading the article, I was thinking about which New Orleans bakeries I would choose. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the two I would have chosen were the same two in the article. Normally, when it comes to articles about food, restaurants in New Orleans in national magazines, I pretty much discount what’s written. However, this article was pretty much spot on. I would have added Dong Phuong Bakery for their pistolettes used by many Vietnamese restaurants for making banh mi. Also, the article mentions the New Orleans classic French Bread (Leidenheimer’s) for making po-boys and Italian Breads (think muffulettas). I really, also, like a the bakery in a local grocery, Dorignac’s, for their production of these classic breads.

It was an interesting read.

Thanks for the link! Lost Larson in Chicago is in our hood, and we go there regularly. I love their breads and their pastries, though I've been disappointed in their croissants - not flaky enough.

It's criminal that the Maine entry didn't mention Standard Baking in Portland (or Tandem for not-bread but the best baked goods you'll ever have - IMO Tandem is the best bakery in the country).

Super tasters are people who are exceptionally sensitive to flavors, generally thought to be because they have a higher than normal number of taste buds. So even small flavors seem outsized. Super tasters tend not to be able to tolerate strong flavors (e.g. garlic), for example. A disproportionate number of sommeliers and master sommeliers are super tasters.

Wonder bread has its place. It would be my first choice for a tomato sandwich. My granddaughter also requests it for pb&j (yes, grape jelly) but I still have to remove the crusts. It is an acceptable bread for a grilled cheese (although I don’t eat them). I would consider it for liverwurst and onions. It will just never be the star of the meal, and that’s it’s appeal.

Breadshop is so good!

I want to volunteer for the job of Bread Taster. Unless it is some gluten free, spelt, health bread---I can't think of any bread category that wouldn't be fun to taste.

This thread reminds me that it's time to get back to Tadich Grill for the sourdough, to see if it is still the best I've ever had.

let us know. I love sourdough “country” bread from tartine (via epicurean trader) and Rosalind (Pacifica). I don’t even bother to seek that kind of bread from other places.

We use the Trader Joe’s white bread which is the same level as wonder bread.
Wow on super tasters. The idea seems fine for sommeliers. I would hate to not be able to enjoy most intense foods. Sounds like a horrible burden.

apparently 25% of the population are 'supertasters'. I think its all bollocks, people using an excuse to avoid eating food they don't like.

Ah, the next generation of "I'm extra special"?

David

25%? Feels high. I know people who get sick from gluten, nuts, and other things.
considering that the ORDeditor friend chose only wonder bread with peanut butter at what had to be an amazing brunch… doesn’t feel like an excuse to me. I actually feel sorry for eaters who can only request wonder bread with peanut butter when going somewhere for brunch. That’s a lot of yummy stuff to not get to eat. I can eat peanut butter on bread in my own house. I don’t want to eat it at someone else’s house.

Breadshop is amazing! Curses to you, Corky, for reviving this thread! The Breadshop loaf is half gone, eaten entirely as just slices with unsalted butter. Must. Stop.

I have been cursed for worse....get in line!
What kind did you get? Do they have a specialty or just all wonderful artisan breads? mmm

You have to preorder and they have some standard always-available choices as well as some daily specials. They were sold out of everything by the time I ordered that day. I got the last loaf of Seeded City, a dark crust sourdough with toasted sesame, flax and sunflower seeds. I love me a seeded bread and add in sourdough and I am in heaven.
https://www.exploretock.com/Breadshop/

Adding that loaf to my list for next trip… Their flatbread/focaccia is also very good if you’re in that mood. As a bonus, it shares a parking lot with The Curb so I can get my coffee fix at the same time.

On the other side of the country, I also really like Bread & Salt in Jersey City, which is in the article. It’s a random location and short hours but we find it worth the trip when we’re running errands in NJ with a car.