Gluten Free Food Reviews

I found this loaf of packaged bread on display at my local Wegman’s grocery store. I was curious, and nervous, all at the same time. I have yet to discover a great dark bread , and was curious as to how it tasted. However, I was also nervous, because my last encounter with a dark gluten free bread ( Bob’s Red Mill) was less than tasty. I decided to take the plunge at plunked down $5.69 for my 1 lb. 8 oz. loaf of Le Garden Bakery’s Country Seed Bread with the hopes I could have a tasty sandwich for a late dinner that night.

When I arrived home I discovered the bread was double wrapped for freshness- a big plus in my book since this gluten free bread does not contain any preservatives.

The bread looked really good- a dark crust dotted with cornmeal, brown sesame seeds and whole millet sprinled on top of the loaf. However, it was softer than I expected and the crust toppings did not provide any of the “crunch” the package boasted. The loaf felt dense and firm as I held it in my hands, and much to my surprise it sliced easily with slight crumbling with small chunks of crust separating from the bread. I found that thinly slicing the bread seemed best for my sandwich.

The flavor was just wonderful! It was actually reminiscent of wheat bread- mild but flavorful. The bread kept it’s shape and didn’t fall apart with each bite. The brown rice flour, arrowroot flour and tapioca flours blended nicely and hardly tasted gluten free. I noticed the bread tasted slightly grainy, a more fine verses a course crumb, and was definitely on the dry side. However, I noticed on the package, that I purchased it on it’s expiration date and ate it the following day, which might explain the graininess and dryness.

Overall, it is a versatile dense and chewy bread. Due to the dryness, I will probably use the rest of this bread as french toast, croutons, or toast with butter and strawberry jam. I plan to try this bread again, except this time I will look for an expiration date.. If I notice a big difference I will let you know! That would definitely bump up the star rating.

PROS: nice flavor, great for slicing

CONS: dry and slightly grainy- watch the expiration date!

Rating: 3 1/2 stars

For some beautiful pictures of this bread and packaging, click HERE

Want to try this bread?

Check out your local Wegmans , natural foods store, or order directly from Le Garden Bakery by clicking HERE

Ingredients: Whole grain brown rice flour, spring water, whole eggs, arrowroot flour, evaporated cane juice, tapioca flour, organic palm shortening, baking soda, kosher gelatin, yeast, sea salt, brown sesame seeds, whole millet, cornmeal

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 3:20 pm and is filed under *Bread & Biscuits, Le Garden Bakery reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.