Jule's Gluten-Free Bread Mix, the trial

My bread from Jules GF Bread Mix

I received my holiday baking package from Jules' Gluten Free the other day and it came with a bread mix, so I thought I would try it out yesterday.  While it was easier to make than doing it all from scratch, you still have to add quite a few ingredients. The instructions say to mix the ingredients in a bowl with a spoon, which I attempted to do.  Near the end of adding the dry ingredients to the wet, I realized that it was getting too dry and was requiring a lot of effort.  I worried I was working the dough too much and I switched to my stand mixer to finish.  I now wish I had just used the stand mixer to start, because the resulting bread was a bit dry (sorry, Jules).  Having said that, it was still pretty darn good, especially when it was still warm from the oven.  This morning was another story.  I had wrapped the loaf in plastic wrap and then foil, which had always worked when I made her recipe entirely from scratch, but the bread mix bread was really dry and hard this morning when I cut into it for breakfast.  Later I discovered that if I toasted it, it regained its "warm from the oven" taste and texture, so I cut the remaining loaf into slices and froze them individually for later toasting.

The holiday package was a really good deal (a 5 lb. bag of flour, the bread mix, a cookie mix and a gingersnap mix for under $50 and free shipping!). I plan to try the cookie mixes later.  The flour I have been using for awhile and I love it.  I have used it to make her sandwich bread recipe totally from scratch and I think it comes out better for me than using the mix.  I got the recipe from attending a demonstration of hers at a GIG conference a couple years ago.

Despite my troubles with the mix, it is relatively easy to make and tastes good, so I still recommend it. I would highly recommend watching the video on Jules' site of her 15-yr old making the bread. You can see how much effort it takes to make it in a bowl.  You can make up your own mind, but my vote is for the stand mixer.

Karen, herself