Namaste Foods Gluten Free Bread & Roll Mix, 16-Ounce (Pack of 6)

I just recently did a gluten-free bread mix bread machine challenge, by which I mean that I tested *all* of the gluten-free bread mixes that I could find, in my bread machine. I tested Pamela's, Glutino, Bob's Red Mill, Bella, and this Namaste. Namaste and Pamela's are definitely the clear winners (which surprised me, as I thought the Bob's would be right up there, but it was spongy, like so many GF breads are). Another surprise was that the Glutino's wasn't as bad as I had been led to believe it would be, but I digress...Now mind you, I am testing in a Zojirushi BBCCX20 Home Bakery Supreme Bread Machine, which is one which makes *horizontal* loaves. So your mileage may definitely vary if you are using a vertical loaf machine.The texture and quality of the Namaste and the Pamela's is very similar (and appreciably better than the Bob's, Bella, and Glutino). Where they differ is that the Pamela's mix is 19 ounces, and the Namaste is 16 ounces. Whether it is the actual volume that makes the difference or not, the Pamela's makes a somewhat taller loaf of bread (again, in a horizontal machine). The Namaste barely came up to half-way up the pan when it was baked (in fact, it is identical to the picture on the box - if you look closely at the picture you will see that it is a sandwich made on bread that is about half-sandwich size, and which clearly was baked in a horizontal pan).But, that got me to thinking! Could I do a double-batch, and come out with a full-size loaf? Would it work, or would the laws of bread physics yield a loaf that was soggy in the middle, or otherwise horrible?Guess what! It works!!Doing a double batch yielded a gorgeous, full-sized loaf! (See picture.)Now, a few notes:1. During the first mixing, I had to monitor it, and scrape the sides of the pan a bit to make sure that all of the dry ingredients were incorporated.2. About 10 minutes into the initial mixing, I stopped the machine and restarted it, to give it a bit more initial mixing time. I don't know if I had to, but I felt I should, so I did.3. This is obviously not a cheap loaf of bread (each package is about $6, so this is a $12 loaf of bread - but that said, I would totally do it again, just not on a daily basis :-) )I am going to fully write up the entire challenge for my gluten-free website, if anybody wants to see it, drop me a note. :-)

As a lifelong baker of all sorts of breads and other family recipes using regular flour, when I unexpectedly developed an intolerance for gluten I thought it would be easy to find good recipes using substitute ingredients for the flour. I spent a lot of time and money trying GF bread recipes. I bought recipe books, used all kinds of flours, and was ultimately not satisfied with any of them. The breads were crumbly or not a pleasing texture in the mouth or, in the case of garbanzo bean flour, bubbly in the tummy. And forget the store bought GF breads -- what do they do to some of them that they last for months on the shelf (?!), and others that are kept in the store refrigerator seem dry and tasteless.Then I stumbled upon the Namaste bread mix. I love it. Bread that tastes, smells and feels like a real bread!I do make a few alterations to the package instructions. I add a teaspoon of sugar to the yeast/water mixture to boost the proofing. Sometimes I add caraway seeds and Italian herbs to the dough, or cinnamon+a teaspoon vanilla+1/8 C. sugar. And as soon as I take the bread hot out of the baking pan, I butter or olive oil the top and wrap the whole loaf in aluminum foil to keep in the moisture while it cools. Then I slice the cooled bread, put pieces of wax paper between the slices and freeze the loaf in a freezer bag. That makes it easy to pop one slice at a time in the microwave for 30 seconds (served warm, it's even more moist and tasty). One of these days I'm going to try making hamburger buns by baking the dough in small bowls.This bread mix is easy and, compared to buying GF bread in the stores or the price of amassing the various ingredients to try to make your own from scratch, it's not all that expensive. I buy it in boxes of 6 from Amazon because it's the best price by far that I've found anywhere.

This is a pretty good gluten-free bread, but in my family's view, not as super delicious as Pamela's. I like this bread for a basic sandwich bread--it has a decent texture and no strong or off flavors. And rises to a nice size. However, I found it to be much dryer than Pamela's GF bread mix. I'm not sure what the solution to the dryness is--I'm going to try the strategies other reviewers recommended about putting olive oil on the top or adding applesauce to the mix. (Note, though, that even though I say this loaf is somewhat dry, that's in comparison to Pamela's; Namaste is far moister than the typical Bread For Life, Kinnikinnick premade breads. So it's a huge improvement over those and worth making just for that reason). Note that it is also much less sweet than Pamela's bread, which my children eat like candy when I cut it open warm. Thus, it may be better for people who have diabetic concerns (I'm just guessing, but Pamela's bread is VERY sweet). Note that I've tested both breads only by using a bread maker. The breads worked beautifully that way.

Since I've found the gluten-free breads in the market to be pricey, brick hard and barely palatable, I thought I'd give Namaste a try. After all, it got rave reviews.The directions say to follow your manufacturer's recipe if you have a bread machine, so that's what I did......with a bit of modification as I just couldn't see wasting 3 perfectly good egg yolks (the recipe provided calls for 1 egg and 3 whites). So I used all of the 4 eggs, but the mixture looked way too runny. So I added 2/3 cup tapioca flour and 1/2 cup rice flour and VOILA! The loaf turned out PERFECT - light, fluffy, very tasty. None of the qualities of the flavorless bricks I'd been buying in the market. Had Namaste included the flour I had to add myself, I would have given it a 5-star review.