Any Way You Slice It...

Its earliest beginnings go back to Egypt and was likely a flat bread. It wasn't until the 1800s that refined or white bread came into being. Refined bread was only eaten by the aristocracy because the process of refining flour was expensive!

These days, white bread has taken somewhat of a back seat to the more healthy options. And two prominent Omaha bread companies say business has never been better.

Great Harvest Bread Company owner Dennis Cihacek says, "Overall, honey wheat bread is a big seller." He says it's, "made of whole wheat flour, oats, bran, tofu and flax meal." All the extra ingredients cut down on the carb count and they up the protein and fiber count. And it tastes great! Cihacek says this is a favorite with those who are health conscious -- especially people with diabetes.

Great Harvest also bakes a low-carb selection each day even though low-carb diets are not so trendy anymore.

Cihacek says another big seller is the cheddar garlic which is made with white flour. His advice for bread lovers: "Eat the whole grains for your health but the others for your soul!"

Over at the Bread Oven in Dundee, manager Joe Tharp says the bread business is good. The Bread Oven is a french bakery and he says a lot of customers are just, "addicted to bread. They just love the taste of freshly baked bread. "

Tharp says the traditional baguette, made with white flour, is the top-seller but a 12-grain bread is also featured. It's baked with whole wheat flour and flax for the more health-conscious customers. Tharp's motto? "Live life, enjoy bread."

When I was a child, I woke up to the smell of fresh baked bread every Saturday morning. My mom made (still makes) the best bread! The smell of bread baking in the oven brings back wonderful memories. The taste was out of this world!

Taste isn't sacrificed for the sake of health either at Great Harvest Bread Company or The Bread Oven. That's a good thing! As Julia Child once said, "How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?"