Gluten Free Bread and Pasta Recommendations

[hsmamato2]

My favorite brand hands down is Kinnickinnic gluten free breads. It is the closest I have found to traditional breads. The multigrain is my favorite as it has plenty of sunflower seeds that add a great texture and taste. I also like their hot dog buns. I actually buy the english muffins(which aren't like traditional ones), cut them in thirds, use the top and bottom for hamburger buns and use the middle third as toast. I still toast all of the breads before eating except for hot dog buns which i warm in the microwave.

For reference, I despise Udi's, find Canyon Ranch boring, do not care for texture/taste of the sprouted grains brands, and the Schlar's I do not care for taste and their inclusion of agave syrup as an ingredient.

Oh yeah....Kinnikinick is really good stuff..... the glazed donuts....

 

[Sagginit]

I have been GF for over a decade. Some of this comes down to taste preference overall. White rice flour, potato flour, and corn flours have a much blander taste... leaning towards wonder bread type bread. Brown rice flour, quinoa, nut flours, and some other ancient grains taste more like whole grain type breads. Canyon Bakehouse 7 grain is my favorite. Udis is blah and they always have holes. TJ to me is like Udis. I love Chebe dough for rolls and such. Schar bread is not my favorite but I do like their ciabatta rolls. Against the Grain makes a mean baguette if you can find it.

As for pasta I like Felicia pasta when I can find it. Ronzoni is good for your traditional box pasta type taste and texture. I still like tinyaka pasta, this one of the first I was every able to find and I got really used to the brown rice flour taste. The quinoa blends are in the middle, a bit more of a grain taste but not as strong as the 100% brown rice. Also consider Banza chickpea pasta. They are very good and you get some protein

Brands available always vary by store. If you ever have the chance to go to a GF expo its great as you can taste a bunch of brands at once. Look at it this way, you may need to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince

As for anyone complaining that it doesn't taste the same, not it won't. It's like complaining Tofu just isn't the same as beef, its not lol. That being said when I first went GF I could only find bread at healthfood stores for like $10 a loaf and it tasted like cardboard, so I lived off rice cakes. I see the GF sections at grocery stores now and I just think, "What a time to be alive!!!!".

 

[clm10308]

My son's favorite GF bread products are the BeFree brand that I have found at my local Krogers. The pita bread is his absolute favorite. Mostly we use the Great Value brand of GF pasta, but he likes the tinyaka rice pasta the best.
Birds-eye Steamers has just come out with a zucchini pasta that he really likes, but it only comes with sauce already on it

 

[crisi]

I agree it comes down to your personal taste. I can't stand the taste of bean flour, so anything with bean flour tastes bitter to me - and a lot of the people I know who are GF love the bean flour substitutes. I also agree that just avoiding "breads" and "pasta" is a good strategy. Or at least limiting them, GF substitutes are expensive and usually not very good. However, some of the one's I've found that I haven't regretted buying:

Orgran's GF pasta tastes a lot like cremette, so if you like that really white bland pasta, its a good choice. Most other GF pasta's I've had taste like whatever they were made out of - and spaghetti shouldn't taste like corn or quinoa or rice.

123 Gluten Free makes a really good pound cake mix - but its expensive. Also, the angel food cake mixes are generally pretty good, since angel food isn't a lot of flour/gluten to start with (its mostly egg whites).

I like Udi's better than most breads - and in particular their millet. But bread is by far the most disappointing and I've seldom had good GF bread. In particular, hamburger and hot dog buns seem to be difficult - most GF people I know just eat the hot dog or hamburger sans bun.

Indian food and Asian food is usually fairly GF - start experimenting with more ethnic foods in your diet. If you are looking for sweets - custards, puddings, creme brulees, ice creams - all tend to be gluten free (watch your labels, obviously cookie dough ice cream is NOT gluten free) and of course fruit. For lunches, try salads made with what you would use in a sandwich, or lettuce wraps, or cheese and meat with fruit. There are a lot of corn bread recipes that are just corn meal - and corn bread stuffing is pretty good when it comes to Thanksgiving (although my husband really likes the white Udi's in stuffing - prefers that to real bread).

