Just got better. They now have a French artisan sourdough. Cheap and very very good for the price. Nice crunchy and chewy crust, good bread texture, fantastic smell, good flavour. I’ll be buying it regularly.
Yep, Carrefour bread is ironically much better than most of the so-called bakeries now.
They also stock more quality imports from overseas aswell, the manager has got something right.
I wouldn’t go so far as to compare it with specialists such as Wendels, but then, at NT$50 for a loaf of sourdough, its FAR less expensive. Try those pointy-ended high-baked baguettes Carrefour sells, too – they’re good like Paris bakery good.
Which Carrefour do you go to? I think the quality varies from store to store. In Banciao it varies from day to day. Sometimes the baguettes haven been risen enough and are too hard. I once saw the baker rolling the dough with his elbow while talking on his cellphone. Not as bad as I saw in a local bakery where the ‘baker’ was mixing dough with two hands with a cigarette in his mouth. The cigarette had a long piece of ash just about to drop off into the bowl.
Only use the one in Xindian, don’t know about elsewhere.
hmmm… sourdough… :lick:
Thanks Sandman for the info. I did not know decent sourdough exists in Taiwan. I’ll be going. 
There is still hope afterall.
Just so long as you keep your hands off the packs of mini blinis. They’re MINE!
Oh, an uppa clarse area.
Quality does vary according to the store and its location. I noticed the new Carrefour in Taidong has less range and quality as well. The Hsintien store is much bigger and has a higher turn-over than most.
Same with the range of cheeses etc. Variable according to size/location.
That’s a lofty statement!
I will give them a go, but my previous purchases of bread from Carrefour were very disappointing. Sweet bread syndrome, like most bread in Taiwan. No thanks. 
That’s a lofty statement!
I will give them a go, but my previous purchases of bread from Carrefour were very disappointing. Sweet bread syndrome, like most bread in Taiwan. No thanks. [/quote]
There are only TWO good breads – the sourdough (in three sizes) and the pointy-ended baguettes. Not the regular baguettes, you have to get the pointy-ended ones that are dredged with flour and have a higher bake then the others. The bread inside is more of a slightly dirty-looking off-white than the pure white of the regular baguettes and much more dense and chewy.
OK, maybe not quite Paris bakery good, but its definitely as good as you’d get in a French supermarket. Absolutely not sweet. Real bread like French people would eat. No shit.
Spot on. Carrefour (in my case, the one near B&Q, near the Minquan bridge Costco) stocks a couple decent breads, especially for the price. Not quite up to Wendel’s standards, but much better than most of the local stuff. Real bread, not sweet crap. For the price, the ones Sandman points out above are among the best values in town on bread. 
You gotta eat it quick, though, as it goes stale and very very hard in just a day or so. I’m guessing this means it might possibly have fewer additives, but I’m not sure about that.
Sounds about right, as white bread without additives tend to go stale really quickly.
Going to go and have a look, despite not liking the store in Xindien, it’s crap compared to the big one in Taoyuan (opposite the hospital, the other one is shite), although it’s not as bad as some Carrefours…
Why is it that the same supermarket has such a wide range of differences between its shops here?
The same goes for every single damn chain I’ve been to here, no matter be it Wellcome, Carrefour, Geant, RT-Mart (so ok, I’ve only ever been to the one in Bitan, but it’s quite good, if somewhat strange), PX Mart, Matsusei and even Costco.
There’s a huge variation on the food stocked and even on the quality on some of the same wares…
Going to have to check this bread out later today though, sounds too good to be true. When I can afford it, I always get some bread from Lugar home bread bar, as their stuff is really tasty, but fairly expensive. The pain de campagne and the ciabatta is excellent there, best European style bread in Taiwan imho, at least for the money, until I’ve tasted this new stuff in Carrefour
They don’t let the dough rest long enough and bake it too fast and hot. Local bakers are infamous for laziness and impatience. I don’t have a link to a peer-reviewed journal, it’s just my opinion. :beatnik:
They don’t let the dough rest long enough and bake it too fast and hot. Local bakers are infamous for laziness and impatience. I don’t have a link to a peer-reviewed journal, it’s just my opinion. :beatnik:[/quote]
That’s good. One less person looking to buy MY bread.
Real bread starts to go stale the moment it comes out of the oven … but the rate at which it goes stale depends on the way and time it’s kneaded and risen …
Breadcrumbs. Once stale they make great breadcrumbs and croutons. Bash it in the mortar for fine, crumble for coarse.
Or in case of stale white bread or rolls: Dry, cut into small cubes, (optionally: roast or bake till golden brown), and use the stuff to make Semmelknödel or Serviettenknödel:
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semmelknödel
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serviettenknödel
Easy to make and great with many dishes that have a lot of sauce - not only european, but even indian or thai dishes go surprisingly well with that stuff 
FYI, the sourdough might be good but I doubt it’s real … I guess it’s made from powdered sourdough additive … factory made … now I happen to know where they have real sourdough … and I’m not going to tell you … :no-no:
Ok, I went and got some and it’s surprisingly good.
The sour dough comes in three different sizes and prices, with the medium size being NT$79 and I think the smaller was NT$59 and the large NT$99.
It has the nice sour dough taste and after taste and it’s nice and chewy, just the way it should be.
It might not be the real deal, home made super duper stuff Mr Pie makes, but then again, I haven’t tried your stuff yet, so I can’t compare the two…
They also had a ton of other “French” bread and I bought some from the super cheap NT$28 batch, not expecting much at all, but again I was pleasantly surprise, especially at the price. It’s white bread, but they also had some darker stuff (not sure what was in it) and some whole wheat bread and what not for the same price.
They also had “ciabatta” in portion size, but this wasn’t the real deal, but at NT$20, it was a pretty tasty bread that would make nice sarnies if you like soft white bread and at the moment that is going for buy 2 get 1 free.
None of the bread was sweet or tasted funny in any weird way.
The baguettes looked nice too, but be careful, there are some that looks almost the same, but have peanut filling…
For those that want some localised fusion, they also have green tea French toast (no, not the fried stuff, just bread for toasting).
Here’s a crappy picture of the loafs, the NT$28 bread to the left and the sour dough to the right.
