In the grocery store the other day (traveling sans camera, so no photos!), I spotted a relatively new product in the bread aisle. Orowheat seems to have released a half loaf of bread. Instead of the nearly two pound loaves of whole wheat and other popular flavors, you can now buy just a handful of slices at a time. These loaves aren't lacking in anything but the number of slices; the height and width of the bread is the same. They seem like they are designed to appeal to singles and couples who don't run through a whole loaf of bread during the average week, as if you fall into this category, you know how irritating it can be to have to waste an uneaten half-loaf at the end of the week when it is uneaten, but past its prime.

The only remaining question is why did it take so long to come up with this idea in the first place?

When you hear the term "quick loaves," most home cooks will assume that it refers only to quick breads/cakes, especially if they like to bake. In the book Quick Loaves: 150 Breads and Cakes, Meat and Meatless Loaves, however, the term applies to all kinds of baked loaves, both sweet and savory. It is divided up into five main chapters. The first deals with the basics of loaf-making and, to ensure that every one of the recipes really is "quick," the author includes directions for some basic, homemade mixes, to which you can add just a few simple ingredients to turn out a number or different finished products. Most of the things made from the mixes are cakes and breads, but once you become familiar with the strategies that the author has used to turn them into very different things, you should be able to experiment with flavors a bit yourself. The following chapters deal with quickbreads and coffee cakes; cakes and other desserts; meatloaves; and vegetarian loaves (as main or side dishes). For the baked good lovers, Devil's Food Cake in Two Shakes and are good bets, while Quick-Mix Five-Ingredient Meatloaf and Thai Turkey Loaves will please those looking for something more substantial.

Generally, the concept of coffee cakes is a fairly limited one. The cakes are usually sweet, with a moist and somewhat dense crumb that holds up well to being eaten alongside a hot drink or just held in your hand - like a muffin. There are actually a lot of things that could potentially fall under the "coffee cake" umbrella if you consider it to apply to all breakfast breads, quick and yeasted, sweet and savory. Coffee Cakes: Simple, Sweet, and Savory has over 50 recipes for all kinds of coffee cakes and breads that are "perfect for breakfast, brunch, picnics, and desserts."

Honestly, the label of "coffee cake" doesn't really work for all the recipes in this book in my opinion. Ruby Grape Focaccia? Not coffee cake. That being said, the name is really the only problem with this book. Content-wise, it is very appealing for someone who likes to bake more than cookies because of the wide variety of cakes and breads if offers, most of which will be very appealing to family, friends or whoever you like to share with. The recipes - like Cranberry-Pecan-Orange Coffee Cake, Cinnamon-Apple Walnut Torte, Cheese-Swirled Chocolate Bundt Cake, Holiday Cranberry-Nut Bourbon Cake, French Prune Plum Cake and, on the savory side, Olive-Herb Potato Fougasse - are easy to follow and there are great color photos to tempt you as you try to pick out what to make first.

In our quest for a great set of Thanksgiving recipes, we've already seen the recipes from a lot of our favorite bloggers. First, we tackled the turkey and stuffing and then we moved on to the side dishes. Today, we're looking at some great ideas for breads to serve along with the meal. Carbs may be filling, but you need something to soak up all that extra gravy, right?

• First, we have some Pumpkin Thyme Dinner Rolls from Wednesday Chef, which have a lot of flavor and a lovely color from the pumpkin.
• Nothing goes better with gravy than real Southern Biscuits from Andrea's Kitchen with White Lily flour. If you can't find white Lily, try this recipe instead, as it uses all purpose.
• This is a great time to try your hand at the ever-popular no-knead bread (recipe in the comments)
• Cornbread is a classic Thanksgiving option with a great texture. Many prefer skillet cornbread, as Meathenge does, but sweet cornbread, is a popular option, too.
• Culinary in the Desert's Roasted Garlic and Fresh Rosemary Cloverleaf Rolls (pictured) are delicious even without a feast to accompany them.
• Popovers, like Orangette's, are light, quick-cooking and very impressive when served. They're good for sopping up gravy and juices, but are also fantastic with jam in the morning.
• Parker House Rolls are the gold standard of dinner rolls and will be a favorite with everyone at the table. Take the advice from Humble Pie and keep some butter on hand when serving.
• If you prefer to have a whole grain bread for dinner, try a loaf of Maple Whole-wheat Bread, which Seriously Good said had a "nutty sweetness" and certainly looks seriously good.

The absolutely stunning crust and crumb you see in the photo above is a direct result of Not Martha's highly successful attempt at making the No-Knead Bread that Mark Bittman talked about in the New York Times last week. The bread was, to quote NM, "awesome," with a crunchy crust and an open, chewy interior. In short, it was just how you want homemade bread to turn out and the recipe is simple enough for anyone to try, in no small part because there is a video how-to that accompanies the recipe.

