Ode to ciabatta bread

Sounds strange, I know.

Finding foods J will eat has always been somewhat of a challenge. He eats a variety of things, yet he has very definite tastes, likes and dislikes.

He loves bread. One of his favorite things to eat is buttered toast - with the crusts cut off. I remember growing up I didn't like crusts on bread and I always pulled it off. J is no different there. I have to cut the crusts off every piece of bread he has: toast, sandwiches. But it goes further than that. He wants the crust off of every type of bread he has. French bread, dinner rolls, french toast. The french toast is like with sandwiches and french bread is easy for me to cut the crust off. However, the dinner rolls aren't as easy. I have to either hollow the roll out and give him the inner part or peel off the crust. It all depends on what kind of roll it is. This makes mealtime interesting and sometimes difficult. If I don't hollow out enough of a roll or get every part of the crust J gets upset about it.

The only breads he doesn't want the crusts off of are hot dog and hamburger buns. Why, I don't know.

I'm always looking for different breads to try; something J will eat.

The other night I had a loaf of ciabatta bread that I decided to use for dinner which was turkry and bacon sandwiches, one of J's favorites things to eat.

I was all set to cut the crusts off of J's pieces when he stopped me. He just shook his head, picked up his sandwich and took a bite. A big bite, crust and all. He then took another bite. The next thing I know half the sandwich is gone. And not once did he complain about the crust or ask me to cut it off.

Y noticed this too and remarked how he was eating the crust on his bread. He looked at her and simply said, "I like it."

This was the first time J has ever said he's liked a crust on his bread. I asked, "You do?" and he nodded.

He then said it tastes good and that it was soft. I didn't find the crust all that soft but J did, and I agree, the crust had a good flavor to it. He finished his sandwich and then asked if he could have some buttered pieces. I got out the butter, he put it on two pieces and promptly ate them - crust and all. He then tells Y and I how the inside feels like soft, squishy bubbles in his mouth and that he likes it.

I'm thinking how great it is he likes the bread. And like it he does. He's had several more pieces since - bread and crust. In fact, he finished off the loaf today and asked me to buy more. I told him I would tomorrow.

Knowing I've had to remove crusts or hollow out dinner rolls all these years I think it's great J has found a bread he likes eating the crust on. Maybe not that big of a deal to some but it's an interesting turn of events here. It's all in the flavor of it. He told me today all the other bread crusts have no flavor so that's why he doesn't like them, along with him thinking they're too hard.

The ciabatta bread crust is "real good", in his words.

So I'll be stocking up on ciabatta bread here.