 

[jenniy122]

Ronzoni makes good pasta, but I actually like my store brand (Meijer) just the same and it's less expensive. Three Bridges makes stuffed pastas that are awesome, in the refrigerated fresh pasta case. I still haven't found a good bread, so I use Udis bagels for making sandwiches, breakfast, etc. I also have liked every Glutino product I've tried.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I like Udi's and Promise. I get both at Costco. Promise actually has fiber in it. Unusual for a gluten free bread. I toast them.

I can't eat Kinnikinnick. It was the only game in town, back when I first went gluten free. And it was awful. I know it is better now, but I just can't get passed the awful memories. And if I wanted rice, instead of pasta, I would eat rice. So no rice noodles for me. I'm looking at you, Tinkyada. If I need noodles, I will make Ronzoni. But most of the time, I use squash or another veggie.

I agree with @Sagginit, it isn't the same gluten free world as it was a decade ago.

 

[klacey1]

Like @Sagginit, I LOVE brown rice pasta. Both Aldis and TJs have a version for about $2 a bag that's very, very good.

 

[wendow]

My MIL has been gf since the mid-80's when she found she had a wheat allergy but continued to react to things even that were wheat free. What she really needed was gluten free though that was not well-known back then. She says the same as @Sagginit , there has never been a better time to be alive and gluten free.

 

[minniebeth]

We're new to gluten free bread, so we don't have much to compare it to, but I've gotten Promise GF bread at Costco and my DDs have enjoyed it. It came in a double pack and was reasonably priced knowing the cost of GF bread. They prefer it toasted but enjoy it with a sandwich to go.

 

[Sagginit]

So happy to see so many GF vets here! Then again WDW and DL are the best places to vacation when you are GF no? I actually discovered Enjoy Life cookies for the first time when I was there about 8 years ago.

Also I do eat a lot of rice honestly. My husband is Indian so me being GF worked out great for us as we eat rice and curry 2-3 days a week normally.

 

[mckennarose]

If you have an Aldi nearby they have a brand called Live G Free which makes the best gluten free bread I've had. It is especially good if you heat it a bit! I've only tried the whole grain but it doesn't fall apart or crumble like most and is soft and has a pretty good flavor. Barilla makes a line of gluten free pasta which tastes the same as regular, just a tiny bit tougher.

I agree on the Aldi bread, and their plain GF bagels are really, really good! They have a great chew to them, like regular gluten bagels. I've been using them for sandwiches a lot lately.

Against the Grain baguettes are one of my favorites. Our Wegman's has them in the freezer case, but they are pricey. I don't like Udi's, Schar, or Kinnikinnick bread products. For baking mixes I love Pamela's products.

I also buy rice spring roll wrappers to fill. They are lower in fat and kinda cool to eat....at least according to one of my dd's! I usually fill them with shrimp, lettuce, cabbage, veggies and make a carrot-ginger dressing similar to one from the Japanese restaurant. I have put other fillings in, like left over chicken with a vinagrette dressing and veggies, or one time I did left over pulled pork and slaw. You just wet them and roll them up with filling. I also buy Thai rice noodles quite a bit.

Ancient Harvest has a quinoa pasta that is good. Or I use my spiralizer for zuchinni pasta (I really don't need extra carbs, lol!) and I use zucchini slices for a veggie, gf lasagna. Wegman's also carries a gf ravioli in the freezer case called Conte's. I will use other pastas on sale, like Barilla or sometimes the Aldi gf pasta.

I would love to know the brand of millet bread that BOG uses for the roast beef sandwich! I got the sandwich the past two years and I really like the bread but I always forget to ask when I'm there.