Acme Sourdough Bread
My future SIL had a bachelor party in SF over the weekend and he was kind enough bring me a boule f the closest thing that Acme makes to traditional SFSD. It was a bit more than day old by the time I got it. Here is the website - they just call it Sourdough - http://acmebread.com/bread
It is a handsome loaf for sure. Deeply browned, scored perfectly with some blistering. I give it a 10 on looks alone. The crumb is moderately open for a bread that is all wheat grain - white flour. I give it an 8.5 on the crumb.
It is slightly sour as today's SFSD breads seem to be and it is a a total white flour bread made of wheat so the taste is pretty bland. I would prefer one with a bit of rye and spelt in it - say 5% each and one with a bit more tang to it so I give it a 7.5 for taste.
Overall it gets a 8.67 out if 10 - one fine bread for a balery that makes a lot of it. Now I have t make some cioppino to see how it sops up a fine fish stew.
Comments
and Semifreddi's! When we lived in Sacramento for many years the valley was a virtual quality bread wasteland. Safeway hadn't yet developed their own decent in-house baking program, and local favorite Raleys and Bel-Air also weren't yet similarly off the ground. However, downtown Sac. had a few grocers, Corti Bros. in particular, that "imported" both bakery's breads, so all was not lost. It just wasn't convenient to make that trip downtown with "needed" regularity.
I can't recall what we did for bread back then, but we were probably still in the Oroweat (known as Arnold Bakers in the East) camp for decent mass produced bread. These days like virtually every other North American large scale bake house, they are owned by Bimbo.
is nothing even close and, like a $10 hooker, their bread isn't he best either:-) I take that back. I am old enough to know a $10 hooker, when I was 50 years younger, was pretty expensive and un-affordable. It is a nice looking boule for sure and worth what ever he paid for it.
in Spanish means bread roll, while bimbollo is Mexican colloquial for bun. Since the company has its roots in Mexico, I'll guess the name is more related to the bun than to that $10 sweetie of your youth. Let's hope!
Reminds me of a joke from my early teen years. I was walking down the street and found a 50 cent piece...So I ran home and got my money.
Is that the stuff that Wile E. Coyote orders through his catalogue, and uses it to blow up the roadrunner?
Roadrunner annihilation equipment:-) It is a fine bakery in SF too!
As far as local mass production I'm a big fan of Semifreddi's. I find Acme a bit dry. But I'm spoiled here. I love their SD cheese balls/rolls, and tried to replicate them recently using Hamelman's cheese bread recipe (a moderate success). The baker at Acme told me over the phone how they make it, a class act for sure.
Growing up my favorite was Parisian extra sour.
more than a day old and wrapped in paper than my usual plastic wrap that keeps it as moist as day one. You and David Snyder have the same favorite old time SF baker - Parisian. I liked Columbo because they were close to the to where I lived. They do make a lot of bread and quite a few varieties as well.
So how do you rate this bread?
If you mean Acme, I generally don't buy their bread because I find it tends to be dry and not as flavorful as I expect. But I do enjoy the cheese rolls. They have a perfectly browned thin, crunchy outside, and great all around flavor.
Growing up Colombo was a tier below Parisian in my mind because the texture was softer than I liked, and it never had the same freshness. Parisian had a crunchy, chewy crust and a beautifully soft, wispy crumb with a great sour taste. For all I know they added sourness enhancers. I like to think I'd still be buying it today if it were around.
We have a lot of good and some great options now in the smaller markets (e.g., Tartine, Josey Baker, Cheese Board, Arizmendi), but I still believe there is a lot of room in this market for great bread bakers.
But I'm miles away to tasting that..
And almost every bakery there is owned by our dog... Haha
and it wouldn't be worth it - Now it it tasted as good as it looked then.....If Lucy owned a bakery there it would be a good one if you like German and Swedish Rye breads:-)
we buy often. Acme delivers more often daily so its breads are fresher than Semi's. A lifesaver when I don't bake. Familiar locations
too bad you were not visiting.
after looking at the poor lad, when got to Phoenix 2 says later, he looked pretty tuckered out:-) Odd they don't list the NY Rye on their website but that is what you buy most often! Seems like they need to update their website to include it. I will get to SF sooner rather than later for sure. I also want to get to Maine but not on the same trip:-)
Very nice loaf indeed. Love the scoring, blisters and crumb.
that was lacking.
When at work sometimes I can only look at photos. They certainly do bake a homemade looking loaf with that scoring and those blisters look good. Nice crumb for a mass produced loaf too. Can't download taste just yet.
home safely, and that your future SIL was thoughtful enough to prove that there really is nothing on the market as good as your very own bakes...
Hope all is well with all of your girls, and your Dad, and that you are already scheming your next favourite loaf!
Keep baking happy!
the looks of that Acme SD on the outside but the crumb and taste are in her sights. She has a 20% spouted, 4 grain SFSD bread on tap for Friday's bake and managed to get the sprouts and bran levain done in time to retard the levain for 24 hours too! Now she has to worry about that great looking outside of the loaf.....Dad is out cutting grass gain today this time by himself so I hope he takes it easy .....Hope I can do that at 85 ....
Happy Baking ID
I would love a chance to taste Parisian bread again. I wonder if I would still like it as much as I did. Currently, the bread Boudin custom-bakes for Tadish Grill is closest to the bread I remember. Actually, I think it's better. The crust is darker and crunchier.
My favorite bread at present is any one of several varieties I bake at home. And I've just upped the ante; I am making whole grain breads with home-milled flour. (I am still assessing whether I think this is truly better.)
David
You're spot on, David. I think we're all baking better bread than we grew up with, and in your case, much better. After baking with freshly milled flour for the last few months, there is no question in my mind that it is superior. The crumb is a lot softer, and I believe it tastes better, too. It would stand to reason that it is also healthier, since there has been minimal oxidation and from using the entirety of the berry.
There's some question in my mind, too whether or not Parisian would live up to my idealized memories. The crust was superb, though, and the crumb soft and sour. I also concur that some of the best bread is served at the finer restaurants, often by bakers with no store front.
Phil