A Word About Bread

I’m strong believer in “as the bread goes so goes the meal.” In other words: a good bread makes the meal. In fact, give me a good piece of bread and butter, and I could skip the meal. George used to bake bread at home. He’d get up at the crack of dawn and would bake several loafs of French baguettes. The aroma alone made me hungry.

Now I buy Pane Francese. The big square loaf is crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. The bread is available at most specialty stores. One loaf lasts us about four days. To keep it fresh, I cut it in serving size portions, put it into a ziploc bag and freeze.

In addition, I always have a package of delba’s German whole grain pumpernickel on hand. Almost black, slightly sweet and compact, I serve the pumpernickel with cured salmon, or a strong, runny cheese. I also like Corrado’s French baguette. Le Pain Quotidien bakes excellent bread. I particularly like their Sourdough Peasant Rye; George likes their Five Grain & Raisin Bread. But it seems every time I shop there, they have raised their prices.

One of these days, I’ll go down to the Essex Street Market and look at Pain d’Avignon’s bread selection. I understand they carry 36 different kinds of breads and rolls, including mini-loaves which they call
recession breads because they are cheaper and nothing goes to waste. I’d buy five or six of the recession breads and prepare a dinner around
them.

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