The terrible TRUTH about American bread!

[Jürgen Hubert]

Mind you, this was supposed to be the baked variety...

 

[Aeson]

Isn't that French bread?

 

[trancejeremy]

Yup, bread sold in American grocery stores pretty much sucks. Epecially French bread. Sometimes you can find some decent Italian, but usually that's pretty bad, too.

Two exceptions: Trader Joes (if you have them in your area, they are mostly based in California, though St. Louis has a few for some reason); and oddly enough, Wal-mart. Their grocery stores have really good french bread. They bake them every couple of hours so it's usually warm.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Isn't that French bread?

It claimed that on the package. But no actual French baker would dare to serve his customers something like this.

 

[Aeson]

There are Trader Joes in Georgia also.

I don't buy French bread often but I've never had that happen. It could be a bad batch or it could be a regular issue with the bakery. Did you contact the grocer? Maybe you could get a fresh loaf or a refund.

 

[kenobi65]

LOL!

Even by American "french" bread standards, that's pretty sad. It looks like that loaf was either underbaked, or had gotten damp.

There are brands, such as Brownberry, that aren't your typical bleached-flour spongy white bread.

Trader Joe's was originally primarily in California, but they've been expanding pretty rapidly, and are actually in the Columbus, OH area: http://www.traderjoes.com/locations.asp

 

[jaerdaph]

They need to start baking some Viagra in their bread...

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I take it that you were expecting it to not droop but either snap off cleanly or just hold the weight of the rest of the bread? Was it wrapped in plastic?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I take it that you were expecting it to not droop but either snap off cleanly or just hold the weight of the rest of the bread?

I expect bread to hold its own weight when held up by one end, yes.

Was it wrapped in plastic?

Some combination of plastic/paper bag.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

I've never seen any french bread around here do that.
I'd stop shopping at that particular store for anything.