And, since I mentioned that anyone can make it, I should point out that just about everyone already has. The bread recipe has spread like wild-fire through the blogs and probably has in the nonblogging world, as well, considering the fact that it was one of the most popular NYT articles last week. There is even a flickr group dedicated to the bread. I'm not sure if I could track down every blogger who made the recipe, but here are a few who have: Smitten Kitchen, Wednesday Chef, Bake my day , Eat, Lovely scones, Bread, water, salt, oil, Unemployed Chef, and Brownie Points.

Feel free to post a link to your post on the bread in the comments if I didn't catch it.

I have heard many, many trick for keeping fresh bread fresh. By fresh bread, I mean the baguette or boule or sourdough loaf that you can buy at a good bakery. These loaves should have a crisp crust, a moist and soft interior and a flavor that is unrivaled by anything that comes packed in plastic at the supermarket. The fresh breads tend to go stale in a day if not properly stored. One bakery recommended to me that I store the bread in a paper bag and reheat it in the oven for a few minutes to refresh the crispness of the crust. This has been a fairly reliable method, but if you eat a lot of bread, you'll go through a lot of paper bags.

Recently, I came across these reusable bread bags that are designed to do the same job and keep bread fresh. The bags are made of cotton and can be used in one of three ways, making them more versatile than a plain paper bag. They can be unfolded to support tall loaves, folded down to form a basket for rolls or muffins and the can also be sealed with the magnets hidden inside the lip of the bag, which keeps in heat if you are serving and generally keeps the bread fresher. The bags come in black, white/sand and red.

Contrary to what you might expect from the name, this bread does not use any orange soda. It is based on soda bread, or Irish soda bread, which is leavened with a combination of buttermilk and baking soda. This use of a chemical leavener allows the bread to be prepared quickly, as opposed to a time-consuming yeast-raised bread. From Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, this Orange Soda Bread gets its flavor from a generous amount of orange zest that is added to a fairly standard soda bread recipe, but it offers a surprising crunch from the sesame seeds that Haalo included in the dough. The bread is not overly sweet, so it would be best served alongside breakfast or as a snack, perhaps with butter and jam, in the mid-morning.

For variations, you could switch the orange zest with lemon zest and use poppy seeds instead of sesame. Raisins are a typical inclusion in soda breads, so you could add in a small amount of just about any dried fruit, as well.

We already got some advice on which white breads were the best tasting (although you can always opt for homemade if you want to avoid store-bought entirely) but what about whole grain breads? There are so many different varieties to choose from, it's actually quite a feat to narrow down your criteria to the point where you can compare similar breads. One glance at the shelf in the grocery store shows whole wheat, honey wheat, oat bran, oat nut, multi-grain, 8-grain and dozens of other "whole grain" breads. Rather than trying to work out which might be the best, Food & Wine magazine picked out a few of their favorite whole grain products as a jumping off point, a benchmark that you can work from to find your own favorites. They selected De Cecco Whole wheat pasta, Pepperidge Farm Natural Pepperidge Farm whole wheat bread and Keebler Wheatables.

It's worth noting that the Pepperidge Farm bread did well in the white bread tasting, too, but I would choose Kashi's Tasty Little Crackers over F&W's choice of Wheatables for a whole-grain snack any day.

The fact that you can buy artisan panini breads - good for making any number of sandwiches - seems a bit odd. After all, the image that one usually associated with the hand-crafted and carefully baked artisan breads is of a small, local baker dedicated to high quality and not some online store. In this case, the store in question is Williams-Sonoma and they're offering sandwich panini rolls from New York's Balthazar Bakery. The breads include (3)ciabatta, (3) potato and caramelized onion rolls, (3)multigrain baps and (4)olive rolls, for a total of 13.

Actually, the idea doesn't seem so odd when you consider that cakes, cookies and other baked goods are shipped across the country all the time, but breads do tend to go stale faster than other baked goods (these stay fresh for only 3 days), so you'll have to get overnight shipping and eat them quickly once they've arrived. The rolls are $29+shipping.

Artisan breads, whole grain breads, no grain breads -- in short, anything but sliced white bread seems to be in demand these days. But what if you actually like white bread for a lunchtime sandwich or toast in the morning? Wonder Bread is not your only option. Cook's Country held their own taste test to pick out the top white sandwich bread, just in case you want a change from multi-grain.

Their top picks were Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Hearty White and Arnold Country Classics White. Each had fewer additives than other brands tasted and both had a sweeter flavor and heartier texture than the competition. The other breads -- including Wonder Country White, Sunbeam Giant White, Freihofer's Country White, J. J. Nissen ButterTop White, Home Pride Butter Top White and Country Kitchen Giant White - were judged to have sour notes and alternately dry or squishy textures. The sour notes were often accompanied by a faint aftertaste, both of which were signs of a preservative-laden loaf.

