Delightful breads need worthy toppers

Various forms of bread have been a staple in the diet of virtually every culture since man first decided to smear lizard jelly across a chewy hunk of unleavened barley flat cake during the new Stone Age.

Over the years, the act of mixing ground-up grains and water with whatever else is handy has resulted in countless varieties, from Persian lavash and Ethiopian injera to Mexican tortillas and North American johnnycakes. Egyptians were the first to add yeast to the mix, and it has often been speculated that Cleopatra herself used to accompany her vessels of Star of Horus wine with mashed-up balls of Wonder bread.

It was during the Middle Ages in Europe that the bakery as we know it today was established, a concept most fully embraced by the French, who to this day won’t even blanch at the rather unappetizing act of toting fresh baguettes to and fro tucked under unwashed armpits.

It is this style of boulangerie that most contemporary urban American bread makers model their shops after, including Coeur d’Alene’s own Bakery by the Lake. I used to drop into their flagship operation on Third Street now and then during times of poverty, buying bags of their day-old, but still delicious, iced scones for only a few dollars. These were quite dense in composition, and along with cheap 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor they kept me full and happy for an entire day. Well, maybe the malt liquor was the main reason for the happy part.

Obviously, back then, carbohydrate intake was no concern of mine. I’ve since given up the strong lager and am much more conscious about carbs, so I had some trepidation recently about checking out the new Bakery by the Lake store on the main floor of the 20-story Parkside Tower building downtown.

For the most part, I was able to control myself. I came in to track down a spot of lunch and quickly located a deli cooler stocked with premade cold sandwiches, pasta salads, green salads and fresh fruit cups. I dug around in the pile of neatly packaged sandwiches, surveying the offerings and trying to decide which combination of meat and cheese I was in the mood for. Turkey or ham with cheddar wasn’t really striking my fancy, but the lean roast beef and pepper jack cheese option seemed to offer some potential for lunchtime excitement.

Well, a mildly pleasant feeling at least. I grabbed a container of the pasta salad and a bottle of flavored energy water and eased on over to the cash register. I suppose $12 isn’t a completely outrageous amount to spend on a quick lunch, but considering my overall satisfaction level, I felt it was a smidge on the steep side.

Not that the food wasn’t good. The roast beef was quality, the tomatoes tasted nice and bright and the lettuce leaves were fresh and crisp. The pepper jack cheese was mild and did its job just fine. The whole affair was dangerously close to something one might pick up at any grocery store deli zone. In fact, like a prepackaged Albertsons sandwich, it came with just one lonely packet each of mayonnaise and mustard, prompting me to ask the counter staff for several more. I’m big on condiments, but disassembling your sandwich and squeezing the life out of those little buggers can be a bit of a messy hassle.

The truly fine multigrain bread was the only touch of personality, and it really served to save the whole thing from being merely average, but I’d recommend using thicker slices; it barely held everything together and fell apart in my hands as I was eating. Nothing could save the pasta salad from inducing snores. The right ingredients were there: corkscrew pasta, broccoli crowns, carrot slices, red beans and garbanzos. However, the Italian dressing was bland and nearly nonexistent.

I’m sure Bakery by the Lake has the best intentions, and its primary focus is naturally on its plethora of terrific baked goods, but if they’re going to delve into the lunch market, they ought to find a way to offer something with more jazz. I didn’t notice the sign on the wall behind the counter listing some homemade soups and a handful of grilled panini until it was too late, but I suspect these are probably quite a bit more interesting and I’m looking forward to sampling them on my next visit.

Along with impressively friendly service, yummy baked goods are what Bakery by the Lake does best, and there’s a fantastic selection of guilt-inducing calorie-rich items. Along with a selection of artisan breads, there are scones, bagels, cinnamon rolls, danishes, raspberry-oat bars, muffins, croissants and a variety of cakes to name just a few. After finishing my lunch, I decided to cheat on my diet with a big cowboy cookie and a rich Caffe Umbria mocha latte.

I wanted to have my dessert on the building’s supposedly public third-floor deck, but when I got up there, the access door was locked. I ended up eating my cookie while sitting on the floor of the main lobby, ignoring the rich condo owners’ questioning looks and enjoying each calorie and carbohydrate present in every last crumb.