Bread: Everybody Eats Gluten-Free French Bread

Last night my wife's family cooked up a large spaghetti, meatball, and sausage dinner which was a perfect opportunity for my wife and I to try out the Everybody Eats gluten-free French bread I had delivered via Fed-Ex from last week. We froze the two loafs waiting for an opportune time to try them.

To prepare a loaf my wife removed from the freezer and placed them wrapped in aluminum foil in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, after which she sliced them down the middle. Then poured down the middle a mixture of fresh minced garlic, melted butter, and black pepper. Then she placed it back into the oven without any wrapping and baked for another 10 minutes.

Taste:
The bread was simply amazing, the crust was tough and crunchy. The inside was light and yeasty. I'm planning on making a hero sandwich on a loaf.

Level of Realism:
Excellent - Various non-celiacs tried the bread and found it tastier than the real thing. They couldn't tell it wasn't regular bread. It looked like regular bread. We highly recommend this bread even at $12 for 2 loaves.

Bread: Glutano Baguette

Today Rob and I tried Glutano brand baguette. The bread is imported from somewhere in Europe and is packaged in a sealed freezer bag. It is designed to keep for many months on end with no refridgeration.

Level of realism:
Low, Glutano has a smooth exterior with no definable crust. The big drawback to the baguette, however is it's low flavor content. It really doesn't have much of a taste. We even spruced it up with butter and garlic. The baguette visually though looks like a smaller version of the real deal. We kept ours frozen then baked in a 350 degree oven, sliced in half added butter and garlic and baked additional minutes. The baguette never seemed to crisp up- it managed to keep its density regardless.

Ingredients: Glutano Baguette contains no artificial flavoring, colors or preservatives.
Water, maize starch, maize flour, sugar, rice starch, potato flakes, thickener guar gum, unhardened vegetable fat (grape and palm), potato starch, salt, yeast, acidulant (sodium diacetate).

Nutrition facts:
Serv. size: 1 Baguette
Calories: 430
Fat cal: 90
Total fat: 10 g
Sat fat: 3g
Cholest: 0
Sodium: 1,400 mg
Total carb: 82 g
Fiber: 12 g
Sugars: 4g
Protein: 3g
Vit A: 0
Vit C: 0
Calcium: 100%
Iron: 35%
Percent daily values based on 2000 calorie diet

Overall impressions:
The Glutano baguette is fine in a pinch. It has a very long shelf-life, and is a convenient size for a 2 person dinner. With so many other great gluten-free breads to choose from, it might be hard to justify selecting this one again though.

Bread: Everybody Eats Sesame Bagels

I'm on a roll, well not a roll, that was the last review, now I'm onto bagels.

I've always missed bagels, in college after a long night of partying I'd occasionally enjoy a nice bagel. Against the rules? Sure, but man they tasted good.

Last Thanksgiving I tried some gluten-free bagels from Wegmans. They were really, really dense, dry, and mealy.

With my first order from Everybody Eats I ordered a dozen sesame bagels. $20 for 8 pieces, $2.50 a bagel.

Taste:
After slicing two in half and throwing in the toaster, one gladly accepted some butter while the other one accepted peanut butter. They were amazing, a tough bagel crust and a dense but not too dense interior.

Level of Realism:
Good - While the bagels tasted great, they don't look 100% like regular bagels. Not a big issue, but if I'm rating realism I've got to review their looks. My wife did comment that they weren't as chewy as regular non-celiac bagels. Irregardless of their aesthetics, my wife and I highly recommend.

Bread: Everybody Eats Ficelle Dinner Rolls

As promised this is the second installment of a series of Everybody Eats gluten-free product reviews. After the great deli rolls, the dinner rolls would have a hard time keeping up. My wife and I got to enjoy them at dinner tonight with a nice steak.

They come a dozen to a bag for $18.00 - $1.50 a roll.

The rolls vary in shape and toppings. Poppy and sesame.

Taste:
After toasted in the oven wrapped in tin foil with a bit of butter, these rolls evenly squared out my normally roll-deficient plate. My wife and I both enjoyed them hot out of the oven. I have no point of reference- but my wife thought they tasted just like normal dinner rolls.

Level of Realism:
Excellent, they are the perfect size and have a similar texture to normal dinner rolls. Nice tough crust, and a fluffy interior. Diana and I highly recommend them.

Bread: Everybody Eats Deli Sandwich Rolls

This is the first in a series of reviews of gluten-free (celiac) products from Everybody Eats. The first time my wife and I experienced their product was at the 10th anniversary dinner for the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research. They provided dinner rolls for the meal, which were excellent. It was funny because almost everyone at the dinner (mostly comprised of celiacs and their families) kept asking the wait staff if they really were gluten-free.

