Authentic Italian Bread, My Ass!

It's Thanksgiving, and that means that I make my own bread for stuffing. I make the stuffing for a very large group, so I baked four loaves. But I still wasn't comfortable that would be enough. So because I was rushed and it was close I dashed down to Giant Eagle to pick up one more loaf of bread. It was a grab and run purchase. It was just bread - Italian bread - what could possibly go wrong?

Giant Eagle is a supermarket chain that, to me, seems to be popular with the Pittsburgh shoppers who are more concerned with convenience than quality. Every time I decide to give them another chance, they burn me. This time they got me on a loaf of bread. Intended for my stuffing, it ended up as bird food. Though the birds deserve better.

Is it just me? No. In this survey by Consumer Reports 68 supermarkets were rated based on criteria such as quality of meats and produce, price, courtesy and cleanliness. Giant Eagle ended up at #54 of 68. Of the stores available to Pittsburgh shoppers Trader Joe's was #3. Other top finishers were Costco (#6), Fresh Market (#9), Aldi (#14) and Whole Foods (#15).

When I saw "Authentic Italian Bread" I imagined a loaf being pounded out on a bakers table with "authentic" ingredients flying everywhere. But this is Giant Eagle. What was I thinking?

When I took the bread out of the bag, it had a very "unauthentic" feel. The loaf was anything but crusty. When I broke an end off of the loaf it had a "foam-like" appearance. Then I looked at the ingredients. Just a loaf of crap. Not in my cooking.

Check out that laundry list of authentic ingredients. "Artificial Flavor" - it must be authentic artificial flavor.
  

A second trip, this time to Whole Foods - and yes, for $1.30 more - I got an authentic loaf of bakery bread. Worth every penny