As winter contains to maintain

its icy grip on the area, many of us are turning to comfort foods to help

us get through these dreary days.

Pots of chili and soup are

simmering on the stove and many of us are baking corn bread and biscuits

It's the bread that I want

to focus on this month. I have always been a huge fan of freshly baked

bread, although I don't eat quite as much as I used to. I haven't quite

gone to the extreme of the bread Nazis of Dr. Atkins diet lovers, but

I'm simply choosier when I decide to eat bread.

The question is, though, where

do you get good bread?

I'm not talking about the pasty,

white, tasteless stuff that many of us make sandwiches out of every day.

I'm talking about bread more in the European tradition: hearty, crunchy

and filled with flavor.

In the last few years, good

bakeries have become one of the niche markets in the food industry. In

major cities, including Atlanta, bakeries are popping up on every street

corner and offering their interpretation of focaccia and baguettes.

We're not quite that fortunate

here in the hinterlands, but I do have some recommendations:

Break of Day bakery on Ga.

Highway 74 in Peachtree City.

This is the only genuine bakery

in the area. Walk in the shop and the aroma of fresh-baked bread overwhelms

you. The bakery offers several varieties of bread baked that day, along

with a good selection of sandwiches and desserts.

Publix - many locations. This

grocery store has the best bread of any of the grocery chains. Where else

can you get Cuban bread on the south side?

The sandwiches at the Atlanta

Bread Company - Fayette Pavilion. Not only does this establishment offer

healthy choices for lunch, but the breads and muffins are some of the

best anywhere.

That's about it. With nearly

200,000 people in Fayette and Coweta counties, I think we're severely

underserved in the bread department. C'mon, entrepreneurs... give us our

daily bread.