Sometimes it's the simple pleasures that you miss from home, and the one thing that European and North American residents on the Island may have been craving is a bakery making continental breads.

So they will be pleased to hear that there is a new venture underway that aims to deliver a new choice of bread for the Island.

The Grand Central Deli on Washington Street recently completed an expansion of their kitchen and have now branched into bread making.

For owner Matt Waite, bread has been a natural progression for the deli. "There was a real need for artisan breads in Bermuda," says the man who brought us fresh cheesecake directly from New York and the biggest range of cured meats on the Island.

Grand Central is now baking a range of gourmet breads that includes both favourites such as Tuscan bread, sunflower bread, sun-dried tomato bread, peasant bread, sour dough and pesto bread.

Mr. Waite has adopted the traditional early hours of a baker and has not been loafing around, rising at 2.30 a.m. to start baking. The deli is producing roughly 200 loaves a day which retail at $4.95 each.

As well as being sold at the deli, Grand Central's artisan breads are also on the shelves at both Lindo's, the Supermart and Whites Groceries and special orders for bread can be made with a day's notice by calling the deli (at 296 9462).

It's no piece of cake to produce good bread on a commercial scale and Mr. Waite says he tried a few different baking methods before he came up his current range of breads.

"The humidity in Bermuda makes it difficult to maintain a European-style crust," he says. "I recommend that people put the loaves in a 400 degrees oven for five minutes if they want to get the best results."

So far the feedback has been good with strong sales and glowing reviews. "People light up when they come in and see all the different varieties of breads in the deli" he says.