What CAN I eat? Bread edition

Some gluten-free bread made from Pamela's Bread Mix in our bread machine

When talking to someone first embarking on the gluten-free lifestyle, one of the first questions is invariably, "What about bread???!?" Usually the tone of this question contains a certain amount of trepidation and even out-right fear.  Understandably.  Bread is the basis of so much our cultural eating - regardless of where you are in the world.  We "break bread," talk about our livings as our "bread and butter," and refer to cool inventions as the "greatest thing since sliced bread."  Bread seems to be at the very core of our existence, so taking bread out of the diet equation can seem daunting.

When we discovered youngest's gluten sensitivity, bread and other baked goods became one of our primary concerns.  We ate a lot of sandwiches.  And toast.  And bread or homemade biscuits with dinner.  Youngest LOVED all things bread so just eliminating it completely from his diet was asking for some serious mealtime struggles.  At the time we started our gluten free quest, gf baking options, while available, were a little more limited than they are now.  And most of the gluten free breads on the market were small, expensive loaves that made a pretty fair imitation of cardboard.  Seriously, most were Bad with a capital B.  For the first few years, I mostly made bread from scratch and then would dole it out in paper thin slices to make it last longer.  But in the past few years as gluten free foods have taken off as marketable commodities, more and more GOOD options have come available on the market.  Here are our favorites:

Pamela's Amazing Bread Mix:  this is our hands-down favorite in terms of ease, taste and close proximity to "real" bread.  Both flavor and mouth feel is superior to just about any other gf bread or mix out there.  Plus this mix is super easy to make if you have a bread machine (or even if you don't) - just add eggs, oil and water.  I usually buy this by the case using Amazon's Subscribe and Save program.   We also use it for making pizza crusts, rolls, and hamburger buns.

Bob's Red Mill Wonderful Bread Mix:  this mix comes in as a close second to Pamela's.

Udi's Sandwich Bread:  for a premade, sliced bread, Udi's makes a pretty good product (no cardboard here).  For me personally, I'm not as big a fan for straight up sandwiches, but youngest and oldest like it just fine (and since I don't eat bread my vote doesn't really count).  It makes great toast and also works well in French toast.

There are several other purveyors of gluten free bread products such as Namaste, King Arthur, and Gluten Free Pantry but before trying a case of any product, I would recommend getting just one package and giving it a test run.  In the world of gluten free bread, there are definitely champs vs. a whole bunch of pretenders.

If you would like to make your own gluten free bread from scratch my favorite recipes come from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  They have several gluten free recipes (all of which are good) as well as recipes for other gf baked goods such as cinnamon rolls.  You can also see some of their recipes on their website.




*We received no compensation for the unsolicited recommendations in this blog post.  Some of the links are affiliate links.