May 31, 2010

Great Harvest Bakery Comes to Charleston!

Last week I made it over to the Belle Hall Shopping Plaza to check out the newest addition: Great Harvest Bread Company! Finally, Mt. Pleasant has a healthy bakery! Great Harvest focuses on 5 ingredients to perfect their bread:

  1. Fresh-ground whole wheat flour
  2. Filtered water
  3. Fresh yeast
  4. A pinch of salt
  5. Something sweet (usually a local honey)
They do not use preservatives or additives either! Their whole wheat comes from Montana, but is ground fresh in store daily. The whole wheat comes from family farms, which means Great Harvest supports local crops. 

When I walked in, I had to smile at two familiar smells: fresh paint + fresh bread. Not usually smelled together, these two scents definitely brought a smile to my face. I was greeted by two friendly employees who immediately offered me samples of today's products. They had several different things shoppers could try: a couple of their daily breads, two different types of scones, a muffin, and and a huge assortment of dips, jams, oils, and nut butters! This was perhaps more exciting than the fresh smells!

First I tried a sliced of the Apple Crunch Bread with Naturally Nutty Honey Roasted Cinnamon Peanut Butter one half and Butter Toffee Peanut Butter on the other half. I was so excited to see the Naturally Nutty butters in their store! I was really impressed with the bread, and loooveddd my half with the cinnamon peanut butter. 
Next I tried a small slice of the Cinnamon Chip bread with whipped honey. This was ridiculously good. Both breads were so soft, had plenty of flavor and the ingredients were mixed well throughout. I also tried a bite of a Berry Cream Cheese Scone and had to feel my pulse to make sure I hadn't just checked in at Heaven. Nope, still alive. 

Here are some pics of the inside of the store:
Fresh breads that change daily. Pick up a schedule in the store!
Cookies, muffins, bars, scones, and cakes:
Sodas, teas, and local coffee:

Apparently each bakery's owner has some control on the products they offer. They call this a "Freedom Franchise" because "each owner has the freedom and flexibility to make their bakery a one-of-a-kind neighborhood destination." In the Mt. Pleasant bakery, they sell some exciting goodies:
Naturally Nutty butters, Great Harvest jams, oils, and whipped honey:
Soup and chili mixes:
On my first visit, I bought a loaf of the Nine Grain bread. It's a really light, whole-wheat bread with a hint of honey. It's so good that I've eaten a piece at least once a day with honey, peanut butter, avocado butter -- anything really! A few days later I couldn't stop thinking about that whipped honey, and ended up going back for that. Two days after that I was back for a Carrot Cake muffin! If you live in the Charleston area, you must must must check this place out. And be sure to sample at least a couple different breads, a scone or muffin, and the whipped honey!!

23 comments:

  1. Jealous, that all looks and sounds amazing! Now I wish I went in the one by my grandma's in Montana.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your new layout! So pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Carb envy to the max!! I've seen the Great Harvest all over KERF'S blogs and I want me summa dat breaaaad!

    p.s. the new layout is just as fabulous as you are, my love. Green and blue rocks my world!

    ReplyDelete
  4. that pretty exciting! i always love when a bakery comes to town.. people around here line up for hours in the morning to get fresh loaves :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow i'm totally jealous!! i wish there was a Great harvest near me in Chicago!! hahah yeah, fresh paint and fresh bread are rarely smelled at the same time, but fresh bread has just the most incredible aroma EVER. Hong kong has some amazing bakeries that have fresh baked buns coming out of the oven all day long, *sigh* i miss my Asian home! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like the new layout! I want Great Harvest bread desperately.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ahh! I LOVE Great Harvest! I stop by regularly and take full advantage of their generous samples!. Glad to hear you'll be able to do that now too! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Their dakota bread is the BEST! I put a pic of it up on my blog a few days ago. I'm addicted. Do you know this is the franchise Kath is opening up? They originally wanted to open one in Charleston but these people beat them to it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh my goodness this place looks like heaven! Whipped honey?! YUM. And I am dying to try their "dakota bread"!

    ReplyDelete
  10. umm JEALOUS! any type of cinnamon bread sounds right up my alley :)
    and yummy breaddddd! Ill take bread over pasta or other carbs anyday. yum.

    ReplyDelete
  11. YUMMY!!! I love great harvest!! Your layout is DARLING :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. AHHHHHH omgg! i had NO idea! thanks for the FYI! i may have to make a mt p trip VERY soon :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. This looks like a wonderful place! We have an Atlantic bread company which is pretty similar here and their soups are amazing!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I am SO jealous you have a great harvest!!!! And I can't believe they have Naturally Nutty. I've never seen it in a store!

    ReplyDelete
  15. This place looks amazing and the apple crunch bread would be what I would want! Actually I would prob want everything in there!! Ahhhhhhhh yum!!!

    Have a great day love! Sorry about losing your ring : ( I saw that you posted that on FB, I hope you find it! If not you were meant to get a new one!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sure sounds like a great bakery!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Yay for Great Harvest!! I love love love love that place and unfortunately, I am within walking distance to one. Now that I think about it, I haven't been there in awhile and may need to restock this wknd :) Have fun and enjoy it!

    ReplyDelete
  18. great harvest is awesome! we've had one in my hometown for years, and i'm glad it finally made its way to charleston/you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Lucky you!! The Great Harvest Bakery looks like a fabulous place!

    ReplyDelete
  20. YAY!! I didn't know this! I'm obsessed with the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from Great Harvest, my mother in law ships them to me from nashville. Can't wait to go get some fresh ones :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. it is a treat but you HAVE to try their Chocolate Brownie Bread

    ReplyDelete
  22. Yay I had no idea they were coming/here! You sure have been hitting up the belle hall area! You need to go to Brixx- I went there for the first time a few weeks ago. They have whole wheat crust options, vegan cheese options, & an array of other healthy alternative cooking/ ingredient options for your meals. The friend I was with was lactose intolerant and she was SOO excited when she saw the dairy-free option!) Their salads were awesome! Everything that says "chicken" on the menu is referring to chicken breast.. I made sure to ask when I ordered the BBQ Chicken Pizza, which I would highly suggest! You will love it! And I looove you! :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Link exchange is nothing else however it is just placing the other person's website
    link on your page at appropriate place and other person will also do similar in support of you.


    Here is my page turd

    ReplyDelete