BREADS and MIXES
Recently I discovered the beauty of the bread machine. For someone who is gluten intolerant or has Celiac's disease, I would recommend getting one. It makes baking bread so EASY! I mean, you dump the ingredients into the machine, push a button, and walk away. Okay so it may be slightly more complicated than that, but really! So simple!
While I haven't ever baked gluten free bread from scratch, I have used 2 mixes in my machine. The mixes I have used are the Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Bread Mix, and the Glutino Gluten Free Bread Mix. Surprisingly, they were both really good. If I had to say which was better, I would vote for the Glutino brand. Here's a run down of each bread. Also for those int
erested, is a rating for the Udis Gluten Free Bread.
-Glutino
First off, the Glutino bread had almost NO texture difference. My husband's work buddies have become my guinea pigs and that's their opinion. Since they eat gluten all the time, I like to think they are pretty good judges of things like that. According to my faithful taste testers, the Glutino tasted almost exactly like a good loaf of home made white bread. There was no discernible after taste, either. The box made a 2 pound loaf, which was tricky because my machine is only a 1.5 pound machine.All in all, this loaf of bread was amazing. I am not a huge bread eater, but when I made this loaf-man, it was gone in less than a week. Also, as long as this was kept in the fridge, it seemed to keep moist for quite awhile. Gluten free bread tends to dry out fast if it isn't kept in the freezer.
-Bob's Red Mill
The Bob's Red Mill bread was also fairly good. My biggest issues had to do with the texture and the slight after taste it left in my mouth. The texture of the bread seemed to be slightly rubbery. Still way better than store bought gluten free, but that texture was there for sure. It also had a slight after taste to it that the Glutino didn't have. This bread also seemed to dry out rather quickly in the fridge. That irritated me quite a bit. I'm sure if I had sliced it and then frozen it, it would have been fine.Even though the bag says that it makes a 1.5 pound loaf, this bread mix doesn't fit in my machine. It doesn't ever cause problems, but when I pull this loaf out, it is mushroomed up over the top of the pan. This made removing the loaf from the pan kind of hard. But that's my problem and has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the mix.
-Udis Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread
For a pre-made gluten free bread, this is one of the best that I have found. It's dry. That's my biggest issue. I keep mine in the freezer and only pull out what I need. Then I toast it. Problem with dryness is now solved.
One of my biggest gripes is the size of the pieces of bread. Blah. They are about half the size of a normal sandwich. 4 pieces of bread laid flat equals 12 inches. Yeah, super small. Despite the size and the dryness issue, this bread is surprisingly tasty. I make sandwiches with it all the time, and I frequently use it for french toast. If you don't bake fresh, Udis is one product that will probably satisfy you.Bread Tips
-If you didn't already know this, gluten free bread makes insanely good french toast. I have found that this is because the bread is slightly dryer than normal bread. Therefore, it soaks up just the right amount of liquid without getting all nasty and soggy. If your gluten free bread ever goes dry on you, don't throw it out! Use it to make breakfast.
-Keep your gluten free bread in your freezer. It lasts longer. It isn't all that hard to pull apart two pieces and use them. Also, try not to thaw and then refreeze. This is going to dry your bread out faster.
-If you want to cut costs, bake from scratch or from a mix. A box of mix costs me around $5. Throw in the eggs and oil you usually buy a lot of, and MOST of the time it'll be cheaper to bake bread that way. Even if all the ingredients add up to the $6.99 price tag of prebaked bread, You'll still save. Why? Because the loaves are WAY bigger when you bake from scratch. I'm talking double the size of a loaf of Udis bread. The picture below is HALF of a loaf. This loaf stands about 5 inches tall...yeah, totally worth it.
Well that's all for now. I'll keep updating this post as I try new things. If I had to vote for my favorite of the above 3, I'd go Glutino. I have yet to try something made by Glutino that is gross.HAPPY EATING!
~LP~
