Udi's Gluten-Free Bakery Products

In September, I wrote about a couple of new gluten-free products I found at my local grocery store. I mentioned that I hadn't tried Udi's Bakery products so I was very pleased when Wendy Hofstetter, Udi's Social Media Manager, contacted me and asked if I would like to try their products. Of course I agreed and last week I received a generous package of Udi's products to try.

When I unpacked the box I found a loaf of Millet Chia bread, Whole-Grain Hamburger Buns, Cinnamon Raisin Bagels, Blueberry Muffins and Pizza Crusts.

I was surprised to see the Millet-Chia bread contained more fiber than I expected and I was pleased to see that millet, along with some lighter flours was used to make this bread, Millet makes a good bread grain but is not often used in commercial products. This bread was good for toast and also made good sandwich bread. I thought it was best when toasted but I was most impressed that it had more fiber than most gluten-free breads I have tried.

The muffins were comparable to most of the ready-made blueberry muffins on the market. I really couldn't tell much of a difference. The texture is very slightly drier, but otherwise -- blueberry muffins. Very sweet -- as most muffins are and good, full of blueberries.

Our little boy who must eat wheat-free meals had a muffin with scrambled eggs and ate every bite -- the true test of a product is how much is gone off the plate, and his plate was empty.

The pizza crusts we froze and saved for later. I will be trying them and will report about them at a later time in a separate blog.

I really liked the Whole Grain Hamburger Buns more than any on the market. They were pre-sliced and light in texture with a very good flavor. I also liked the slogan on the bag -- "Bringing BBQ back." I think the hardest thing to replicate for those on a gluten-free diet are the buns. These are the closest to wheat we have tried. They weren't too thick and were soft with a very good taste. It is very hard to eat a burger on loaf bread or without a bun at all when those around you are enjoying their burgers. The bun is a big part of our most popular American food -- the hamburger. This product really does bring back the burger. They are quite good and contained fiber -- an overall good product.

My favorite product: the bagels. We are big bagel-lovers around our house and I must say these bagels were better than I ever thought they would be. They were light with a good cinnamon and raisin flavor. They tasted fresh and were very good. I had a hard time believing they were gluten-free.

They were really amazing.

Last week I found the Udi's section at our local Kroger's. It is in the bakery (and not in the freezer section) and all of their products are fresh. I would suggest that they be frozen when you get them home but these are overall good products, in my opinion. They also have hot dog buns (which I haven't tried) granola and also some cookies. We recently purchased some granola and I liked it because it is not as sweet as other granolas on the market. It just seemed healthier.

I really appreciate the opportunity to try these products and I would recommend them to anyone. They are pricey compared to regular bakery products but they were good and I think if you compare these products to most other gluten-free products I will say you get your money's worth because the taste and texture is much better than most other equally pricey gluten-free products.