| San Francisco Bread Review | Acme Olive bread |
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| Summary | |
| Appearance : | Excellent |
| Taste : | Good |
| Overall grade : | B |
| Pictures | |
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| The bread | |
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| The wrapper | |
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| Ingredients | |
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| Bread name | Olive bread |
| Baker | Acme, Berkeley |
| Purchased | Tuesday, May 13, 2003, 12:30PM |
| From | Farmers Market at Ferry building, San Francisco |
| Tested | Tuesday, May 13, 2003, 10:30PM |
| Price | $3.00 |
| Weight | 16.5 oz. |
| Size (LxWxH) | 7" x 5.5" x 3" |
Appearance
The bread comes in a white paper bag, common to all Acme breads. It's a very handsome, compact loaf. Great color, one big ridge on top due to a long score. Good number of green olives visible at the surface. Nice-looking bottom, a bit concave, with olives visible there too. The density of the loaf is above average, the crust is softer than it looks, but the loaf springs back nicely when squeezed. The outside smell is faint, top and bottom, with a trace of olives. The cut is OK except that the bottom is a bit recalcitrant. Otherwise the slices look fairly good and regular. The crumb looks good, fairly white, with a good number of olive bits visible. The inside smell is of sourdough, unmistakeably, with a distinct green olive smell.
Taste
The texture of the crust is fairly good, but the taste is a bit weak. The crumb has a good texture, but does not have enough olives (why do so few bakeries get this right?) Good sourdough taste otherwise.
Ingredients
All-natural ingredients, for which I am thankful. I note the use of olive oil, which is not common but very good as far as I am concerned.
Conclusion
As so often with olive breads, my main criticism is the lack of olives. This bread could easily have twice as many. Also, the olives themselves are kind of weak. The crust needs more texture. Fairly good olive bread overall, but could do better.