ABO quinoa and rice loaves



Since I last wrote about Artisan Bread Organic’s products, I’ve received a comment from Ingrid, who is a staff member, or perhaps the owner. Not that that’s particularly relevant.

Ingrid feels very bruised by my opinion of their bread (so far published), and in particular the fact that I prefer what she regards as an inferior product – Genius brand bread. She’s also pointed out that the “may contain gluten” flash that I’ve highlighted is a legal requirement. However, the requirement is there because there is a possibility (however remote) of cross-contamination, and since the life expectancy of celiacs is directly proportionate to their adherence to a 100% gluten free diet, I still feel that the presence of this flash means they should avoid it.

Ingrid’s comments make me feel a little bit guilty – not a lot, but a bit. I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. But equally, I don’t want to lie and say something is wonderful when, from my point of view, it’s not.

When I bought bread before I was gluten free, it was extremely rare for me to buy it as an artisan-type product, and equally rare to treat it as a health food. Bread at that time was for me just a wrap for sandwich fillings, or sometimes I would turn it into toast and eat it with eggs, or honey…

Now that I have to avoid gluten, I have had to give up sandwiches and toast until recently. I did try a few gluten free “breads” but in general wasn’t impressed at all – they mostly looked like faded Madeira cake, and tasted like Madeira cake without the sugar… And they fell apart far too easily to be any good for sandwiches anyway. I decided to forget about bread and started eating Corn Thins (I will write about these next time I manage to get hold of a packet).

That is why I was delighted when someone recommended Genius bread, and tried it – to find it was just like sandwich bread. That’s what I want bread for.

If you are the type of person who was into artisan bread before you went gluten free, and you are not a celiac, I’m sure you will love these loaves (including the 2 I’m about to write about below). But if you are looking for a substitute for yer average loaf of sliced bread, you won’t find it in these products.

Right, so let’s get down to today’s reviews. I’m doing the ABO rice loaf and the ABO quinoa loaf, both of which are listed as naturally gluten free.

The top 3 pics are of the quinoa loaf. The ingredients list for this is as follows:
Freshly milled (on our in-house gluten free mill) organic wholegrain quinoa flour (55%), revitalised filtered water, wholegrain demeter rice flour (13%), natural leaven* (gluten free), sea salt.
Contains
Naturally gluten free.
May contain
Sesame seeds, gluten.

This loaf is slightly more squishy than the first two. It tastes neutral, and doesn’t give you that “sand in the mouth” feel when you eat it. It goes well with jam, not so well with marmalade (which seems to disappear well before you’ve finished chewing it).

The rice loaf has the following ingredients listed:
Freshly milled (on our in-house gluten free mill) demeter rice flour, demeter whole rice, revitalised filtered water, natural leaven (gluten free)*, sea salt, Hildegard herbs: pellitory root powder, wild thyme, galangal root powder. Topping: organic millet.
Contains
Naturally gluten free
May contain
Sesame seeds, gluten

This loaf is quite neutral in taste. The millet adds a touch of crunch which is rather nice. It goes well with jam and honey, less well with marmalade.

As I’ve said, if you’re into artisan bread, these will probably be right up your street. Unfortunately, I’m not in the target market.


Date: June 30th, 2009 | Comments: 1 Comment »

Category: Product reviews

Tags: , , ,

Eat Natural fruit and nut bars

Eat Natural brazil, sultana, almond & hazelnut bar
Here it is unwrapped

I can’t believe it’s almost a week since I posted about the Genius bread – I only just finished it, so tomorrow I’ll be trying out some more of Artisan’s bread.

But today, I’m blogging about Eat Natural bars. These are gorgeous and come in no less than eleven different flavors, six of which I would try if I saw them. The ones I wouldn’t bother with contain enough peanuts to be mentioned by name and/or a yogurt coating. Though you will find them in supermarkets and some garage forecourts, it’s unlikely they will stock more than 2 or 3 of them.

They range in price from 60-99p a bar, depending on where you buy them. The ingredients list for the bar in the picture is as follows: almonds 15%, peanuts 15%, glucose syrup, sultanas 13%, brazil nuts 11%, hazelnuts 9%, puffed rice (rice, raw cane sugar), dried apricots 7%, honey.

