| San Francisco Bread Review | Great Harvest Dakota bread |
| Home | Reviews | Hit-Parade | Categories | Bakeries | Links | Forum | Contact |
| Summary | |
| Appearance : | Very good |
| Taste : | Very good |
| Overall grade : | A- |
| Pictures | |
 | |
| The bread | |
 | |
| The label | |
| Click on the photos for larger view | |
| Bread name | Dakota bread |
| Baker | Great Harvest Bread Co., Oakland |
| Purchased | Tuesday, May 6, 2003, 3:30PM |
| From | Great Harvest Bread Co., 5800 College Ave., Oakland |
| Tested | Tuesday, May 6, 2003, 10:30PM |
| Price | $4.75 |
| Weight | 36 oz. |
| Size (LxWxH) | 9" x 5" x 5" |
Appearance
The bread comes in a transparent plastic bag, which I am not crazy about. It is a nice looking loaf, in the "pain de mie" format. There are *lots* of grains and nuts visible at the surface. The bread feels surprisingly dense. The crust is soft, as expected for this type of bread. Otherwise the loaf is resilient and does not feel mushy at all. The smell is strong and very reminiscent of a barn where hay is stored after the harvest. If that does not sound good, blame my powers of description: this is an excellent smell, earthy and ancient and profound. I wish more breads were this real. The smell may be due to the fact that the flour is ground fresh daily. The bread is cut reasonably easily, the loaf does not collapse, but making perfect slices was not easy. The inside smell was very different from the outside smell. This is sweet bread, none of that wonderful barn smell. I have to assume it contains molasses or corn syrup. The body looks good, with a lot of grains and nuts visible.
Taste
The taste is relatively sweet, with what I have to assume is walnuts (there is no indication of the contents on the label). Good consistency, relatively dense, and a bit crunchy because of the nuts and grains. I liked that, it makes the texture interesting and fun. Pleasant to the mouth otherwise.
Conclusion
I'm not a big fan of sweet breads, but this one is A-OK by me. It's really not that sweet at all and could probably be had with e.g. cheese.I am giving it a high grade, not only because it really is quite good, but also because you have to respect guys who grind their own flour every day.