| San Francisco Bread Review |
In pursuit of the perfect bread |
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| New items |
| 05/04/05 Review: Grace Baking's Henry's Harvest Rustic Multigrain |
| 05/04/05 Review: Grace Baking's Brown Rice bread |
| 08/14/03 Visit: Semifreddi's in Emeryville |
| 05/29/03 Review: Grace Baking's Sourdough walnut |
| 05/29/03 Review: Alfaro's Sun dried tomato |
| 05/28/03 Visit: Great Harvest in Oakland |
| 05/28/03 Review: Great Harvest's Spinach Feta |
| 05/28/03 Review: Great Harvest's Honey Whole Wheat |
| 05/27/03 Review: La Baguette's Four Grain |
| 05/27/03 Review: La Baguette's Sourdough |
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May 4, 2005
After a long absence, I finally find the time to do a couple of reviews. Thank you so much for the many encouraging emails I have received in the meantime. We are getting several thousand visitors every month. I'll try to avoid long time gaps in the future (but I can't promise anything). Today, reviews of two breads by Grace Baking. The first one is their Brown Rice bread, which is decent but begs the question: where is the rice? The second one is a nice surprise: their Henry's Harvest Rustic Multigrain is excellent, and with it Grace Baking moves ahead of Semifreddi's in our bakeries hit-parade. August 14, 2003
Yes, I know, I've been gone for a while, but to make up for it, I bring you a visit to Semifreddi's complete with pictures. This was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about bread making on a semi-industrial scale. May 29, 2003
What a pleasant surprise! Grace Baking delivers an excellent performance with their sourdough walnut bread, which I found very enjoyable. Correspondingly, their rank goes up quite a bit (from 17 to 11). On the other hand, Alfaro's disappoints with a very average sun-dried tomato bread. Alfaro's is actually a division of Sara Lee, a giant conglomerate, and they are based in Vernon, near L.A., so I suppose that should not be a surprise. May 28, 2003
I paid a visit to Great Harvest Bread in Oakland today, see the full report. The bottom line: this is a friendly place which makes excellent (and fun) breads, and touring the place and meeting the people only reinforces my positive opinion of their breads. Speaking of which, I reviewed two of their breads today: their signature Honey Whole Wheat, and the specialty bread of the day, which is Spinach Feta. Good stuff. May 27, 2003
I had some business to conduct at Stanford today, so I took advantage of that to stop at three local bakeries. I guess Palo Alto is a good place to live if you like bread, because all six breads ranked B and above. See the reviews for details. May 26, 2003
We went to brunch today at Albert's in Alameda (a neat little place with an excellent hippie breakfast, by the way). We were eating outside since it was a lovely day, and we noticed some people walking away from the nearby grocery with some very unusual-looking breads. They were HUGE: three feet long, so long in fact you have to hang them around your arm like a coat. So we just had to go check it out. It turns out that this somewhat grimy-looking supermarket has a bakery in the back, and every day they make these afghan breads. They smell wonderful, so we picked up a couple, still hot, from the hands of the baker himself. See the review for details. May 25, 2003
Quite a surprise today: a bread from Trader Joe's that is simply appalling. I am very surprised by this because Trader Joe's tends to have excellent products, but this has got to be one of the worst breads ever. Rubbery, dry, tasteless, ... Even the good guys can slip sometimes, I suppose. Also a few more breads, nothing extraordinary. Granted, the weather has been hard on bread the past couple of days. May 24, 2003
It was a museum kind of day today: blustery, drizzly, foggy. So we went and paid a visit to the Oakland Aviation Museum, near the airport. A number of nice planes, but the highlight was definitely talking to the retired guys who hang around and fix the planes. We talked to two of them, both of whom were in WWII, and it was just great to get a personal contact into history. On the way back, we stopped at the Alameda Natural Grocery, which is a new outfit in (surprise) Alameda, and picked up a couple of breads. I have not reviewed too many pains de mie (or sandwich breads) so far, but I may expand that in the future, as there is quite a selection, but it is much more difficult to find something good since you typically cannot really feel it or smell it. May 22, 2003
Today I reviewed Albertson's Sourdough French bread (hint: don't even think about it). Some might ask why I bother with Albertson's. The simple reason is that they sell a *lot* of bread, therefore I consider it my duty to try them all and inform consumers. I have now reviewed most of Albertson's brand breads, and they range from mediocre to horrifying. This last one is definitely towards the bottom of the barrel. I have started putting hyperlinks to the bakeries' web sites, when known, to the list of bakeries. May 19, 2003
Four more bread reviews today, including our very first F ! The lucky winner is Albertson's garlic bread, which is not only bad, but contains more additives than I have ever seen so far. Way to go ! May 15, 2003
I went sailing on the Bay today, and it was just a perfect day for it. Sunny, with enough breeze to make it fun, life was good and I come back with several conspicuous sunburns (always the sign of a good time). I stopped at Trader Joe's in Emeryville and picked up four breads, all of which were pretty good. Trader Joe's seems to have consistently good breads, but I don't remember ever finding a *great* bread there. It's not a criticism -- I believe it is almost impossible to do great breads on an industrial scale. May 14, 2003
