Daily bread: Great Harvest reopens on South Hill

If Trevor Plaisted had to pick a favorite, he would take the Baja Chipotle Turkey.

The sandwich is stuffed with avocado, pepper jack cheese, shredded cabbage and chipotle-honey-lime yogurt. And it’s one of nine cold sandwiches on the menu at Great Harvest Bread Co., which reopened last week under new ownership in its former South Hill location.

Of course, customers can always build their own – choosing the meat, cheese, other toppings and bread.

“The bread will make or break your sandwich,” Plaisted said.

He and his wife, Tori, both 39, are the the third owners of the Spokane franchise, which sells sweet and savory breads six days a week.

Look for honey whole wheat, farmhouse white, Dakota and Cinnamon Burst.

“Those four breads are pretty much the staples,” Trevor Plaisted said. “If you go to any Great Harvest, you’ll find those breads.”

Founded in 1976, Great Harvest is a Montana-based chain that specializes in breads made with whole-wheat flour from Montana wheat berries. Breads feature as few ingredients as possible. For example, Plaisted said, the honey whole wheat uses only honey, wheat flour, water, salt and yeast.

A rotating selection of breads – long, toaster or round loaves – includes cheddar garlic, monkey bread, High-5 Fiber and pumpkin swirl.

Trevor Plaisted’s favorite is the challah. He likes to breaks off chunks from a warm loaf and pop them directly into his mouth.

“It’s just a fantastic bread,” he said.

Of course, he likes autumn caramel apple, too. And the spinach feta.

“It’s very rich,” he said. “It makes a good sandwich.”

In addition to freshly baked loaves, Great Harvest sells deli sandwiches, including the Nutty Bird, with roasted sunflower seeds, basil pesto cream cheese and cucumber; chicken salad, with artichoke, dried cranberries and seasoned mayo; California cob, with blue cheese spread, avocado, turkey and bacon; and the classic, with Provolone, Dijon mustard, mayo and your choice of roast beef, turkey or ham.

There’s peanut butter and jelly, too, as well as three kinds of grilled panini: apple-bacon grilled cheese, avocado BLT and grilled cheese.

Soups, at least to start, are mushroom bisque and clam chowder.

Also on the menu: rolls (white or wheat dinner, Hawaiian sweet, giant cinnamon, breakfast); cookies (oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodle, salted caramel, chocolate chip, ginger); and muffins (oat berry, morning glory, pumpkin chocolate chip).

There are assorted cheese sticks, bars, scones and cake breads, too.

There’s no sourdough now, but the new owners are hoping to be able to add it – and a steam-injection oven in which to bake it – in the future. So, sorry, no baguettes.

No espresso, either. Coffee, from Cravens Coffee Co., is drip.

The Plaisteds took over the shop, which had closed at the end of July, in early September. They spent the next seven weeks freshening it up and learning the ropes.

This is a “huge change” for them, Trevor Plaisted said, noting, “When we looked at our future, we didn’t see a bakery there.”

The couple had learned of the opportunity from a relative. Trevor Plaisted’s uncle, Mike Stoker, owns the Great Harvest franchise in Kennewick.

Originally from the Tri-Cities, the Plaisteds had been living in Texas, where he worked as a chemical engineer and she stayed at home with their four children, ages 15, 13, 9 and 8. They wanted to leave the corporate world and be closer to their roots.

Before moving to Spokane, they had baked bread at home, but never on a commercial scale.

“Timing is everything,” Trevor Plaisted said. “But timing means different things: how long to let the yeast warm, how long to knead the dough – you don’t want to overwork it – and how long to let bread rise.”

Today, they arrive at their bakery by 5 a.m. Doors open two hours later. They have 11 employees. There’s seating for 40 customers.

They kept the color scheme the same – rustic red, sage and harvest gold – but gave the place new coats of paint. They made other improvements, too, such as adding a wall to shield the sink area and increase shelving as well as redoing the floor in the production area. Wheat berries are milled on site. Samples are free.

“Everything is fresh,” Tori Plaisted said. “Nothing will be on the shelf more than a day and a half.”