Gluten Free Pantry French Bread & Pizza Mix

The great white whale of the gluten free food industry is bread and, by extension, pizza crust. Great strides have been made in the last few years toward capturing the whale, but we're still far short of the mark. Wow. When I first went gluten free nearly three years ago, the bread market was a pure disaster. I won't name specific brands, but it was a real nightmare. The current market is slightly better. I will even go so far as to assert that the gluten free bread industry still needs huge improvements. If we're honest, there is no way that the currently available pre-made loaves come close to glutinous bread. This just means that there is a lot of room in the market for new brands or improved older brands.

I usually keep a loaf of Rudi's Multigrain gluten free bread, a loaf of Udi's white bread, and a loaf of Udi's cinnamon and raisin bread in the freezer at all times. On the pizza front, I switch between Udi's and Rustic Crust.

The Rudi's bread is the closest to regular bread, in my opinion. It is the size of a typical loaf of sandwich bread. The multigrain tends to mask whatever negative gluten free taste may be there otherwise. I really like Udi's white bread for grilled cheese. But the size of Udi's bread makes it difficult to use for a cold cut sandwich. The cinnamon raisin bread makes great toast in the morning. The major problem with Udi's bread is the not uncommon presence of huge air bubbles through the loaf. Not a huge problem for toast, but a real pain for PB&J or grilled cheese. ALL of these breads will crumble when bent.

But this post is about a Gluten Free Pantry bread mix.

This mix requires more ingredients than some other mixes. For example, you need apple cider vinegar and honey. That's not a problem. Just more complex. Still, it was very easy to make. Unlike some mixes the dough really rose a lot.

With this mix I was able to make a medium thick pizza crust and a medium sized loaf of bread. Like most gluten free mixes, the dough was incredibly difficult to manipulate. It was extremely sticky. I didn't really try too hard to spread it thinly. Although, in retrospect, I think that would have improved the crust a great deal. In the end, it just didn't taste or feel like pizza crust. I wonder if I spread it cracker thin if it would be better. Hmmm.

As for the loaf of white bread, the picture shows how it formed, with a nice crispy crust and airy interior. In the end, the look and feel of the bread was very close to glutinous French bread. But again, the taste just didn't impress me. Honestly, most of the bread is going to go to waste just because it wasn't that great.

In the end, I would probably try this mix again as a super thin pizza crust. I, personally, have no use for this kind of French bread loaf. It's definitely no French baguette. HOWEVER, I can see how some people may enjoy it, so I guess I would still recommend it.