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Saturday, August 29, 2015

Bread Review


Bread reviews, bread reviews, hip hip hooray!
As I was writing this I was trying to recall how many gluten-free breads I have tried over the years. Honestly? I cannot remember for the life of me, it has been that many.
I will say that in the beginning, the breads were horrid!!!!!!! Oh, my gaaaaah!
Can you say brick of constipation death?
Not trying to be gross, but seriously, those things could put someone in a coma and clog up the poop shoot. They were always dry, hard, heavy, dense, cardboardesque, over priced, crumbled bits of disaster. I used to get so frustrated and angry because compared to the $2-3 gluten breads my friends were eating and enjoying, my "breads" were $7-$8 and ended up in the garbage. I would actually cave and eat gluten filled crusty bread, croissants,and the once-in-a blue moon naan bread because I couldn't take it anymore. I DO NOT suggest anyone do this because trust me, I have paid the price for that foolishness. If you have to be gluten-free, for intolerance, allergy, Crohn's, Lupus, AIP, Autism, Celiac's, trust me, there is no going back. It's so dangerous and bloody painful, just not worth it; and it leads to worse illness down the line. I cheated and know now that those moments were some of the dumbest of my life.
The good news is that many years later, gluten-free breads have become a beautiful thing. Don't believe me? Check out this obnoxiously, overly praising review of a kick-ass spot called Louise sans gluten that I did. All the praise was completely well-deserved and hard earned, believe me.
I am comfortable tearing them down if they suck, just as much as I am at ease swinging, the genuine praise bat!
This is the link for that review:
http://thekinkycoconut.blogspot.ca/2015/07/louise-sans-gluten-free-review.html

Today we are looking at Rudi's bread, to begin with. It was their Original Sandwich bread that we purchased, it cost $6.99 Canadian and we found it in the freezer section at the health food store, Tau.
It is imported from the US and is part of the Hain companies product line.
If you look at the first picture above, it is not a large loaf. This is very common with gluten-free breads, you pay triple for half the size but you get to keep your health. Fair exchange I think.
At first glance, the bread was not your typical bleached white, which I must say appealed to me as I am not a big white flour product person. I was eating whole grains when people didn't know any better and they thought I was a rabbit food lover. Sigh...the good ole' days.
Back to the review. It did not crumble or disintegrate, kept it's shape well even after toasting and was a nice spongy consistency. Not a weird sponge, that nice spring and good texture when your teeth meet the toast and bite down into it. I ate one plain, meaning no butter. I tasted a bit with nothing on it, then slathered the strawberry rhubarb compote I had made, on it. Then I had one with butter. I want to make mention that this bread is Gluten-free, Soy-free, Dairy-free, Nut-free, GMO-free,(love that) and is Kosher. So, if you have multiple allergies, this bread is a great idea, especially for the little one's who can be more finicky.
When I tasted it plain, I did notice that it was a bit sweeter than I anticipated, think Challah bread and you would have the right idea. I checked the label and it contains cane syrup, honey, and molasses. They also used Bamboo fiber which I thought was really interesting. Never seen that in my food before, for those of you balking, look up carboxymethylcellulose in food. If you ingest: ice-cream, dressings, cheese, baby formula, candy, cottage cheese, you have most likely had it and it's a plant-based/stalk bulk fiber derivative that is not well absorbed. If you use these items as well: K-Y Jelly, toothpaste, laxatives, hand cream, antacids, diet pills,  & detergents, you have come in contact with it.
Back to bread.
I was very happy with it's toasting abilities, minimal shrinkage, and that it was sturdy enough for spreads but not heavy, dense, or hard. It was sliced to a perfect thickness too, which was much appreciated.
My final thoughts on this bread?
I feel it is great for toast and tea or coffee, with jams, jellies, Nutella, maple spread, and the like. I would not recommend this for sandwiches though. Why? That sweetness would overpower the meat and just taste odd with anything savoury. You can do a mighty nut butter and jam sandwich though, just be sure to lightly toast the bread first to bring out the proper texture and flavour.

The next item I will be covering is Aladdin Pita, I know it's not bread in the shape of a loaf but it is a bread product and it was in the bread freezer section. We purchased this at Louise sans gluten grocery/bakery shop in Dorval. It was $2.89 Canadian, which we felt was very reasonably priced for gluten-free. There is, unfortunately, nothing good I can say about this pita. They were dry, dry, dry as the desert. The flavour had that familiar cardboard taste, and they were very stiff/hard. We tried softening them a bit in the oven and that did nada, we tried the microwave, toaster, slathering them in dips and spreads. I could not eat these and refused to waste money on any other ingredients by trying to use them as a sandwich. We had hoped that they could at least be crisped up more and used as pita chips but alas, that was not meant to be either.
My final thoughts on this product?
NO TOUCHIE! Just horrible and am I ever glad I did not spend a lot of money on these. They did look nice but the taste did not match. Sorry Aladdin Pita, you are another one that bites the gluten-free dust.








My final bread review is for Molly B's, (which I keep wanting to spell Mollie and I don't know why)
Pumpernickel Bread. We got it at Louise sans Gluten, and I believe it was $7.99, can't find the receipt. Argh!
This bread is a Canadian product, and it hails from Ontario. Best part? It's Corn-free!!!
I rarely find corn-free, so that's a huge brownie point, bread point? Meh, you get the picture.
It's Gluten- free, Wheat-free(why do they put that on the package if it says GF?) Soy-free and as I mentioned earlier, Corn-free.
Man Oh! Man was I ever excited for this one. I have not had pumpernickel bread in waaaaaay too long. Sour tang breads like pumpernickel, rye, and sourdough, were my favs. It has been so rough not being able to enjoy that vibrant, tantalizing, pungent bite those kinds of hearty breads provide. Well, Molly B's,(spell it with the Y Kiki, let it go...) has really come out with an amaze bombs bread. It's not as large a slice as a typical pumpernickel but it packs a great flavour punch, is uber hearty, and made shabangarang sandwiches! Whoot whoot!
I even cheated and had some strong cheddar, just to give the taste buds a challenge. I was happy and suffered some mild eczema for the cause. Won't do it again but I wanted to know if it was truly reminiscent of its old school, gluten counterparts.
Final thoughts on this bread?
Seriously? If you like pumpernickel, GET THIS BREAD!
It's not a sweet bread, definitely a rich, robust, scent and taste.
It held together, toasted beautifully. Could have done without the sesame seeds but that's a minor thing. It was that nice strong pumpernickel flavour and it did not turn to soggy mush under the pressure of condiments, food stuffs, and delayed eating. All in all, I was thrilled with it.
That's it for today lovelies, I hope this helped and that you enjoyed it.
Leave your comments below and let me know about any breads or gluten-free products you suggest I try out to review.
Don't forget to subscribe and have a blessed day.

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