The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

If your bread comes pre-sliced, in a plastic bag, from a store that sells everything from meat to floor cleaner, it's not likely very good bread. For good bread you can either make it yourself or if you are extremely lucky, be near a good baker that can provide you with some nice fresh loafs. So my answer to "the greatest thing since sliced bread" simply this: Real, hand made bread, decidedly not pre-sliced.

Eventually I will write a post about making bread but for now let me just say that well made bread by a dedicated baker is often hard to beat for the casual home cook. Some say it's the they have better ovens (they do), better flour (they do) or better yeast (they do) but that doesn't mean that you cannot make exceptional bread provided you take time to understand how to make it well and practice often.

For now let me just sing the praises of my new favorite bakery in Massachusetts - Maison Villatte (267 Main St Falmouth, MA 02540 (774) 255-1855. Even though my home is 50 miles away, I will be making pilgimages every so often for their

Now I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend of his that this was the a totally authentic French bakery so I woke up early Saturday morning to check it out. I knew I was on the right path when I saw the sign: "Boulangerie" (Bread) Pâtisserie (pastery)

AND the line at 7:30am was this long!

Though I have excellent vision with such a long line and so many breads on display I wasn't able to read the descriptions and weigh all my options till I was right up front.

All the way to the left was a massive kitchen perhaps 3 times the front of the place with bakers in tall hats methodically putting and taking things out of the oven. 2 people took orders while one or two more replenished the ham and cheese croissants. I purchased 2 ham and cheese loafs $4.95 each, 2 batards $3.95 each, two chocolate croissants and one massive crusty sourdough loaf that was about a 3 pounds. The large loaf was a steal at just about 10 bucks.