Great Harvest Bread Co. — Restaurant in Alexandria

Great Harvest in Alexandria rocks! Always fresh bread and sweets. Check website for hours and daily and monthly specials. Best whole wheat bread, ever. Buy 12 loaves (any type) and 13th loaf is free. You know the folks there are proud of their products and take great care in preparing on site what they sell. Check out the free samples.

Update 02/02/2018: Let me just say, first what a joy it is to visit this store. The smell of the bakery starts one's salivary glands flowing and all of the days product on the racks get one's stomach growling for all the great tastes laid out before it. The sourdough bread I got today is thebest*ever"! Great texture, mouth-watering aroma, and marvelous sour flavor. All signs of a mature starter. I like Great Harvest Alexandria's version much better than the dark, chared, sometimes burnt tasting stuff that San Franciscans seem to all rave about. Besides that hard crust from the West coast hurts to bite into! The light-colored chewy crust and dense texture reminds me of my Grandmother's sourdough bread, biscuits, cobblers, and pancakes. In the late 1970's she was still using a starter that dated back to 1843. The loaf we got today at Great Harvest Alexandra was perfect for toasting, which really brings out its aroma and flavor. We had it with a robust Greek olive oil, fresh mozzarella, basil and Campari coctail tomatoes. The perfect combination for your wonderfully flavored sour dough bread. Thank you, Great Harvest, Alexandia for taking such pride In...

I returned a small loaf of this store's Honey Whole Wheat bread. It had not been given enough time to raise properly. I spoke to the owner. She said she was aware of the bread batch yesterday, but "sometimes that happens."

Yes, that does happen. It happens when the batch is poorly raised, possibly because it's a cold day in the kitchen or the yeast is old. You raise the heat, you give it more time or both. You do not, however, "just bake anyway." That's what separates the GOOD bakeries from places that deliver a "1-star loaf." I shared this with her as kindly as I could, but she did not seem to grasp it.

I left the very dense, heavy loaf with her. She didn't offer my money back or to replace the loaf. She asked if there was anything she could do, but I was so shocked that she was rationalizing her poor baking that I didn't ask for a replacement loaf (Would it have been any better? Seems unlikely. It was colder today.)

She said I was welcome to look at any loaf before I took it home. In the past, I trusted Great Harvest to bake a proper loaf. That is over for me.

I will be looking for a different bakery, which is sad, because I rarely get bread and when I do, I liked their breads. But I can't face another loaf of un-risen cooked dough because the owner thinks that...

The bakery is very cute. Maybe I ordered the wrong bread but it seemed to not be fully cooked. Many of the loaves to me looked like they were only partially baked. I asked an employee & she assured me they were cooked completely. When we returned home & cut off a few slices - even my husband thought it needed further baking. The exterior didn't even look done. We baked in the oven for an additional 15 minutes on 325° on center rack. This seemed to help a little. Also got a cheese & jalapeno bread. I thought it was too salty but my husband & friends liked it.

The baked goods offered here are not European-style imo & that could account for my disappointment. We only had bread. We did not try any cakes or cookies. For bread we give 2 stars but as previously mentioned we like European breads Italian, French & German - which these breads...