Here is another "guinea pig review" (I hope that none of these pretty ladies minds being called a "guinea pig". Is there a better term for a cherished bread-tester? If so, I welcome feedback.) I'm going to set it up buy telling you what's being sampled.
I gave the author, a young Blues Bread lover, 4 loaves, each from a different batch of sprouted wheat bread that I have been testing. Instructions were to share and to give feedback. She's done it before, and it has always been valuable to me, as has Sally's and Zia's, as well.
Descriptions of the breads:
Batch 1: Sprouted Wheat with lots of seeds
Batch 2: Same, with even more (ground) flax seeds
Batch 3: Oat fiber added
Batch 4: Even more oat fiber
All batches contained all-organic ingredients, and these were 27 oz wide-footprint slices.
Here comes Rachel's review:
Hello Dave!
sorry!-Two and 1/2 hours later than I said I'd mail you; here is the review on all four loaves. I will mail you about the other two smaller loaves in a few days.
I appreciate your last email, thank you! And thank you for suggesting for me to read the blog, I did.
And your friend is very good at this. I think I would like to copy her style.
Please let me know if this review was too wordy.
Thank you, and I'll see you in the next few days!
Rachel (last name withheld)
Batch 1:
Flavor:
I liked the flavor of this loaf the best of all four loaves. This loaf seemed more sweet to me and less overpowered by the taste of flax or bran.
Out of all four breads, this bread seemed to resemble in taste, my favorite regular “Blues bread”. However, I would not be inclined to purchase this bread if it was on the shelf, now knowing how it tastes. If I compare this to the most favored loaf A from the last batch of loaves, I would be inclined to purchase loaf A off the shelf rather than this loaf.
Texture:
To me, this texture seemed the best throughout the entire loaf. This was similar in texture to loaf #2 to me, but I still like this loaf the best in texture.
Footprint:
Great size for sandwiches, toast
Other features you like or dislike:
I just all around enjoyed this one the best. To me, only, it had the best flavor, best texture, best taste, out of all four loaves.
Batch 2:
Flavor:
Nutty, seedy. (Too flaxy to me) This was everyone’s favorite out of seven
people besides myself that tasted all four loaves. Each person commented
that it had a very unique taste they were puzzled by, but couldn’t put their
finger on (until I told them what they were tasting). But, although this
was almost every person’s favorite in taste and texture of all the four
loaves, they still did not feel drawn to return to this loaf either.
Texture:
Nice mouthfeel, pulled apart nicely. Good structure, whether toasted or not.
Footprint:
Great size for sandwiches, toast
Other features you like or dislike:
Personally I do not like flax in my bread. This is because it has a very
pugent, oily smell to me, and I really felt like it way overpowered loaf #2.
Loaf #1 seemed to have that similar smell to it, however, loaf #1 seemed
to taste and smell less flaxy than loaf #2, hence I enjoyed loaf #1 better.
Batch 3:
Flavor: No significant comments on taste was made on this bread. No one
really seemed to have any positive or negative thoughts on this bread. I
thought maybe I was the only one who felt this way, but, no –they just
passed this bread by after tasting it.
Texture:
A sort of mut, plain, texture. No noticeable comments were made on this
loaf.
Footprint:
Great size for sandwiches, toast
Other features you like or dislike:
My coworkers did not re-choose this loaf to eat from. This loaf was left
second-to-the-last full after I had brought this batch of loaves to work for
3 days straight.
Batch 4:
Flavor:
Seven out of seven people who tried this bread did not care for the taste
(flavor) or the texture, with taste being the first thing they commented on.
It was as if they all text eachother and decided that they were going to
mutany this loaf. Please don’t take offense to the comments my co-workers
made, they do understand these are test loaves. Here are the comments from
my coworkers: “cardboard-like”, “plain”, “no taste”, “airy”, “too plain”, “I
like #2 the best.”
Texture:
I felt that there was too much consistency with this loaf. The bread was
very plain with reguards to texture. I believe taste, alongside texture,
really affected how I viewed the texture, cuz it was difficult to ignore the
fact that I really didn’t like the taste. I really enjoy a healthy bread
that has adventure with wheat bits and small seed bits.
Footprint:
Great size for sandwiches, toast
Other features you like or dislike:
I felt the same way as my coworkers. I did not like the flavor or texture
of this loaf. It does not matter how much healthiness this bread had, I
would still not purchase this loaf based on flavor alone.
Other comments on the loaves:
On footprint alone:
The size of this bread really seemed to attribute to my other tasters as too
large for tasting. My coworkers and also my roommate really seemed to want
to taste test all four breads when they were smaller.
When I asked them to taste the breads, on each occasion, and with different
co-workers, they said in their own way “woa… that’s a lot of bread” And then
tasted it in single mouthfuls rather than halves.
-so, I decided after reading the blog on your website that one of your
guinea pigs, Sally, wrote, I now think that I am going to test the breads
for people in separate labeled baggies. Hopefully this will not be so
overwhelming for them. I am so glad you posted her response; I also will
put in a ½ sheet of paper so they can write their comments.
Taste:
Overall, this tasting didn’t go as well as the last one. My tasters had a
hard time wanting to go on tasting loaves #1 & #2, after they ate loaves #3
& #4(I had them taste the loaves out of numerical sequence). They said
loaves #3 & #4 were just “boring”. And two of my tasting coworkers are
hardcore fans of your Blues bread & Good Seed.
I believe loaf A from the previous batch of four loaves, was definitely much
more marketable in taste, texture, and smell then any of these four breads.
In fact they even said they much preferred the last batch of breads to this
batch (one girl even said “I like the other bread A better than any of these
breads).
I also unbiasly asked how much they would pay for a loaf from each # (i.e.
How much would you pay for loaf #1… loaf #2… etc.?)
Even though they may have positively commented on loaf #2 when comparing
against the other 3 loaves, each taster separately said that they would not
buy any of these breads (including #2) if it was being sold in a store.
In closing, I hope this helped. It was kind of longwinded. My coworkers are
rawly honest when they taste this bread. And, Oh, I’ll write you on the
differences between bakery loaf #1 and bakery loaf #4, when I write you
again. I need to taste these some more.
Thank you! And I hope I didn’t offend you or sound too rude –email has a
way of giving that impression.
Talk to you soon,
Rachel L Fiftal
