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Business Fri Dec 12 2008
Doughy Disappointment
I am a big fan of Flourish Bakery Cafe, the year and a half old bakery located on Bryn Mawr underneath the red line el tracks. It's the closest bakery to me that sells real, good, crusty bread. Its bright, candy-colored interior is cheery and warm, and the cupcakes and sandwiches are perfectly good, if a little on the pricey side. Usually, I go just for the bread, though. I buy a big loaf and live off it for a few days, knowing that fresh bread is best eaten quickly.
A few days ago, I bought a big loaf of multi-grain. It was covered in seeds and oats, and the crust was a deep, toasty brown. I enjoyed a delicious hunk from one end of the loaf at lunch, but later, when cutting off slices for sandwiches at dinner, I noticed something that it pains me to write about now. The chewy inner center of the thick loaf was a little, well, too chewy. In fact, it was pretty much still dough. I'd expect this irregularity if I had baked the loaf myself at home, but I was sad to find that my professionally-made bread was so drastically undercooked. I'm hoping this batch was an anomaly and that my next loaf from Flourish won't be quite as raw.