Product: Pamela’s Products Gluten-Free Bread Mix – $6.59+
My love for anything and everything that Pamela’s Products does for the gluten-free community is not unknown. Hands down, Pamela’s has the best baking mix out there. Every time I use it in a recipe…I get nothing but perfection. No exaggeration there either. It’s the truth.
So, awhile back, a bag of Pamela’s Products Gluten-Free Bread Mix was on the Manager’s Special table at the local grocery store. Knowing that I’ve had a lot of success with Pamela’s stuff, I snatched this right up and vowed to use it as soon as possible.
And then…it sat. Not that there weren’t a lot of options out there for me to use it with…but I really wanted to dig out my bread maker again. It has been laying dormant since I had to go gluten-free over a year ago. So, over the weekend, my roommate busted out the cleaning products and gave the bread maker a good scrub down and made it a dedicated, gluten-free bread maker.
I immediately dug this mix out of the pantry. Good thing too as it was nearing the expiration date. And it is a rule in this apartment that no gluten-free products go to waste. Ever.
I followed the instructions on the bag for the loaf of bread done up in the bread machine. Simple. Place 1/4 cup oil and two eggs into a measuring cup. Add enough warm water to take the ingredients up to two cups exactly. Pour into the bread maker and add the mix. Then add the yeast. Turn on the bread maker on the white bread, medium crust setting and let it run.
It was a thrill to be using my bread maker again. I used to make bread every week. Sometimes more than one loaf. So to be able to do it again made me happy beyond words. And it did really well in the bread maker too. I was nervous because this would be the first gluten-free loaf of bread I’d ever baked in it. So, I’d watch it carefully whenever I passed by the kitchen. But it started to rise, and then it began to bake. It smelled amazing while it was baking up. I couldn’t wait for it to finish up. And when it did, I lifted the bread out of the machine, inverted it onto a cooling rack, and the perfectly toasted, browned loaf of bread slid right out. Perfection.
I allowed it to cool for a couple of minutes before finally slicing into the loaf. The crispy outside was only the beginning. Inside the medium-brown crust was a loaf of soft, warm bread just begging to be consumed. My roommate and I agreed to split a piece, as it was getting late into the evening. So, with the end piece lopped off, we each took a bite.
The texture of the bread loaf reminds me a lot of freshly baked banana bread. It feels a bit heavier and denser than most breads. I think this mix would be ideal for any sort of bread…aside from sandwich bread. It is way too heavy for a sandwich bread. That being said, the flavor was amazing. I think next time I’ll add a touch of herbs and seasoning to the mix and really get creative with it. But as it was my first go at this, I played it safe and opted for plain.
There are countless ways to prepare this mix on Pamela’s Products Web site. No, really. If I had gone there in the first place I might have used this mix long before now.
I love the flavor and taste of this bread mix. I think it reminds me of freshly baked bread from a bakery. It made my kitchen smell like a bakery as it was cooking up. Nothing wrong with that.
If you want to give gluten-free bread making a go…I say start simple and give Pamela’s Products Gluten-Free Bread Mix a whirl. And if you don’t have a bread maker, no worries…you can bake it up in the oven just as easily…or try one of the recipe suggestions on the Web site.
It’s tasty bread in the end…any way you slice it!
The Celiathlete 