Underneath the ingredients it says Food sensitivity and allergy advice: Contains nuts (including peanuts). In our makery, we use sesame seeds, soya and cows milk. We can’t be absolutely sure they won’t find their way into this bar.

As you can see, it’s not exactly a “natural” bar, because it contains at least 13% glucose syrup (as ingredients are ordered by quantity in this country). But I don’t care! These bars are so nice, they are definitely worth eating at least occasionally.

This is a list of the different types which I got from their website:

  • with…almonds apricots and a yoghurt coating
  • with…brazils sultanas almonds and hazelnuts (the one shown here)
  • with…macadamias brazils and apricots
  • with…blueberries pistachios and a yoghurt coating
  • with…dates walnuts and pumpkin seeds
  • with…cranberries macadamias and dark chocolate
  • with…peanuts almonds and hazelnuts
  • with…peanuts cranberries pistachios and milk chocolate
  • with…100% organic brazils hazelnuts and sultanas
  • with…blackcurrants walnuts mango and dark chocolate
  • with…cherries, almonds and a yoghurt coating

A good number of these I’ve never seen on sale…

Anyway, I can recommend these bars. If you see them on sale, jump on them. But remember to check the label. So far as I know, they’re all gluten free, but as it doesn’t emblazon the fact on the front, this may change at any time.


Date: June 22nd, 2009 | Comments: No Comments »

Category: Product reviews

Tags:

Genius white gluten free loaf

The Genius white loaf
A loaf of bread - Genius!
A slice of Genius
Genius bread toasts well

I had to go down to the Doctor’s yesterday, and as it’s right opposite Tesco, I couldn’t resist the opportunity of going in to get a loaf of wonderful Genius bread. So that’s what I did.

From the pictures you can see that Genius bread looks like a (small) loaf of bread. It also squishes like a small loaf of bread. And when you slice it, it’s a bit easier than a normal loaf, but other than that, the experience is pretty much the same. And you can toast it, and it tastes like toast! Who’d have thought it?

Here’s the ingredients list:
Water, Potato Starch, Cornflour (which is what we call cornstarch), Vegetable Oil, Tapioca Starch, Egg White, Rice Bran, Cellulose, Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum), Sugar, Yeast, Rice Flour, Salt.

And the Allergy Advice box:
Contains egg.
Gluten free, wheat free, dairy free.
Suitable for vegetarians.
Produced on a site that does not handle nuts.
Cannot guarantee nut free.

This is a 400g loaf, like the ones from Artisan Bread Organic. It’s probably at least twice the size, though, because this bread is light and fluffy, the way you expect bread to be.

There’s not really much to say about this bread. It’s bread. You can use it to make bread and butter to go with your tea, or soldiers for your egg, or a great sandwich, and also for toast. Something I know people miss, a LOT.

Genius brand bread is available in both white and brown varieties. At the moment it’s only available in Tesco stores. It’s actually made in Edinburgh, I believe. This loaf cost me £2.49 – and it keeps well in the fridge, so it generally lasts me 4 or 5 days.

I’ll review the brown one another day. Meanwhile, here are a couple pictures of Genius bread after slicing, and after toasting.

Please try not to drool on the keyboard.


Date: June 16th, 2009 | Comments: 2 Comments »

Category: Product reviews

Tags: , ,

ABO Linseed (flax) loaf – naturally gluten free

ABO linseed loaf
A slice of the linseed loaf

Yesterday and today, I’ve been eating the linseed loaf from Artisan Bread Organic – billed as “naturally gluten free”. However, like the buckwheat loaf, when you inspect the ingredients list, you find that this is not guaranteed.

On the front of the pack it says: Contains one HEAPED TEASPOON of freshly ground linseed per slice. Do not toast this bread.

Here are the ingredients, as shown on the packet:
Freshly milled (on our in-house gluten free mill) demeter wholegrain rice flour and demeter whole rice (51%), revitalised filtered water, freshly ground whole organic linseed (9%), natural leaven (gluten free)*, sea salt.
Contains Naturally gluten free
May contain Sesame seeds, gluten.

There it is again: “May contain… gluten”. Yet it is sold as gluten free. So this loaf, like the buckwheat is not safe for celiacs. At least water appears only third on the list of ingredients this time!

I noticed both on this and the other loaf that demeter appears to be regarded as a very special type of rice (or at least, they’d like you to think so), but I can’t find anything online saying what is special about it. Maybe it’s just a brand or buzzword with no intrinsic meaning.

