| San Francisco Bread Review | Bay Bread Kalamata Olive Boulot |
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| Summary | |
| Appearance : | Excellent |
| Taste : | Very good |
| Overall grade : | A- |
| Pictures | |
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| The bread | |
| Click on the photo for larger view | |
| Bread name | Kalamata Olive Boulot |
| 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, 4:00PM |
| Price | $3.00 |
| Weight | 13.5 oz. |
| Size (LxWxH) | 9" x 5" x 3" |
Appearance
The baguette is given to you in a white paper bag, which seems lightly waxed. This is a smallish loaf, with one big score on top, giving it a long ridge, which is fairly nice and attractive. There are also small scores on the sides for esthetics. It's nice to see that Bay Bread cares about presentation. Flour sprinklings on maybe one half of the top. A few visible olive chunks. The density is about average. The crust is fairly solid, with a slight crunch when squeezed. The cut was a bit hard, especially the bottom. It din't take me more than a few seconds, but it definitely resisted. The crumb is a light tan, with nice bubbles, and a few olive chunks visible (but not as many as I would like). The inside smell is sourdoughy, with no olive smell.
Taste
The crust has a nice texture, which makes its otherwise pleasant taste pleasanter (is that a word ?) The crumb is very good, clean and fresh. But unfortunately there are simply not enough olives. I did not detect any hint of rosemary (common in olive breads). That's not a criticism, just an observation.
Conclusion
This is an excellent bread. If it wasn't for the olives (or lack thereof), I would probably have given it an A. But this is an olive bread, and I want to taste them olives.