epi breads

Epi Breads Ltd.
1526 Bayview Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
M4G 3B4

416-488-1952
www.epibreads.ca

I drive by this place now and then and have always wanted to go inside. Today, after an early morning rock bathing treatment, I decided to head on over for some freshly baked bread.

Being a carb-lover, I’m always excited to try new bakeries out. So as soon as I stepped inside epi breads, I was pleasantly surprised at their extensive bread selection. Granted, it took me a while to figure out where their freshly baked loaves were. The store is actually quite large, with a cafe filling up half the premises.

I made my way over to the north side of the store, where they displayed all their freshly baked breads. At a mere 2 hours after opening, some of their goods were on the brink of selling out… although I suspect more was coming, as right behind the counter, trays and trays full of freshly baked bread and goods were waiting to be showcased on the shelves.

A woman behind the counter greeted me with a smile and asked what she could get for me. Naturally, I asked her what their most popular loaves were. She mentioned the multi-grain flax, and the pecan fruit loaves were their popular ones. I looked on the counter top and noticed a plate with bite-sized morsels of bread, which looked very much like the pecan fruit loaf sitting on the shelf. I asked her, and sure enough, it was. I took a piece and enjoyed the sweetness of the fruit that contrasted nicely with the flavour of the bread.

After much thinking, I ordered 1 butter croissant, 1 almond croissant, 1 white cheddar and chive scone, and 1 loaf of pecan fruit ($6.75). Totaling $13.47 in all, I made my way out the door, before quickly scanning for anything else I may have been interested in. I noticed at the last minute that they did have a small selection of organic tea leaves for sale as well.

The outcome:
I have to say, the croissants were wonderfully baked, with crunchy crust, moist innards, and best of all, not overly buttery. I was in fact quite surprised at how little the butter taste was. My fingers weren’t all buttered up as well, after handling the croissants. I enjoyed this croissant quite a bit, and was just as satiated with the almond croissant. I love a good almond croissant, and this one, with its non-butteryness, gave just the right balance. These are likely the best croissants I’ve tasted in a long time.

The pecan fruit loaf also didn’t disappoint. Although the crust isn’t overly crunchy, the innards were moist and springy, and with the abundance of fruit inside, this was also a great eat. The varying kinds of fruit was a nice welcome as it improves the flavour profile of the overall bread.

Another thing that impressed me was the large variety of ingredients they used for all of their breads and baked goods. With a variety of herbs, cheeses, nuts, and fruits, there was plenty of selection to choose from.

I have a feeling the next time I drive by this bakery, I will have a strong urge to go inside again.

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Published:
February 7, 2010 – 10:39 am
Author:
By Taku Kumabe
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Baking the best bagels

While I’m no stranger to baking basic homemade bread, I’ve decided to go back to the basics again and learn things from square one. From the recommendation of my friend and online forums, I purchased Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice (BBA). Even after reading just the introduction I was more inspired to bake something inside the book.

After the success of my coworker’s bagels, I decided to venture on my own bagel adventure. Looking online, I found various recipes, all yielding deliciously looking bagels. I opted to go with Reinhart’s method, which was very similar to one of the other recipes I found online at thebreadtechnique.com.

I was going to start my adventure last night by making the sponge, but I soon realized that I did not have any high-gluten/protein flour, and only had all-purpose, and cake and pastry flour-which as every baker should know-is not the same as bread flour.

So, skipping last night’s adventure, today, I am off to the local health food store, where I hope to find some high-protein flour (unbleached hard spring wheat flour is what was recommended, with up to 14% protein content), and the ever so-hard-to-find diastatic malt powder.

This latter ingredient, I tried to find at Pusateri’s and Whole Foods. To my dismay, neither place knew what I was talking about. Granted, I believe Whole Foods did have a bottle of barley syrup, which is considered a suitable replacement.

Equipped with those key ingredients, I hope to make the sponge tonight, retard the dough overnight, and bake tomorrow morning; probably the best way to start off a day!

Just a note, Reinhart’s book is packed with lots of great educational information that I absolutely love it. He actually makes the bread topic very interesting. Not only does it come with recipes-or forumulas-he takes care to explain the science behind why things happen. I love that about cookbooks, and thus will highly recommend this book for any baker wanting to get into the bread baking adventure.

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Published:
February 6, 2010 – 12:22 pm
Author:
By Taku Kumabe
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Jamming to the tunes of the Beatles

I’ve been rocking out recently to the sweet tunes of the Beatles. That is, to Rockband, Beatles Edition on the XBox 360. I find it—more recently than ever—it to be a great stress reliever.

Take today for example. After a full day of trying to meet the deadline, I snuck in a small jam session before calling it a day.

It was great to be able to pound on those drums and see that all my pounding has amounted to a smashing 97% on Expert mode on one of the challening songs!

While I don’t remember which songs I excel in, I am more and more getting confident in my ability to play the drums in Expert mode. I have to admit, some of those songs are tricky, while for others, you have to really wonder in what state of mind those kids were in while making the song.

While I pound away, I couldn’t help but notice the difficulty of the guitar. So naturally, I picked up the guitar and tried my luck. Sadly, I am nowhere near the level I’m at with the drums. But in due time, I believe I will be able to conquer a 94% in Expert mode as well. In fact, I believe I got a 90% in Hard mode on a Moderate song today.

Nonetheless, I will practice and practice until I get it all right. Perhaps the next stage will be able to simultaneously do the drums and sing…

…nah, I’d rather keep my singing to myself, thank you very much. ;)

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Published:
January 27, 2010 – 10:05 pm
Author:
By Taku Kumabe
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