| San Francisco Bread Review | Semifreddi's Ciabatta |
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| Summary | |
| Appearance : | Very good |
| Taste : | Good to very good |
| Overall grade : | B+ |
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| The bread | |
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| Wrapper | |
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| Ingredients | |
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| Nutrition | |
| Click on the photos for larger view | |
| Bread name | Ciabatta |
| Baker | Semifreddi's, Emeryville |
| Purchased | Friday, May 16, 2003, 3:15PM |
| From | Estudillo Produce and Deli, 1305 MacArthur Blvd, San Leandro |
| Tested | Friday, May 16, 2003, 4:00PM |
| Price | $2.69 |
| Weight | 18 oz. |
| Size (LxWxH) | 14.5" x 6" x 2" |
Appearance
The bread comes in the usual Semifreddi's white paper bag. The loaf is quite handsome, it has a complex, contorted top with a fair amount of flour sprinklings. The color is rich and appealing. The density of the loaf is a bit above average. The crust is soft, which is normal for this type of bread. The outside smell is pleasantly rustic and noticeable. This smells like a no-nonsense bread. The cut is a bit difficult because the bread is quite soft, so making nice-looking slices is not easy if you don't have a slicing machine (which I recommend for all bread lovers). The crumb has a pleasant yellow-white color, and a nice open webbing, in other words it is quite fluffy with large bubbles. The inside smell is that of fresh bread -- that's the best word I can think of to describe it : fresh.
Taste
The crust is of course soft, the taste is certainly not overpowering but it is there nonetheless. The crumb is light, fresh and quite pleasant.
Conclusion
The taste of this bread is certainly not strong, but then again it's not supposed to be. This would be a great bread to dip into olive oil with salt and pepper, or it could also be used in a vegetable soup. In many ways, this is a modest bread : it is fresh, with little ambition, other than as a support for other things. It does its job quite well.