Road Trip! Panera Bread, Bakery and Cafe…Just Wow!

My week has gotten away from me.  Personally, I would like to go back to start over again, starting with about 5 a.m. Monday morning.

Why?

Because that was the time I was at Panera Bread in Cedar Hill, Texas gnoshing on all sorts of amazing food, slurping coffee in my brand new coffee cup and chatting with Jason Russel (Gen, Mgr.), Stan Sears (comedian Bakery Training Specialist), and Krista Moberg (Marketing).  And I had a blast.

These people LOVE their jobs, and to me that says a lot about Panera.

Now, the deal was that I was going up there to live blog yesterday morning but we had ice and everything was shut down.  This is Texas, land of ice-o-phobia.  A half inch of snow will close schools.  To be honest, though, this was not a half inch of snow, it was pure ice and I wan’t driving 20 miles in it. Nope.

So I missed out on that but have plans to reschedule, I will let you know.  I do have several coffee cups and coupons to give away.

Anyway.  I had planned on doing a sort of photo-diary of Monday morning.  There was a lot about Panera that I didn’t know even though I had been there alot.

I did review their coffees on Kettle and Cup.

First of all, I am a bread freak.  I will admit to the occasional foray into high protien dieting to lose a few pounds quickly but good bread is the holy grail to me.  I have been baking bread since 1974 when I taught myself how to do it.  There are few types I haven’t tried (yet) and, while I am not the master at it that many people are, I know a bit about it.  I loved the soup and sandwiches at Panera but it never occured to me to go there to buy bread when I did not have time to bake it…DUH.

Stan has about ten years on me in the bread baking department.  Not only was he friendly and funny but he shared his knowledge easily and naturally.  I did not know that the reason that bread is scored is because back in the day of community ovens it helped the various bakers know whose bread was whose.  How cool is that?

Stan talked as he deftly made various cuts in the numerous styles of breads that he was getting ready for the ovens.  A cinnamon and raisin loaf was topped with cinnamon and sugar mixed with sugar crystals.  The crystals add a nice crunch to the topping, and they looked alot like turbinado sugar.  I asked him about the cinnamon that they used and he said he thought it was Ceylon Cinnamon.

Marye: So how does someone become a baker for Panera? Do they need culinary school?

Stan: No, we train our bakers.  They train for 5 weeks.  The fifth week they have to go through an entire baking without help.  They have to get a certain amount of points to become a baker.  And then, every month they are evaluated.  They have to keep their points up.

Marye: How does the baking work?

Stan: The bakers come in at 11:00 p.m. or so.  They bake until 6:00 a.m.  The dough is made locally in Grand Prairie (that is for us, each bakery has a nearby place where the dough is actually mixed.) and then transported to the individual stores every morning.  The dough proofs for the day and then is baked fresh that night.  Nothing is frozen.

Marye: And then, at the end of the day, what happens to the left over bread?

Stan: Panera donates nearly everything, I would say that 95% or more of the unsold bread and other items goes to the various food banks and local food pantries.

Cherry Danish

That theme seems to run through Panera’s mission.  Jason Russell, the general manager, said basically the same thing, and added: Panera believes in giving back to the community.  Really giving back not just taking.  We get involved in fund raising events and donate to other things as well.  If someone has a charitable event going on they just need to come and talk to me.  We will see what we can do to be involved.

At that point the three of them began to relate various stories of Panera’s involvement in community.

Individual sized Pineapple Bundt Cake

Individual sized Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake

Then Jason began to bring out plates of food. Oh. My. Gosh.

Pecan Braid

First it was the pecan braid.  An individual pastry of laminated dough, filled with a ground pecan and cinnamon filling, buttery light, and topped with a donut like glaze and half a pecan.

I took one bite and I don’t know what kind of look I got on my face (ecstasy perhaps?) but Stan grinned and said, “we use plugra in that.”

Uh ..yeah.

Before I had that finished another plate appeared in front of me.  This time it was a Ciabatta Breakfast sandwich with applewood smoked bacon, free range eggs, and aged Vermont white cheddar.

“All natural” I was told by someone…had I not been in a dreamy state of Nirvana at that moment I could probably tell you who.  Alas, I can’t.  The ciabatta was fresh and chewy, with perfect grill marks.  The bacon was crisp and cooked and the cheese was salty cheddar perfection.  I allowed myself two bites and then the next plate appeared.  I could certainly get used to that!

Cheddar and Jalapeno Bagel

Artichoke Spinach Souffle in Croissant

Stan looked at the plate. “That is our new cheddar and jalapeno bagel.  ”

Krista: Aren’t we introducing a new breakfast sandwich or something on that?

Jason:Yep.  Next month, I think.

Their conversation sort of buzzed because I was tasting the bagel.  Chewy.  Perfect texture.  Spicy but not hot and ….

Stan: They have salsa swirled though them.  We steam the bagels.  We don;t have the room to boil them but steaming does the same thing.  They are never frozen.

I have been to New York.  I have lived on the Northeast coast.  This was a bagel.  The right size, not too big, not too tiny.

The next plate held an artichoke and spinach souffle in a croissant crust. Rich, creamy, warm perfection.  Stan told me that the day bakers make these every 1 1/2 hours so that they will be fresh.  The croissant was the perfect light crust to the souffle.  It was brilliant.

I ended with a cup of organic yogurt and pecan granola with strawberries. That was incredible.  I had a couple of bites and brought the rest home to the youngest three, Sean, Nick, and of course, Chef Kyrie.  They licked the plates.

A baguette, loaf of raisin bread, and other items came home with me.  My kids thought that Christmas had come again.

Panera Bread Bakery and Cafes have free wifi.  Their coffee is better than..you know whose.  And the food served is fresh, really fresh.  If you have read Kettle and Cup much you know that I have been less than enthusiastic about Starbucks pastries.

All of their items are all natural.  They use organic when feasible.  For example, I did some checking on the coffee roaster they use.  VERY ethical.  The coffee beans are not certified organic but only because there is a non-certified organic fertilizer used as well as a fungicide.  The coffee is fair trade and ethically grown.

Kudos to Panera.  I was impressed.  I will definitely be blogging from there when I need a break from my kitchen…and I will be buying bread from there when I am pushed for time.  I loved it.

Dallas area readers, I will let you know when I am going to be live blogging over there, so we can set up the giveaway.  If you could, just leave a comment and let me know that someone from this area reads?

Many thanks to Stan, Jason, Krista, and the rest of the Panera crew.  I had a blast. 

Images:marye audet