Good whole wheat bread bakery in Eastern TN? (Knoxville, Chattanooga: home, university)

[hadila]

Hi everyone?

I'll spend two weeks this October traveling ETN and I am truly looking forward to that .

One of my special delights when traveling in the USA is getting those wonderful breads, like Dakota / Sunflower / Breakfast Blast etc, that they make at Great Harvest Bread Co and some other places. There isn't anything that gets even close to that at home (Hamburg/Germany), only sourdough, which my stomach doesn't seem to tolerate... At times I even map out my itinerary by the Great Harvest locations. It seems to me, however, that I would have to bypass Eastern TN given these premises . And that, I feel, would be a shame.

Of course the supermarkets have jumped on the bandwagon and now have shelves of breads made with whole wheat ( the kind where you might squeeze a complete loaf with your hands into a ball...), but I'm looking for the "real thing".

There used to be a Great Harvest in Chattanooga, but that seems to have closed down, as it is no longer listed on the Great Harvest website. My closest option seems to be in Cookeville, but that would be a considerable detour to drive just for a few loaves of bread...

But maybe you know of a good option anywhere East of Chattanooga up to and including the Tri-cities area?

As a side: there is ONE supermarket bread that I do like, namely the Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon / Cinnamon Raisin Swirl WHOLE WHEAT, which I got at Kroger's in Atlanta last year, but this summer I checked about every supermarket on my way through the US-southwestern states, and they only had the normal type, not the whole wheat one. Maybe Pepperidge Farm have discontinued that item. Has anyone seen that at Krogers etc in ETN lately?

Any input would be very much appreciated.

hadila (Hamburg/Germany)

[jabogitlu]

No idea about that bread at Kroger, Hadila. If you're going to be in the Tri-Cities after October 15, you might want to stop at Earth Fare on State of Franklin road. There's going to be a fresh bakery in the store, which opens Oct. 15.

[hadila]

@ jabogitlu

<<State of Franklin road>>
So that is, I guess, in Johnson City?

<<There's going to be a fresh bakery in the store, which opens Oct. 15.>>

Now, that's what I call good timing: I'll get to Johnson City on Oct 14th - which means that I would be there after spending the night at the motel, right the next morning at the Grand Opening on the 15th! Any idea at which time they open in the morning?

yours hadila

[jabogitlu]

Yep, in Johnson City. It'll be located between Johnson City Medical Center and the East Tennessee State University Campus, right on the road, on the right as you go towards downtown.

The grand opening is at 8.

[knoxgarden]

Try Panera Bread, a bakery-cafe. They have many locations in Tennessee and a new one open in Kingsport. Good breakfasts.
Panera Bread › Find a Bakery-Cafe
Very good breads. I am quite fond of their ciabatti as well as the sunflower and the honey whole wheat. You can get it unsliced or thick or regular sliced.
There is an Earth Fare in Knoxville where you could get some provisions to tide you over.
In Knoxville, you can also stop at Fresh Market which has good bread.

[JMT]

Old Mill Bread Company at 432 N. Cedar Bluff Rd in Knoxville is the closest thing Knoxville has to a Great Harvest. They grind their own wheat and have wonderful whole wheat breads. At least they used to. I haven't been there in a while so I hope they're still open. Here's a link to the write-up about Old Mill in the Metro Pulse:

Old Mill B Old Mill Bread Company : Stories : Metro Pulse

[Tinman313]

Try this....... enjoy because I'm drooling.. Hillside Bakery - Knoxville, Tennessee - Handcrafted Organic Artisan Breads

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by Tinman313

Try this....... enjoy because I'm drooling.. Hillside Bakery - Knoxville, Tennessee - Handcrafted Organic Artisan Breads

This is owned by someone I know. She actually has a PhD and her husband is an MD. She is really, really passionate about her product. Her products are exquisite. That oven is absolutely phenomenal.

[jabogitlu]

Oh, you know, it totally slipped my mind!!! If you're going to be in Johnson City on Friday, Sat. or Sun. (especially Friday afternoons), you might want to give Scratch Brick Oven a try.

Home Page (broken link)

They're located at the intersection of N Roan St. and Unaka Avenue, across the road from Wok & Hibachi.

[hadila]

VOW - so many answers! Thanks a lot.

I've have done some follow-up web-research with these results:

a) re: >>Old Mill Bread Company at 432 N. Cedar Bluff Rd in Knoxville<<

Trouble is that they are closed at the time when I could stop in Knoxville(late Saturday through Monday) :-(

b) re: >>Hillside Bakery Knoxville<<
Just too bad - they sell their bread only on the farmer's market Tu / Fr afternoon in Knoxville and Sa morning in Oak Ridge (see a)

c) re: Panera Bread

I've known that restaurant for many years - used to run as "Atlanta Bread Co", "St Louis Bread Co" etc - but for me they just don't come anywhere close to Great Harvest . That is, however, because I don't like Italian-style bread like ciabatta, which is entirely white wheat with little nutritional value; and the only exception at Panera, the honey whole wheat, didn't taste like whole wheat at all and even less like HONEY whole wheat. So the only reason I might visit Panera is the free wireless Internet

d) re: >>Scratch Brick Oven<<

There's a real good chance with that one. As matters stand at the moment, I'll stay in Kingsport Fr night, so I might drop in at Scratch Brick Oven before that, maybe around 5 pm, so that I needn't drive back to Kingsport after dark. Anyone know, if they have all their breads out by that time? After all, they are open until *11pm* - for a bakery store kind of unusual, to say the least...

Still wondering if there has been any replacement for the Great Harvest in Chattanooga?? I'll be in that city Tue to Fr.

hadila