I love bread.
Dismantling the myth that bread is not good
I take many things in life for granted. I would list them out, but then I wouldn’t be taking them for granted anymore, so I’m not going to bother. One thing that I don’t take for granted, though, is bread. Have you ever had bread? It tastes really good.
Because I ate a cold-cut sandwich pretty much every single day from kindergarten through 12th grade, I am fluent in the range of emotions bread can inspire. There was no greater joy than opening my lunch bag to find a salami, ham, and bologna sandwich on Arthur Avenue Deli’s sesame Bastone bread. There was nothing more devastating than realizing during sixth-period AP U.S. History that I’d have to eat delicious honey turkey on a hamburger bun.
The occasional lack of delicious Bastone bread or deli rolls was not the fault of my mom, who was gracious enough to make me approximately 2,000 sandwiches throughout my childhood. The bread disappearance was the fault of me, my brothers, and my dad, who would dig into fresh loaves like the hyena trio from The Lion King. The hamburger-bun solution taught us a lesson in moderation.
My appreciation for bread has increased since these days of marathon sandwich eating. As an adult living with just one other (non-ravenous) person, I can buy a loaf without worrying about its inevitable and immediate destruction. I now have go-to breads from Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, though Whole Foods recently got rid of unsliced Ancient Grain, which was my favorite. When no one is around to evaluate my bread consumption, I often forgo a knife and just rip a piece off with my bare hands, which greatly improves the flavor.
As hard as it is to believe, though, Jeff Bezos did not take over Whole Foods to make it the world’s greatest purveyor of bread. I was reminded of this fact last week when my girlfriend came home with a fresh loaf that she bought from a farmer’s market in Lincoln, Massachusetts. It was made by a local bread company called Bread Obsession whose slogan is “because bread should be delicious.”
That is a good slogan, and it made me realize that other companies don’t aim high enough. “We have the meats”? Low bar. “Eat Fresh”? Uninspired. “Mmm. Sonic”? Wishy-washy. Bread Obsession gives itself no room for error. If you don’t find their bread delicious, it is a catastrophe.
Bread Obsession’s website makes its aspirations even more clear. “We are deeply committed to crafting bread that will not only fulfill the need for this daily staple,” the site says, “but will also bring pleasure and satisfaction.” Those are precisely the attributes that I’m looking for in bread—that it is bread and that it brings satisfaction. I am less concerned with how the bread looks, though the site clarifies that “each hand-shaped loaf is unique and beautiful.”
As you might have guessed, Bread Obsession’s Durum Levain bread was amazing. Crusty on the outside, soft on the inside. Sourdough, sort of. I could describe it more, but you’ve probably had great bread before and can extrapolate. It was made with the same flour they use to make pasta. It rocked. I would drive half an hour (one way) solely to get this bread. Maybe even 33 minutes.
The bread was so good that, after eating it, I watched a 48-minute interview with Bread Obsession’s founder, Varda Haimo, filmed at a local library. The video has 109 views and details Haimo’s journey from a bread-filled childhood in Saint Louis, to a layoff from her finance job during The Great Recession, to years spent trawling online bread forums in pursuit of mastery. She has succeeded. Not only is her bread amazing, but she is also the world’s best communicator—with goals that are literally impossible to misunderstand. “I want to make this bread,” she told EdibleBoston.com, “and I want more people to eat it.”
Bread Obsession Durum Levain bread: 8.6/10
Bastones are delicious. Ripping them with your bare hands does improve the flavor.. Arthur Avenue makes fine fresh Bastones.
I love bread too. Your mom makes me look bad though-2,000 sandwiches!