Because we spend so much time in the bakery, kneading and chaffing and what not, we sometimes forget about the post. So imagine our surprise when, lurking just under our subscriptions to ‘The Bun’, and the latest edition of ‘Top Chaffer’ we saw an actual letter. A letter without a window, so not a bill, not some useless marketing from the bank – an actual letter, written by an actual person. This feeling of unbridled pleasure was further amplified when we opened the envelope and saw the title, “Best Bread’.
What we saw inside can only be described as a breathtakingly beautiful piece of prose written by a clear wheaten loving genius. It starts off a little worrying, but soon plunges you into a hot bath of compliments every bit as warming as a toasted pancake on a chilly day. This is the full letter here:
Best Bread
To Whom it Concerns
For good bread my choice is Sainsbury’s home baked granary loaf, often asking for it to be sliced right there in the store. It costs £1.20.
On a recent Sunday, leaving on the train from Botanic for a picnic in Helen’s Bay, I popped into the Spar for a piece of bread to augment a picnic planned for the occasion. “Brown Soda Big Slices” was my choice, thinking it was an economy pack for starving students. I had never before seen four slices of bread presented as a product, though I notice Irwin’s doing a half-size version of their popular crusty loaf or ‘batch.’
I was a bit ticked at discovering the four big slices were £1.15 – nearly 30p each, as much as a whole loaf of better quality sliced bread. That was until I ate the product on the bench, an hour or two later. My goodness, I haven’t tasted good bread like this since Mrs Riley of Knocknamuckley used to send her son up to Queens with a huge disc of soda, fresh off the griddle it seemed. That food item, combined with Kerry Gold serviced degrees in Engineering and Medicine – even stale, it tasted good.
That was a different age, but captured again by “Genesis Crafty.” Is it the oil, or the flour or the correct and constant heat of the oven – maybe some other ‘crafty’ ingredient. While commending your product, I feel a pang of guilt where Mrs Riley is concerned. At 30 p a slice, I owe her hundreds of pounds.
There was quite a bit of ‘eating’ in those four big slices. Two were brought home and made their mark on subsequent breakfasts. Other £1.15s have been moe foolishly spent. Many Thanks.
Regards
Mr Montgomery, Belfast.
In answer to your question Mr Montgomery – tis neither oil nor oven technology that makes our bread taste so good. It’s the recipe our Mum has given us and all the practice in baking that comes from growing up in a bakery!
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