It should be noted that when the breads were tested as part of grilled cheese sandwiches, any taste differences were overshadowed by cheese and butter, but pretending it isn't there doesn't make it go away. Whenever possible, with white bread or otherwise, choose a brand that has a short, clear list of ingredients and you won't go too far wrong.

Though the very height of the "low carb craze" has passed, millions of people still follow a low or reduced carb diet. A new study reveals that, though they are sticking to it voluntarily, at least 3 out or 5 low-carbers feel limited in what they are allowed to eat and regularly crave forbidden foods, which makes sticking to the diet that much harder. The number one thing that low carb dieters miss are baked goods (50%), followed by pasta (22%) and fruit (9%). More than 25% of respondents said that the prepackaged versions of baked goods and some mixes, though diet-friendly, were not worth eating under any circumstances.

The survey was commissioned by the baking-mix company Krusteaz, and coincides with the release of a new line of low-carb baking mixes, called CarbSimple. For the sake of all those poor, dissatisfied low-carbers, let's hope that the line turns out to be a good one.

But aside from promoting a new product, the results here indicate that the diet is not for everyone. If you constantly (or even frequently) feel that you are missing out, if baked goods of any kind - from blueberry muffins to sandwich bread - are at the top of your "must-have" list, the low-carb diet is going to be a tough one to follow and you might be better off choosing a different eating regimen. Picking one strategy that you can follow long-term - low carb or otherwise - will generally produce the best results because it is one that you can willingly and happily follow.

You don't have to be a nutrition expert to know that whole grains are an important part of the diet. After all, labels promoting them are appearing on nearly every product in the supermarket, from breakfast cereals to cookies. One of the most difficult foods to get whole grains in is bread. While this may seem like an obvious choice, many people still can't resist buying a loaf of their favorite white or buttermilk loaf when they're shopping. Too many consumers have a negative perception of whole grain breads as being dry, hard and with an overwhelming wheat taste that seems too overtly "good for you."

Part of Real Simple magazine's online content this month is a taste test of whole grain breads, trying to identify the tastiest and most nutritious ones on the market. They only looked at the national brands, so while the bread from your favorite local bakery might be better, you won't go wrong by picking up a loaf of any of these choices when you a traveling or simply want to make a sandwich.

• Rubschlager 100% Whole Wheat or European Style Whole Grain
• Arnold Whole Grain Classics 100% Whole Wheat or Healthy Multigrain (available east of the Mississippi)
• Oroweat Honey Fiber Whole Grain Bread (available west of the Mississippi)
• Thomas Squares Bagelbread 100% Whole Wheat
• Pepperidge Farm 100% Whole Wheat Natural Whole Grain Bread
• Earth Grains Extra Fiber 100% Whole Wheat

One final option is to buy bread made with "white whole wheat" flour, such as some of the buns and loaves made by Sara Lee. They mimic the taste and texture of regular white bread, but offer diners an extra dose of whole grain goodness.

 

I love pita bread. Pitas are a flat bread with a large pocket inside, which forms as it cooks quickly at high temperatures. The pocket is ideal for fillings and, in fact, this is how it is traditionally used in Middle Eastern and eastern Mediterranean cuisines, where the bread is a staple. I generally use it to make sandwiches and homemade pita chips, as well as occasionally using it to dip in soups, and always keep some on hand. Often, I buy fresh pita bread from the bakery at Whole Foods, but when I'm feeling ambitious, I use a variation of this recipe to make my own.

The dough is very easy to work with and comes together quickly. In fact, the only time-consuming part is cooking them. Each pita cooks quickly, but you have to be there the whole time to monitor their progress. The resulting pitas a delicious and well worth the effort. You can substitute 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour in this recipe without sacrificing anything in terms of the texture of the finished product. Click past the jump for the recipe.

Sara Lee has just released a new line of hot dog and hamburger buns in time for the summer grilling season. The buns are made along similar lines as their best-selling Soft & Smooth bread, which contains whole grains but has the same texture and flavor as white bread. The names of the buns are a mouthful -  Sara Lee Made With Whole Grain White Hot Dog and White Hamburger Buns - but if the success of their Soft & Smooth bread is anything to go on, it is a mouthful that consumers are eager to take.

How do they make these breads? Spencer Wise is a food scientist for Sara Lee who is credited with the creation of these breads and buns. They are about 24% whole grain, made using a "white whole wheat" flour developed by ConAgra to feel softer and look similar to white flour, and contain 6 grams of whole grains per bun. Wise says that while the basics like flour, oil and yeast are important, any baker could work them out, so "the real secret recipe lies in the amount of monoglycerides, enzymes and other additives, " the combination of which allows the bread to be made successfully on an industrial scale.