| San Francisco Bread Review | Bay Bread Olive baguette |
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| Summary | |
| Appearance : | Excellent |
| Taste : | Good |
| Overall grade : | B+ |
| Pictures | |
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| The bread | |
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| The bag | |
| Click on the photos for larger view | |
| Bread name | Olive baguette |
| Baker | Bay Bread, San Francisco |
| Purchased | Wednesday, May 14, 2003, 2:00PM |
| From | Boulangerie Bay Bread, 2325 Pine Street, San Francisco |
| Tested | Wednesday, May 14, 2003, 3:30PM |
| Price | $2.25 |
| Weight | 11.5 oz. |
| Size (LxWxH) | 25" x 3" x 2" |
Appearance
The baguette is given to you in a long white paper bag. This is a standard baguette shape, although the crust is somewhat darker than most. Nice scores on top, making attractive ridges. A few visible olives, very slight flour sprinklings. The bottom is very dark, almost burnt, with a few more visible olives. The density of the loaf is about average for this type of bread, the crust is solid and somewhat crunchy. The outside smell is slight--bread only, if anything. The bottom smells almost burnt. This is not necessarily bad, by the way. The cut was easy, and making good-looking slices was no problem. The crumb is quite fluffy, with a few visible olive chunks. The inside smell is weak, a bit sourdoughy, with definite olives.
Taste
The consistency of the crust is good, and the taste pleasant. The crumb is fairly good (but of course there is not much crumb in a baguette). As is so tragically common in olive breads, there are not enough olives.
Conclusion
This is not at all bad, but I must say this bread looks better than it tastes. It's a good baguette, I particularly appreciate the texture of the crust, as there is nothing worse than a baguette with a soft or rubbery crust. However, this advertizes itself as an olive baguette, and in this area it is weak.