The linseed loaf is as ungiving when you squeeze it as the buckwheat, so I decided to slice it thinly again. The loaf is not as large as the buckwheat, it has the same width and depth, but the height is probably about 80% of the height of the buckwheat loaf.

As you can see, the bread is quite dense, but also crumbly. It’s quite difficult to get a whole slice. When buttered and nibbled, it’s quite dry and very crumbly, turning into a sand-like consistency in the mouth, although it tastes better than that sounds.

Yesterday, I tried one slice with some cheese, and this was quite tasty. I ate a total of 3 slices, one with cheese and butter, one with just butter and the third, later on, with the thin smear of raspberry preserve that I generally prefer. The flavor of this loaf is not so aggressive that it blots out all other flavors.

Today, I bought some marmalade, and tried a couple of slices with that. It was ok, but the sandy texture is a little offputting. I won’t be buying this again.

I have a couple of slices of this loaf left. If I don’t eat them today, I will finish it off tomorrow, before moving on to another loaf.

ABO linseed loaf IngredientsUPDATE. In case there’s any doubt, here’s a picture of the ingredients list.


Date: June 14th, 2009 | Comments: 2 Comments »

Category: Product reviews

Tags: , ,

ABO Buckwheat loaf – naturally gluten free

The buckwheat loaf unwrapped
A slice of buckwheat bread

Yesterday and today I tried Artisan Bread Organic’s buckwheat loaf.

Here is the ingredients list:

Revitalised filtered water, freshly milled (on our in-house gluten free mill) organic buckwheat flour and whole buckwheat (37%), freshly milled demeter wholegrain rice flour (17%), natural leaven (gluten free)*, sea salt, organic caraway seeds. Contents Naturally gluten free. May contain Sesame seeds, gluten.

So here are a few things that spring to mind immediately: it’s a little over-the-top isn’t it? “revitalised filtered water”? Sorry, this sort of marketing bull leaves me cold. As this over-hyped water is the first thing in the list, it means that there is more water than anything else. And it costs over £4 a loaf including delivery.

The most worrying thing is the last entry: “May contain… gluten”. This is in spite of the fact that it’s sold as gluten free, and one has no chance to read the ingredients until AFTER delivery. But it may account for something that occurred to me yesterday, more further on.

As you can see from the picture, the loaf is about 3.5 inches or 9cm on a side. It has the weighty feel of a black German rye loaf, so I decided to slice it as thinly as possible, in the same way that type of bread is generally served.

The inside of the loaf is densely packed with few or no air bubbles. I cut 2 thin slices and buttered them, then took a taste. As I found it quite sour and strongly flavored, I decided that I would put a little raspberry preserve on to make it nicer. Unfortunately, the thin smear I usually go for was nowhere near enough to mask the taste, so I ended up putting it on really thickly, and even then, I could still taste the bread through it. I think this bread either has to be eaten on its own and savored for itself (if you like it) or maybe Marmite or Gentleman’s Relish would be strong enough not to be completely swamped by it.

I would like to be able to tell you how moist the bread was, but with that much jam on the top, it wasn’t possible to tell. It did seem quite dry, but like I said, the jam kinda made up for that. It was very filling.

A couple of hours later I had to rush to the toilet – and as this is the only thing I can pin it on, I have to assume it was the bread – especially now I have checked the details on the label (which I’ve only just done).

Just to check whether it was the bread or something else, I ate another couple of slices a few minutes ago. I’ll edit this post with my final conclusion on that aspect.

When I ate it this morning, I was finding it hard going, because it was just so unpleasant tasting, and I had difficulty in finishing the 2 slices. I binned the rest of the loaf, which is something I very rarely do, but there is no way I’m going to eat any more of it. Suffice to say, I will not be buying this again.

Tomorrow I’m going to try the linseed loaf. Wish me better luck with this one!

UPDATE: There was no repeat of the incident mentioned, which means (a) it was something else or (b) the first couple of slices had brushed up against a non-gluten free loaf in the factory and I’m getting more sensitive than I realized. I guess a is more likely, but seems strange, as I have a gluten free kitchen and have not eaten anything from “outside” that wasn’t carefully checked first.


Date: June 12th, 2009 | Comments: No Comments »

Category: Product reviews

Tags: , ,

« Older Entries