After being diagnosed with Celiac Disease or a gluten-intolerance, one of the first things most people look for is a good gluten-free bread. But those of us who've done it know that it's easier said than done.
Not all gluten-free bread is equal — a loaf labeled gluten-free can range from very dry and flavorless to utterly delightful. Gluten is a binding agent that keeps food together, so if you elect not to use it, the result is often crumbly baked goods that fall apart when you touch them. But don't be discouraged. There exists gluten-free bread that does not fall apart, and that tastes just as good as normal bread.
There are a few dedicated gluten-free bakeries in the Valley that offer excellent bread and baking mixes, but sometimes you just want to go to the grocery store and pick up a loaf of bread like anyone else.
But how do you know which brands are good before you buy them? Gluten-free bread tends to be expensive, so I did the taste testing to bring you this power ranking of the five of the most common gluten-free sandwich breads you can find at your local grocery store. To keep it fair, I toasted the breads before tasting, because toasted is always better.
Here's a ranking of gluten-free breads you can find at most grocery stores.
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BFree: Almost the worst
Admittedly, I did not have the highest expectations for BFree bread. I had never tried it before this taste test, but I worked at Fry's during college and had many conversations with customers about it, and I don't recall anyone ever saying it was their favorite bread. I know a lot of newly diagnosed Celiacs bought it because, at least at my Fry's, it was kept in the bakery freezer under a giant sign that said gluten-free, while all the other gluten-free breads were stocked in the bread aisle among the normal loaves and thus might've been harder to spot if you weren't sure what to look for.
After tasting the white bread, I was not impressed. That's not to say that the bread had a bad taste. Rather, it didn't have much of a taste at all. I'll admit, I haven't eaten normal white bread in nearly eight years since I went gluten-free in 2015, but I do remember it having at least some kind of flavor, even if it was subtle.
However, I don't want to speak for the brand as a whole. It's possible that the white bread just wasn't my type. BFree also sells sourdough bread, wraps, naan bread, pita bread, pizza crusts, rolls, baguettes and bagels. The cinnamon raisin bagel in particular caught my eye when scrolling through their website. Maybe that'll be the next product I taste test.
Price: $5.49 at Fry's
Pros: At $5.49, it is the cheapest bread on this list.
Cons: The slices are too large to put in an ordinary toaster without breaking them in half.
Flavor: It is flavorless.
Texture: This bread broke apart in my hands as I was eating it.
Canyon Bakehouse: Best multi-grain
This is the type of bread that my family buys on a regular basis. But I got another loaf and ate it with the others just for the sake of unbiased comparison. I picked up the ancient grain loaf and it was excellent.
Canyon Bakehouse also makes great gluten-free bagels and my personal favorite, Hawaiian sweet bread.
Price: $7.49 at Fry's.
Pros: Good taste and holds together well. Especially good if you like bread with a noticeable grainy taste.
Cons: The slices are very small, about half the size of a slice of Rudi's, Udi's or BFree. If you're the type who cuts off the crust, you'll be left with hardly any bread. I sometimes will pack two sandwiches to make up a proper sized lunch, which is a problem if you don't want to spend over $12 on bread for a single week.
Flavor: It has a noticeable grain taste, which I really enjoy with a turkey sandwich or buttered toast.
Texture: I toasted all my bread slices in the same toaster for the same amount of time, but the Canyon Bakehouse slice came out crunchier than the rest. Although it is crunchy, it does not break or fall apart easily.
Rudi's: Best classic taste
I found Rudi's homestyle original bread in the frozen bread aisle at Fry's. One thing I should note: not all Rudi's bread is gluten-free. Make sure to read the label carefully before eating it. The bag should have a blue label that says gluten-free underneath the Rudi's logo.
I ate the Rudi's bread after I ate the BFree bread, and after one bite I could tell I preferred Rudi's. It tasted like the sandwich bread I remember eating as a kid. After my taste test, I used it to make my lunch the next day and it was a perfect size and taste for a tuna sandwich.
Price: $5.99 at Fry's
Pros: Affordable as far as gluten-free bread is concerned. The slices are big enough so that, unlike Canyon Bakehouse, one sandwich will do for a meal. It is also thicker and more flavorful than BFree.
Cons: Like any bread that comes frozen, it needs to be toasted.
Flavor: Tastes like classic white bread. Great for a sandwich.
Texture: Soft and chewy.
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Schar: Biggest fail
Schar was my least favorite bread that I tried. The slices were small like Canyon Bakehouse, but in my opinion the flavor was not nearly as good. There were bigger seeds baked into the bread, but that's about all I could taste. It didn't have the typical comforting bread taste that I like.
The consistency was also a bit weird for a sandwich bread. It was too squishy and spongy — the word I wrote down immediately after tasting it was "washcloth."
Again, it's possible that I just picked up a bad loaf. I went with the artisan baker multigrain flavor. Schar also makes pastas, pizza crusts, bagels, cookies, snack cakes, crackers, breadcrumbs and puff pastry dough — none of which I have tried. They might be amazing. I only had one slice of bread, after all.
Price: $6.99 at Fry's
Pros: The bread does not come frozen, at least at my local Fry's. Of course you can choose to freeze it to make it last longer, but if you're planning to eat it quickly, you don't have to worry about freezer burn or waiting for it to thaw.
Cons: Very small slices, kind of a strange aftertaste.
Flavor: The most prominent flavor was from the seeds, but the bread itself tasted almost sour, and not in a delightful sourdough way, but rather in a "I couldn't even finish one slice of toast" way.
Texture: Very chewy and squishy. At the texture reminded me of typical wheat bread.
Udi's: Best white bread
My family used to buy Udi's sandwich bread before we switched to Canyon Bakehouse, and we still use Udi's hamburger and hot dog buns on a regular basis. These do need to be toasted, which can be a pain for hot dog buns due to the shape, but they still do the trick taste-wise.
But the focus of this taste test was bread. I bought the classic soft white sandwich bread. Of the three white breads I tried, Udi's was probably my favorite. The taste and smell were akin to the white bread I grew up eating. The only downside was that it was a bit crumbly and broke apart too easily. But if you're looking for a good-tasting standard sandwich bread, Udi's is a good way to go.
Price: $5.99 at Target. It was sold out when I went to Fry's.
Pros: Good quality for a good price.
Cons: A bit crumbly. Breaks apart easily while eating.
Flavor: Like the classic white bread that I remember. Comforting in the sense that it reminds me of eating "real" bread as a child.
Texture: Soft, but makes a lot of crumbs.
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Reach the reporter atendia.fontanez@gannett.com. Follow@EndiaFontanezon Twitter.
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