Dine and Dish

I know that grocery stores aren't the most glamorous places to buy bread, but our Kroger bakery has the best rustic Italian Loaf I have ever tried. Since I enjoy baking bread, I don't usually buy artisan or homemade style bread from stores, but I have yet to be able to duplicate the goodness of the Kroger Rustic Italian Loaf. When I am hungry for that specific loaf, I head to Kroger and purchase one to bring home.

I had given up on trying to find a recipe that would result in a loaf as good as Krogers. I still tried different Rustic Italian Loaf recipes, but I never anticipated that these attempts would end up being a close comparison to the Kroger loaf.

Yesterday I promised my husband I would make some bread. I asked him if he had a particular kind in mind and he said "Surprise me.". I did the easiest thing that came to mind and logged on to Recipezaar. I wanted to try a new recipe, and I had a meeting for a few hours in the afternoon so I wanted my bread machine to do the dough work for me. I came across a recipe for Rustic Italian Bread by andypandy. The recipe had high reviews from the previous chefs and it had some lovely photos along side of it.  From all angles, it looked like a winner.

The result?? A winner it was. It had a soft, yet crusty outside and a soft and chewy inside. My husband and I agreed, it was better than the bread at Kroger!

I am so excited to finally be able to produce something better than the Italian Loaf at Krogers bakery.  For me, this kind of discovery is what cooking is all about. When it is tastier to eat at home than it is to buy food from outside sources, you know that you are on your way to cooking goodness.