I was waiting until we moved back to New York City so I could experience their products first hand.

Pedro and Bruce make and bake their various gluten-free products in Brooklyn, New York and deliver them locally. I had mine shipped Fed-ex out to my in-laws house on Long Island. The Deli Sandwich Rolls come 6 to a bag for $12 or $2 per roll plus shipping.

Ordering isn't high tech, there's no shopping cart. You just email them and they call you back.

Taste:
Upon arrival I immediately threw one in the oven to toast it up (as suggested by the manufacturer). On with the Smart Balance and it tasted amazing. The crust was crunchy with the interior being unlike any other celiac bread product I've had before. Most celiac bread is dense, this was airy. My wife and mother-in-law both had one (as a sandwich) and they thought it was very similar to an actual deli roll. They have both tried some of the normal frozen celiac bread and thought this was extremely close to a normal roll.

My wife commented, "There was no lead-ball sitting in my stomach after eating a sandwich on these rolls."

Level of Realism:
Excellent, while they weren't as big as normal Kaiser rolls they were plenty big enough for a nice sandwich. The crunchy crust and delightful interior texture made each bite a special moment. Obviously the cost is not the same as non-celiac rolls, but as we all know most celiac food isn't cheap. My wife and I highly recommend their deli rolls.

Pizza: Barkat White Rice and Brown Rice Gluten Free Pizza Crust

Last week I was shopping in Wegmans and came across ready made pizza crusts on the shelf, not requiring any refrigeration or freezing. They come from Europe under the Barkat brand and they come either as white rice or brown rice pizza crust.

I bought a package of each and tonight my wife and I had a cook off between the two of them. We bought some fresh mozzarella and pre-cooked gluten-free chorizo sausage to top them off.

Preparation:
Take the crusts out of the bag, add toppings, and bake in an oven for 10-15 minutes at 350-400 degrees.

Taste:
Both types of crust (brown and white rice) seemed extremely similar.

I re-checked the ingredients list and it seems as though a celiac shim-sham has taken place. Both are made with the exact same ingredients except the brown rice crust has caramel color added. So in reality it's not made with brown rice, it's made with rice that is colored brown with caramel color.

Level of realism:
The pizza crust wasn't too real, seemed more like a Domino's or Pizza Hut style crust versus a real New York style pizza. My wife felt the crust was near the edge tasted great, the flavor of the crust under the toppings had no flavor or texture.

In the future we are going to try pre-baking the pizza crust before adding the toppings.

Cookies: Glutano Gluten Free CoCo Cookies

Here’s my second cookie review for the day, while picking up Glutano Chocolate O’s I also picked up a box of their Co Co Cookies. They are coconut cookies covered in milk chocolate. They are quite tasty, I had trouble putting down the box. The chocolate coating does tend to melt in your hand so I would not suggest these for consumption in warm weather.

Nutritional Information:
4 cookies per serving with 100 calories of which 54 are from fat. There are 26 cookies in a box.

Rating:
Excellent, I would recommend them. They have just the right amount of coconut.

Cookies: Glutano Chocolate O's Sandwich Cookies

Continuing on the gluten-free Oreo knock-offs, I picked up a box of Chocolate O's at Wegmans in Dulles, Virginia this past week. As I mentioned in my review of Mi-Del's celiac safe Oreos kids have tough time not being able to eat the same products as their peers.

Glutano makes a cookie that looks like an Oreo, though when compared to Mi-Del they aren't as good. The cookie itself has a worse mouth feel, it has a drier powdery feel. The creme filling is also much softer which allows you to squeeze the filling out with your fingers on the cookies.

The website where you can more information is www.glutenfree-foods.co.uk

Nutritional Information:
4 cookies per serving for 200 calories, 90 of which are from fat. There are about 18 cookies in a pack.

Rating:
Ok copy of the real thing, Oreos. I would go with Mi-Del if I had the choice.

Cookies - Mi-Del Gluten Free Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Growing up gluten free as a child was especially difficult when it came time for cookies. Oreos were off limits, I'd occasionally just eat the cream centers. I longed to enjoy an Oreo cookie.

Mi-Del makes a cookie that is essentially is an Oreo knock off. My wife who can actually eat real Oreos tells me they are almost exactly the same except the gluten-free cookies are a bit crunchier.

I couldn't find a site for Mi-Del only for their distributor, Liberty Richter.

Nutritional Information:
3 cookies per serving for 160 calories, 50 of which are from fat. There are no transfats which is always a good thing. There are about 18 cookies in a pack.

The local health food store sold them for $3.19 a pack, but I'm sure it's cheaper elsewhere.

Rating:
Excellent copy of the real thing, Oreos. Perfect for young celiac children with cookie envy.