The Best Thing Right Now…
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The smell of fresh baked bread is one of the world’s gifts – and one that keeps getting easier to come by. Now, instead of going to a bakery or buying a bread machine, shoppers can go to their freezer. Pepperidge Farm has introduced Hearth Fired Artisan Breads, a line of frozen loaves for shoppers who want to warm their apartments but don’t have time to knead dough by hand.
There are four varieties of bread: wheat dinner rolls, French baguettes, and sourdough and rosemary olive oil “petite” loaves. The petite loaves are the perfect size for two people who don’t want bread hanging around the fridge for days on end. And the taste? The crust on the rosemary olive oil loaf was somewhat thick, and not as forgiving or as flaky as the crusts of French breads or regular Italian round loaves. The inside, though, had a wonderful chewy and firm texture, not too soft or wimpy. Unfortunately, baking only one loaf at a time doesn’t leave a small apartment smelling like a bakery – but seeing steam waft from a warm slice of bread is just as satisfying in the end.
Pepperidge Farms Hearth Fired Artisan Breads are being introduced in New York supermarkets now, priced between $3.75 and $4.65.