Best Gluten Free Breads

My daughter loves bread, especially homemade bread.  Bread has been the most difficult thing to be able to find for her.  Unfortunately, the bread she has found that she loved was on our Carnival Cruise.  (Thank you, Carnival, for having gluten free options for your cruisers!)

I have gone through all kinds of bread mixes.  I was going to make my own but hadn't ventured into it because I still needed to purchase guar gum or xantham gum, both of which I now have.  However, after all the mixes and purchasing a variety of gluten free breads from the freezer section at two different stores, we have finally found a bread mix for the bread machine that is fantastic.  It is so good that my husband and I love it as well.  You can't even tell it is gluten free.

Pamela's brand is by far the best mix we have found.  Sure, it cost $5.99 a bag and is not even size loaf like most people get from the bread section of the grocery store, but it is fantastic.  Who would have thought that something gluten free would taste so fantastic.  It can be baked in the bread machine or in the oven.  The directions suggestion is to bake it at a medium crust.  The only problem we found when following the directions is that the top crust looks great but the sides and bottom seem to be overdone.  I am about to make another loaf today and will set it to a light crust.  I think this will take care of that problem.  But even if it doesn't, the reality is this:  we have finally found a bread mix for the bread machine that is wonderful.

For those of you who don't want to make your own bread, there are numerous options out there for you.  They can be found in the freezer section of some grocery stores (I went to Kroger) and health food stores.  You will pay anywhere between $4.99 and $8.99 for the convenience.  Of all of the brands we have tried, my daughter likes Udi's the best.  Udi's has the best flavor and comes the closest to tasting like the regular gluten-filled bread that my daughter can't have.  We have even had one bread from a local gluten-free home cottage bakery which my daughter didn't like because it didn't taste like bread and had a sponge-cake consistency.

There is one big catch with gluten-free bread, which I did find out from the owners of the gluten-free bakery.  Bread that is gluten free really needs to be consumed within a day or two.  Otherwise, it needs to be frozen.  Putting it in the refrigerator does not actually extend the life of the bread.  Instead, it dries it out.  Have no fear though, there is a use for that bread or the bread that is about to be too old to keep.  Croutons!  I am used to making my own croutons from bread that is going stale and figured if I do it with regular bread, I can do it with gluten-free bread as well.  I was right.  I will close this post with my gluten-free crouton recipe. 


Gluten-Free Croutons

slices of gluten-free bread
olive oil
garlic salt, to taste
Italian seasoning, to taste

Lay out gluten-free bread slices on baking sheet.  Using either a spray bottle with olive oil (this is out new non-stick cooking spray) or a pastry brush, put a very light layer of olive oil on bread slices.  Sprinkle with garlic salt and italian seasoning.  Turn bread slices over and repeat process.  Place on the bottom rack of oven under the broiler for 3 minutes.  Turn and return to oven for another three minutes.  Remove from oven.  Cut into squares and place them back on the baking sheet.  Change oven temperature to 275 degrees and return croutons to oven for 20 minutes.  You can turn the croutons over during this process, if you like.  Turn off oven and forget about them.  This will give them time to finish drying out.  (This entire process may sound odd, but gluten free bread can be very fragile.  It is easier to get them lightly toasted and then cut them followed by the drying process.)   

You may need to adjust the time based upon the type of bread you are using.  Preslided bread browns slower than the sponge-cake type consistency.  If using bread that you can slice yourself, you can have thinner slices which brown easier.  Make sure you adjust your time for thinner slices when they are under the broiler.

You can actually use any kind of spice on these.  I haven't tried yet, but I am guessing that you could even use some powdered ranch dressing mix to make ranch flavored croutons.

The great thing about these croutons, other than being gluten-free, is that you can't tell they are gluten-free.