| San Francisco Bread Review | Safeway Artisan French bread |
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| Summary | |
| Appearance : | Mediocre |
| Taste : | Average |
| Overall grade : | C |
| Pictures | |
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| The bread | |
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| The wrapper | |
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| Nutrition | |
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| Ingredients | |
| Click on the photos for larger view | |
| Bread name | Artisan French bread |
| Baker | Safeway, Pleasanton |
| Purchased | Tuesday, May 13, 2003, 2:30PM |
| From | Safeway, 20629 Redwood Road, Castro Valley |
| Tested | Tuesday, May 13, 2003, 5:30PM |
| Price | $1.49 |
| Weight | 17 oz. |
| Size (LxWxH) | 17" x 4.5" x 3" |
Appearance
The bread comes in a brown paper bag with nutrition information and ingredients (see pictures). The general appearance of the loaf is pretty much that of a standard industrial bread. The crust is a nice honey color, but it is kind of folded on top, which looks unappealing. Also, the crust is a bit shiny, which I don't really care for. The bottom has the standard industrial spot pattern. The density of the loaf is below average, the crust is more resistant than appearance would suggest, but certainly not crunchy. The bottom crust is quite soft. The outside smell is faint, relatively standard, with a bit of something that I can't quite describe except to say that it's somewhat unpleasant. The cut is fairly easy, the slices look good, to my surprise. The crumb is very white and looks fluffy. The inside smell is quite sweet, very similar to other industrial french breads.
Taste
The crust is of course much too soft, and barely has any consistency at all. The taste is unspectacular. The crumb is about the same, it actually feels like it collapses too easily between your fingers, and sticks to itself. The taste is somewhat bland.
Ingredients
As industrial breads go, this one only contains a moderate amount of additives. Mind you, I still fail to see why flour needs to be enriched, or why I would want ascorbic acid (vitamin C) added to my bread.
Conclusion
As industrial breads go, this is not the worst, but it's far from the best. Lack of taste, very mediocre crust, consistency unsatisfying, ... I guess you get what you pay for.