Great Gluten-Free Bread Roundup

Tracy had the opportunity to participate in the Great Gluten-Free Bread Roundup last week organized by Free From Market in Orland Park. Like others, she was very critical when scoring the breads and considered four factors when giving a score. They included: taste, texture, cost and whether or not she would prefer to eat no sandwich than a sandwich using this bread. The majority of the breads she tried earned the lowest possible scores, but she did give the highest score to one loaf, Udi's Whole Grain Bread, which turned out to be the favorite by the majority of the tasters.

Here's an excerpt from Free From Market's Newsletter:

And the Best Bread Is ...

Many thanks go to our generous bakers and the many refined tasters who participated in the Great Midwestern Gluten Free Bread Roundup. Tasters ranked Gluten Free breads from dedicated GF and allergen friendly facilities throughout the country. Breads were identified only with icons (dog, cat, bird, etc.) and ingredients. Tasters ranked those breads they tasted on a scale of 1-5 (1 being the best). Afterwards they were given a key that identified the bakers. Out of over 300 ballots, here are the top three:

1. Udi's Bakery (aka "Bumble Bee") 1.736 / 5.000

2. Andrea's GF Fine Foods (aka "Fish Bowl") 2.238 / 5.000

3. Sinfully Gluten Free (aka "Panda") 2.321 / 5.000

Tasters were very critical, so it was difficult to score in the 2.0 range and only one bread at all scored in the 1.0 range. The top complement received by "Bumble Bee" and "Fish Bowl" was that they could be served un-toasted. If your bread did not score in our top three, remember, you have the key and can if you wish purchase directly from the bakers. 'Bumble Bee" is already a regular addition to Free From Market and 'Fish Bowl" will be arriving late next week as a regular addition. We still have several loaves of "Panda" in the freezer, and if there are enough requests, it too will be a regular addition. Thanks to everyone for participating. It was a lot of fun!

LIVE Shelley Case Teleseminar

Rice Works Crisps will be sponsoring a live teleseminar by Shelley Case who is a registered dietitian and author on Monday, August 31 at 7:30pm CDT.

You may submit questions and pre-register by visiting this site.

Jewel has GF Mixes on Sale

Jewel has the Betty Crocker gluten-free mixes on sale for $3.99. The sale ends this Wednesday, August 12th..so go get it now!

Group Buying!

Thanks to Mary, Laura and Betty Ann it seems that we will be able to make purchases from the food distributor at a 30-ish% discount. There are pages and pages of gluten-free products from which we will need to choose. Thus, we ask you to list items that you would like to buy. The company does not split cases so we will need to purchase at least a case of each item.

In the comments section, please list any items that you might be interested in purchasing in bulk. Then we can create an order form based on the products that interest you.

Random Product Information

Betty Crocker is giving away coupons for free gluten-free mixes. To get a coupon call 1-800-446-1898 and push '4' when prompted.

If you would like to make a product request to Jewel, call 1-877-932-7948.

Sami's Bread may or may not be gluten free. Investigate before eating!

Storehouse Foods offers freeze dried and dehydrated meals. Their products might be useful when camping, sailing, etc.

Columbia Univiersity Youtube.com Presentations

Dr. Peter Green's youtube.com presentation can be viewed here.

Mary took four pages of notes. How many will you take?

For Your Reading Enjoyment

Susan commented that she quite like the magazine, Gluten-Free Living. The photos and the recipes remind her very much of Cooking Light.

Mary mentioned that Living Without magazine is now available in paper or electronically. Two copies of Living Without were passed around the room on Saturday.

Susan subscribed to Delightful Gluten Free some time ago and has yet to receive her magazine. So, be aware.

Wayne and Laura mentioned that the August 2009 issue of Scientific American has an in-depth 8 page article on Celiac Disease. The article appears to be online at this time.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

You too can imbibe in a brew or two while your watching a game at the Friendly Confines or that other ballpark located south of the Stevenson. Levy Restaurants manages the concessions for Wrigley Field, Cellular 1 and others and offers Redbridge Beer as well as a multitude of gluten-free snacks for our enjoyment.

Go Cubbies!

Social Networking Sites

If you haven't already checked out the following sites you might want to:
1. Gluten-Free Faces is much like Facebook.
2. Gluten-Free Date is a dating site.

The Ultimate List...

...of safe and not safe ingredients can be found here.

As Promised...

...the flour blend that I use for cakes.

1 1/3 cup brown rice flour
1 cup sorghum flour
2/3 cup almond meal
1 cup potato starch

Combine and use as needed.