I had dinner on Monday at the Campton Place hotel in San Francisco (which is by the way quite good), and they served us Bay Bread. I really liked their baguette epi and their olive bread, so I went to check out Bay Bread today. I went to what I believe may be the main bakery, it's a cute store on Pine and Fillmore. I was helped by one of the most beautiful women I have ever had the pleasure to behold -- almost disturbing. But I swear this did not affect my ratings. Unless of course I am completely delusional. I hope my wife doesn't read this. Anyway, Bay Bread is the first bakery to get an A, for their walnut boulot, which is truly excellent. I also picked up one more bread from Boudin, I was not disappointed, although it was not exceptional. May 13, 2003
It was a beautiful day today, so I went golfing in Castro Valley. It's a lovely public course named Willow Park, inexpensive, with a friendly staff and a fun driving range going into a lake. Of course, regardless of the weather, I always make an ass of myself on the course, and today was no exception, but frankly, after so many days of rain and gloom, who cares? I stopped at Safeway in Castro Valley on my way back, and picked up three breads. Two were predictably mediocre, but the olive bread was not bad. Who says the big boys can't come up with anything good? Now why can't they do that for the rest of their production? I also started a page describing the many additives commonly found in bread. You know, not all additives are harmful, in fact many of them are just natural chemicals that are already present in many of the things you eat. What I resent is the manipulation -- I feel like the taste and textures are being artifically twisted. Good bread does not need that. May 9, 2003
I sort of accidentally ended up at the downtown Oakland Farmers market today, so I just had to check it out, and lo and behold, a bakery I had not tested before (Bakery in a Barn). On the way back, I stopped at Arizmendi, which is quite popular, I have been meaning to test them for a while now. See the reviews for details. May 8, 2003
A couple of new bread reviews today, both from Grain d'Or, which is a small chain of bakeries around the Bay area, with a dozen outlets or so. Their pain de campagne is a flat disappointment, but their seven grain is not bad. See the reviews for details. May 7, 2003
I finally get around to testing Boudin breads. I sometimes twist my nose at them because they are *so* omnipresent in the city, but I have to admit that their breads are not bad at all -- in fact Boudin is entering my hit-parade as a tied number one. May 6, 2003
I went on a rampage today, with 8 new bread reviews from the East bay, and one from Santa Rosa. As usual, this is a mixed bag, but there were a couple of nice finds. It's funny how nice people can be when you deal with bread. You rarely see angry people in a bakery. It must be something about the smell that is soothing.
After a long absence, I finally find the time to do a couple of reviews. Thank you so much for the many encouraging emails I have received in the meantime. We are getting several thousand visitors every month. I'll try to avoid long time gaps in the future (but I can't promise anything). Today, reviews of two breads by Grace Baking. The first one is their Brown Rice bread, which is decent but begs the question: where is the rice? The second one is a nice surprise: their Henry's Harvest Rustic Multigrain is excellent, and with it Grace Baking moves ahead of Semifreddi's in our bakeries hit-parade. August 14, 2003
Yes, I know, I've been gone for a while, but to make up for it, I bring you a visit to Semifreddi's complete with pictures. This was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about bread making on a semi-industrial scale. May 29, 2003
What a pleasant surprise! Grace Baking delivers an excellent performance with their sourdough walnut bread, which I found very enjoyable. Correspondingly, their rank goes up quite a bit (from 17 to 11). On the other hand, Alfaro's disappoints with a very average sun-dried tomato bread. Alfaro's is actually a division of Sara Lee, a giant conglomerate, and they are based in Vernon, near L.A., so I suppose that should not be a surprise. May 28, 2003
I paid a visit to Great Harvest Bread in Oakland today, see the full report. The bottom line: this is a friendly place which makes excellent (and fun) breads, and touring the place and meeting the people only reinforces my positive opinion of their breads. Speaking of which, I reviewed two of their breads today: their signature Honey Whole Wheat, and the specialty bread of the day, which is Spinach Feta. Good stuff. May 27, 2003
I had some business to conduct at Stanford today, so I took advantage of that to stop at three local bakeries. I guess Palo Alto is a good place to live if you like bread, because all six breads ranked B and above. See the reviews for details. May 26, 2003
We went to brunch today at Albert's in Alameda (a neat little place with an excellent hippie breakfast, by the way). We were eating outside since it was a lovely day, and we noticed some people walking away from the nearby grocery with some very unusual-looking breads. They were HUGE: three feet long, so long in fact you have to hang them around your arm like a coat. So we just had to go check it out. It turns out that this somewhat grimy-looking supermarket has a bakery in the back, and every day they make these afghan breads. They smell wonderful, so we picked up a couple, still hot, from the hands of the baker himself. See the review for details. May 25, 2003
