Old Post 15: Allegro Hearth Bakery

Murray Ave in Squirrel Hill is a bakery jackpot.  In three short blocks, there are 3 bakeries, all offering a different type of sweet treat.  Sweet Tammy's for the kosher folks, Gluuteny for the gluten free and Allegro Hearth Bakery for the bread lover in you.

The Allegro Hearth is primarily a bread bakery.  They have multiple kinds of fresh made bread available everyday- rye loaves, boule, baguettes, etc- as well as a smattering of other baked treats.  

And that's about all there is to say about Allegro Hearth Bakery.  

In all seriousness, they are a very middle-of-the-road kind of institution.  With no website, it's hard to get to know the bakery, understand their full menu, or see what they see themselves as being.  The store itself lacks personality and is quite stoic.

The food is not much different.  While the kalamata olive bread was quite good, nothing else really stood out.  The French baguette was not very...French.  The texture of the crumb and thickness of the crust lent it more to a sourdough baguette. 

On the baked goods side, the lemon square was on the incredibly tart side and had a loose curd.  The blueberry crisp was flavorful, but definitely needed to be heated and served with ice cream to enable a truly enjoyable dessert experience.

One of their more unique items were the cookie cups.  They look like cupcakes, but they are actually made of cookie dough.  The appearance and texture though, are disconnects.  The brain tells you it will be a cupcake that tastes like a chocolate chip cookie, not a chocolate chip cookie shaped like a cupcake.   The problem with a cupcake shaped chocolate chip cookie is that it is incredibly dense and chewy and also very dry.  Not to mention the chocolate icing on top was hard. 

Overall, the Allegro Hearth was an ok bakery.  There just isn't much to it and they aren't putting out any kind of message about themselves for people to learn and respond to.  Stick to the bread and you'll be sure to get a loaf to satisfy your artisan bread craving, but don't expect to be blown away by it's deliciousness.

Allegro Hearth Bakery's Kalamata Olive Loaf on the Sugar Love Scale:

Taste ♥♥♥
Texture ♥♥♥
Appearance ♥♥♥
Overall ♥♥♥