Turano french bread...not so bad

Looking for some decent French bread without a special trip to Fox & Obel?

I was too busy manning the "baby boiler"—a gumbo pot you could easily fit a chunky toddler and a few pounds of potatoes in—last Sunday to hit the store for a fresh length of bread to go with the aforementioned gumbo, so I sent the Man to Dominick's with instructions to get the best thing he could find. I figured he'd hit the bakery and bring back one of those stale-ish sticks from the bakery department, but he walked through the door bearing Turano bread in a plastic bag. He found it in the regular bread aisle, practically hidden and alone on the bottom shelf. Two lenghthy "bats" for around $2.

And it was good.

Out of the oven, it has a crispy-flaky crust and an absorbant, airy, not too bready interior. Perfect for soaking up gumbos and building a po-boy on. I made soft-shell crab po-boys last night, and the same loaf from last Sunday, though slightly stale, crisped up perfectly again in the oven.