Quite a surprise today: a bread from Trader Joe's that is simply appalling. I am very surprised by this because Trader Joe's tends to have excellent products, but this has got to be one of the worst breads ever. Rubbery, dry, tasteless, ... Even the good guys can slip sometimes, I suppose. Also a few more breads, nothing extraordinary. Granted, the weather has been hard on bread the past couple of days. May 24, 2003
It was a museum kind of day today: blustery, drizzly, foggy. So we went and paid a visit to the Oakland Aviation Museum, near the airport. A number of nice planes, but the highlight was definitely talking to the retired guys who hang around and fix the planes. We talked to two of them, both of whom were in WWII, and it was just great to get a personal contact into history. On the way back, we stopped at the Alameda Natural Grocery, which is a new outfit in (surprise) Alameda, and picked up a couple of breads. I have not reviewed too many pains de mie (or sandwich breads) so far, but I may expand that in the future, as there is quite a selection, but it is much more difficult to find something good since you typically cannot really feel it or smell it. May 22, 2003
Today I reviewed Albertson's Sourdough French bread (hint: don't even think about it). Some might ask why I bother with Albertson's. The simple reason is that they sell a *lot* of bread, therefore I consider it my duty to try them all and inform consumers. I have now reviewed most of Albertson's brand breads, and they range from mediocre to horrifying. This last one is definitely towards the bottom of the barrel. I have started putting hyperlinks to the bakeries' web sites, when known, to the list of bakeries. May 19, 2003
Four more bread reviews today, including our very first F ! The lucky winner is Albertson's garlic bread, which is not only bad, but contains more additives than I have ever seen so far. Way to go ! May 15, 2003
I went sailing on the Bay today, and it was just a perfect day for it. Sunny, with enough breeze to make it fun, life was good and I come back with several conspicuous sunburns (always the sign of a good time). I stopped at Trader Joe's in Emeryville and picked up four breads, all of which were pretty good. Trader Joe's seems to have consistently good breads, but I don't remember ever finding a *great* bread there. It's not a criticism -- I believe it is almost impossible to do great breads on an industrial scale. May 14, 2003
I had dinner on Monday at the Campton Place hotel in San Francisco (which is by the way quite good), and they served us Bay Bread. I really liked their baguette epi and their olive bread, so I went to check out Bay Bread today. I went to what I believe may be the main bakery, it's a cute store on Pine and Fillmore. I was helped by one of the most beautiful women I have ever had the pleasure to behold -- almost disturbing. But I swear this did not affect my ratings. Unless of course I am completely delusional. I hope my wife doesn't read this. Anyway, Bay Bread is the first bakery to get an A, for their walnut boulot, which is truly excellent. I also picked up one more bread from Boudin, I was not disappointed, although it was not exceptional. May 13, 2003
It was a beautiful day today, so I went golfing in Castro Valley. It's a lovely public course named Willow Park, inexpensive, with a friendly staff and a fun driving range going into a lake. Of course, regardless of the weather, I always make an ass of myself on the course, and today was no exception, but frankly, after so many days of rain and gloom, who cares? I stopped at Safeway in Castro Valley on my way back, and picked up three breads. Two were predictably mediocre, but the olive bread was not bad. Who says the big boys can't come up with anything good? Now why can't they do that for the rest of their production? I also started a page describing the many additives commonly found in bread. You know, not all additives are harmful, in fact many of them are just natural chemicals that are already present in many of the things you eat. What I resent is the manipulation -- I feel like the taste and textures are being artifically twisted. Good bread does not need that. May 9, 2003
I sort of accidentally ended up at the downtown Oakland Farmers market today, so I just had to check it out, and lo and behold, a bakery I had not tested before (Bakery in a Barn). On the way back, I stopped at Arizmendi, which is quite popular, I have been meaning to test them for a while now. See the reviews for details. May 8, 2003
A couple of new bread reviews today, both from Grain d'Or, which is a small chain of bakeries around the Bay area, with a dozen outlets or so. Their pain de campagne is a flat disappointment, but their seven grain is not bad. See the reviews for details. May 7, 2003
I finally get around to testing Boudin breads. I sometimes twist my nose at them because they are *so* omnipresent in the city, but I have to admit that their breads are not bad at all -- in fact Boudin is entering my hit-parade as a tied number one. May 6, 2003
I went on a rampage today, with 8 new bread reviews from the East bay, and one from Santa Rosa. As usual, this is a mixed bag, but there were a couple of nice finds. It's funny how nice people can be when you deal with bread. You rarely see angry people in a bakery. It must be something about the smell that is soothing.