The best gluten free bread mix yet?

Soft seeded rolls.

There are a few adages about gluten free bread making that are quietly being disproven by pioneers in the industry. Here are some of them:

Gluten free bread must be higher in sugar or fat to help the flavour or texture
It’s really hard to make bread free from egg, dairy or soya as well as gluten because it needs the proteins
You can’t have fun shapes or rolls when you make gluten free bread because it’s made from batter and not dough
Gluten free bread is hard, fiddly and not really worth making on your own.

Whilst award-winning bakers like Wild Thexton and Romeo’s Gluten Free smash these rules to produce artisan loaves and the sourdough of my dreams; where does that leave the rest of us who can’t frequently get to their outlets? I don’t eat a lot of bread, but when I do I want something decent. Many a loaf of gluten free sliced white has languished in my freezer for months on end.

When I picked up an unassuming Bakels sample for my bread machine at the Allergy Show earlier this year, I sniffed at their display of beautiful loaves assuming they weren’t the real deal. Little did I know it would be the answer to my bready wishes. My bread machine has since gone to meet its maker (it decided to knead and bake at the same time), and the Bakels mix has become a store cupboard staple. It ticks all of the boxes:

A simple ingredients list and only needs water, oil and yeast to make
Free from gluten, wheat, dairy, soya & egg – so suitable for our whole family (in fact no allergy warnings at all)
It makes a shape-able dough. At last! I’ve tried rolls, fruit buns, a plaited loaf – such fun!
And it’s super easy to make – 5 minutes of mixing, a quick rise and a quick (25 minute) bake. (It also works in a bread machine if yours didn’t go to bready heaven)

Of course, the taste and texture is pretty right-on too. Fluffy, with a decent crust, slice-able, toast-able, freezable – bingo! I don’t often rave about products, but this is a rather good one, and I wanted to show off some of my creations using it ;)

You can track the Bakels down in White, Seeded or Artisan varieties at Sainsbury’s or on Amazon for £3.75. The one downside is there is no yeast included, so make sure you buy some too – the sachets are best.