REVIEW:Gluten Free Pantrys French Bread and pizza Mix

So I finally broke down and opened that expensive box of French bread and pizza mix from GF Pantry. I was only going to use it to make a small loaf of bread and save the other half to make a small pizza later on, but after halving all the other ingredients I forgot with the eggs and had to remeasure again and make a full recipe.

So I let it mix in the bread machine and then took it out after the manual cycle was over ( 50 minutes on mine). Then I spooned it into a glass loaf pan and baked it for about 40 minutes. I took it out and turned it onto a rack to cool. It smelled like 'normal' bread which was encouraging, because after I read the ingredients I was afraid this was going to taste like the glutino rice bread I purchased and had to throw out.


So my plan was to have this as our 'challah' for shabbat. We haven't had bread for awhile. It was not bad spread with a little butter, my DH even said it was good, but I still tasted the same taste as the other rice bread I'd tried, I didn't get that squek between my teeth like the other but the taste was similar. I will say it did have a lovely brown crust, which was helped by my brushing an egg wash over it before baking. So I had one slice with dinner and the rest I had planned for after havdalah for dinner. Something I love, FONDUE!

So we didn't get around to eating it then, but on Sunday we went to an early movie, ( caught Jerry Seinfelds, B' Movie, it was really cute, more on that later), and when we got out, went shopping and came home and set up the chess board and I made the fondue. I used a beer fondue recipe I revamped for GF using wine and rice flour to substitute.

I sliced 3 - 3/4 " slices from the loaf and then cubed that. I put them on a tray and into the toaster oven on 275 while I made the fondue. When all was ready, they were dried out on 5 sides, leaving one side easy to put the fondue fork into .

Well I have to say , I was pleasantly surprised from the first bite. With the yummy fondue on it, this bread really tasted like French bread( especially if you got a crust piece instead of in inside one that had none). It really made the fondue enjoyable, and my little doggie who is so used to all my wonderful cooking and baking and can tell the difference (you should have seen her face when I gave her some of that frozen rice bread before, you'd think I had poisoned her! ) stayed at the table all night ( our game lasted 2 1/2 hours) begging for more! She usually doesn't do that, so that helped with my seal of approval.

If this mix was only good for that, I'd say it was worth the extra dough to buy, but I found out it's not.

Today hubby was running late for work and said, 'I'll just take a sandwich with me" forgetting we don't usually have bread around to do that anymore. But I though, Ok, I'll make him a PBnJ on that French bread and hope he doesn't choke. Well I decided there was enough time to try to make a grilled cheese sandwich. I figured with the butter on the outside and the cheese inside, it should be bearable. So I made him one. It toasted really nice, and even when I saw smoke and thought it was burning it wasn't, just a little cheese that had snuck out. So it doesn't burn as easily as regular bread, but toasted up nice. So nice I even made myself one when he left.

Not exactly like an old fashioned Gluten bread grilled cheese, but good, lighter tasting actually. I think next time I shall employ my secret grilled cheese method I came up with decades ago, put the butter on then sprinkle with garlic powder and Parmesan cheese! YUM!

Yesterday with the omelet I made I also used it to make just toast and it wasn't too bad, just keep it thinly sliced.

So now all is left is I need to buy another package to try for a pizza crust, but it is worth trying, and we only have one end slice left in 5 days , which is really good for us.

Oh, one other thing I'd like to mention, it said to freeze what you don't eat right away, I just left it in a ziploc bag on the counter and there has been no taste deterioration nor any mold forming. I would put in fridge during hot weather, but it is fairly cool here now and it's held up like fresh baked.

Bete' Avon! ( Bon Appetit!)

I bought another package of this and tried it again, this time using my french bread pan and making two loaves. Then I got another and made mini rolls in the same pan. Look for the meatball sandwich thread for complete directions. I just wanted to add this here:

So this mix, the GF pantrys French bread and pizza mix I have only found three uses for, it makes an OK pizza crust, and french bread that will only be used for fondue, it's great, and for meatball sandwiches.

Plus I forgot that it make great grilled cheese if made in a regular loaf pan.

Purchased another box/package of this and tried to make it a different way. I think this is the way I will prepare it from now on. For Shabbat I needed two loaves of bread, plus I also wanted to try to use this for making some dog bisquits, because this was what my doggie liked, remember she stole the matzah I made with this mix at Passover?

So this time I made it using milk, others I only used water. And I choose to use the 1 egg and 3 egg whites instead of the other ratio of eggs which I can't remember right now.

Using my french bread pan I made two loaves each about 12" long, this I made , sliced about 3/8" and spread with a little butter, some Italian herbs and smoked papkira and garlic powder and toasted in the toaster oven, made great garlic bread to accompany my bean pasta ravioli.


I also got out of it, one 13"x 8" mushroom pizza

And about 20 bisquits for Jazzy

I rolled out the dough for the pizza with a greased baggie on top and using my little pastry roller, to about 1/4" inch thick. I topped it with sauce and cheese, herbs, and put the mushrooms on ( I sauted these in OO and with some garlic scaps, cut thinly) after it had baked. I will heat this for lunch tomorrow, adding extra cheese.

For the biscuits, I rolled it out the same but thinner. I used my pizza cutter to precut to 2'x2" peices. After the pizza was done ( I started the loaves ahead and when only 20 minutes left put in the pizza and biscuits) I went over it again with the pizza cutter , separating the pieces out and leaving room between, and put it back in for another 10 minutes. I left them slightly chewy for her. Oh, and before baking I smeared with the back of the spoon very thinly , some of the tomato sauce I used for the pizza. She loves my homemade sauce made from organic tomatoes and herbs, and also soup.

At first I thought she wouldn't like them, but she finally tried one and asked for more.

Oh , one other thing, I also added to the dough left after taking out for the loaves ( about a 3/5th of the dough I'd say) and 2/3 of that for the pizza , to what was left, about a cups worth I added some turkey broth I had from cooking some ground turkey, it was maybe a 1/4 of juice to the dough and beat it in well. So they had more moisture to start with , thus the extra baking, but I knew it would add flavor for her.

So, it seem all were a success. The pizza smells great n I can't wait to reheat it and try it tomorrow.

I think we finally have a wonderful way to bake this bread!

And when I first sliced it, I tried a piece with no butter or anything and was surprised it had a different flavor than when I'd made it before. It was lighter, didn't have the bland taste, crying for butter or something else. In fact we ate quite a few thin sliced pieces with nothing. so the milk and egg whites I think really make a difference. Try it this way, I think you'll agree.

Bete~ avon!

I heated up the pizza tonight. Except for the fact I could have used more sauce on it ( I didn't want to use too much because the dough was so wet like), this was so good! It had the very similare taste to a dough I used to make, a brioche dough that we loved. I think I shall get another box and dedicate it to making pizza crusts and freeze. But since the milk in this worked so well ( that was in the brioche dough) I am going to see about adding the other things and if I can't make this more like it. It's not chewy , but it isn't dry and rice bread tasting. It reheated very well in about 12 minutes between 350 and lowering to 325 for five minutes to heat the cheese through. I reheated on a pizza stone. The crust was browned but not dry.

After tasting this crust with the egg whites and milk, I don't think I shall try experimenting with any other recipe, I sure just hope Gluten free pantry doesn't go out of business, so buy up!!!!!