I came across this news release on the Tim Hortons website tonight. It discusses the construction of a $125 million par-bake facility in Brantford, Ontario.

What, I wondered, is a par-bake facility?

Well, it seems that if you want to bake lots of bread in a giant factory, and then ship it out across the land, it’s better to partially bake it than to bake like any normal person would (i.e. all the way). According to The Pillsbury Company:

With this new technology, Pillsbury factory [sic] now bakes products until they are about 90 percent done and then ships the products to restaurants or other establishments, which merely have to heat it [sic] up in order to ‘fresh bake’ it [sic].

What I am wondering is: if you’re “merely heating up” some previously par-baked bread, is the end result really “fresh-baked?”

Tim’s currently describes its sandwich breads as follows:

All sandwiches are built on a choice of a fresh-baked white or whole wheat country bun, with tomato, lettuce and our special creamy dressing.

(emphasis mine). Will this change when the partially-baked bread is trucked in from Brantford? If I make some soup today, and then put it in the freezer and heat it up tomorrow for lunch, is this “freshly made” soup? We’ll have to wait until the bread trucks start to roll; somehow, though, I think that “choice of re-heated partially baked bread made in Brantford, Ontario” doesn’t have the same cachet.