“What God created is what I put in it,” Leland Sycamore told The Deseret News in 1993 about Utah-based Grandma Sycamore’s bread. This pillowy-soft bread is known and beloved by many Utahns. In fact, some have pointed out that Grandma Sycamore’s is frequently used in sacrament meetings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Grandma Sycamore’s bread has an undeniably high amount of cultural cachet among the people of Utah. Grandma Sycamore’s is widely sold at grocery stores like Smith’s, Harmons, Macey’s, Walmart, Kohler’s, Ridley’s, Fresh Market, Target and other local stores.
The bread also is talked about on social media as a Utah staple.
You know the BYU men's volleyball team is a legit organization when one of their sponsors is Grandma Sycamore's homemade bread
— MIKEY CAPLIN - GUMMY KING 👑 (@mikeytcaplin) January 12, 2014
Grandma Sycamore has to be the richest Utahn
— Dan LeFevre (@dan_lefev) March 10, 2021
In Washington we’re lucky if there are two loaves of Grandma Sycamore’s bread on the shelves; half the time there are none. This is the bread aisle at Target in Utah. pic.twitter.com/jIju3D4wHN
— Scott Heffernan (@ScottHeffernan) June 29, 2019
When people encounter this bread for the first time, they often marvel at the bread’s taste and texture — one person even asked if the bread is actually cake.
We once gave a piece of Grandma Sycamore’s bread to a foreign exchange student staying with us and he asked if it was cake. It is that good. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/pqsYqLDy37
— Michael Mower (@MikeLMower) February 3, 2022
As imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it should not be surprising that recipe bloggers like Goodly Recipes and Cafe Delites have concocted copycat recipes to attempt to reproduce this bread that is sold in many Utah grocery stores.
The bread itself has rave reviews.
“BadTree” reviewed it and said, “We won’t buy another brand of bread. Me and my family love this bread. Ever since we discovered it we refuse to buy another kind/brand.” Another reviewer who went by “Djairman” said, “This is THE best bread I have ever eaten in my 37 years. I love the flavor and texture of this bread. It makes the best PB&J sandwiches and grilled cheese. I will buy this bread exclusively as long as its on the shelves! Don’t waste your money on any other white bread!”
What is it about Grandma Sycamore’s bread that makes it so good and so beloved?
What impresses me most about this bread is how versatile it is. I’ve had this bread many times in my life before: as pizza toast, in sandwiches, with soup and a variety of other ways. This bread, better than most grocery store bread, maintains a fresh taste for a few days and is good with just about everything.
The key to this bread seems to be that it doesn’t go very far. Some have noticed that Grandma Sycamore’s isn’t a nationwide brand.
I've been in Texas over a year and I still think about how much I miss grandma sycamore's bread almost every time I go to the grocery store.
— Brooke LeFevre (@BrookeLeFevre) September 25, 2022
In 1993, The Deseret News wrote, “Last year, Smith’s food stores asked Sycamore to put his bread in their stores in Las Vegas. That’s about as far as it can travel and keep the freshness. The bread is baked, cut and loaded on the trucks by 10 p.m. and reaches the stores in Nevada by 5 a.m. It is on the shelves and usually sold out by that afternoon.”
Even almost 30 years later, Grandma Sycamore’s still isn’t sold nationwide.