Gluten free bread - mouldy

[MegGriffinshat]

Can I ask if anyone else has this problem or is it just me?

I’m coeliac and GF bread is a treat for me as it’s too expensive for me to buy often and I mostly low carb.

Usually I will buy a loaf once a month, I only like one brand (not all gf bread is made equal, some of it it vile), and GF loaves are tiny, small slices because apparently, us coeliacs aren’t allowed to eat normal sized foods. So I am already ripped off from the get go.

The last few months, it’s been mouldy. Opened on the day of purchase, still in date. The middle of load has green mould. Sometimes the crust. Nothing you can see when it’s in packaging at the shop. I’ve taken to checking the middle now before I start a loaf.

I’m getting seriously pissed off now, is it just me? Have I got some sort of mould demon attached to me who wants to ruin my once a month bacon sandwiches?

Just out of interest, which one is nice? I’ve yet to find one. I just don’t buy or eat it. Thanks

Genius toastie.

Nice is pushing it to be fair.

But it’s better than the others. It’s only for the odd bacon sandwich once in a while, I couldn’t stomach it all the time.

I don't like the genius range. I buy the Schar loaves or the Schar frozen rolls (the rolls are the best imo).

Never had that. I find GF products generally seem to last for months - God knows what's in them!

My DDs favourite are the Warburton Tiger loaves. They are expensive, but you can cut your own slices (and it does cut thin enough for sandwiches) and makes lovely toast.

It's a common problem with Gluten-free bread. It just doesn't keep. It tends to have high moisture levels which cause mould really quickly. It is sometimes sold frozen to get round this. The other answer is to bake your own. Jamie Oliver has a simple recipe that you can find online.

I buy it for DH. It does not keep, you need to put it in the fridge. Which is a problem because supermarkets don’t refrigerate bread. Also the products on the gf shelves aren’t rotated as often so they aren’t as fresh.

My advice is to pick one from the very back with the longest date and put it straight in the fridge. Warburtons is fairly decent, we stopped buying Genius because every loaf had uncooked lumps of dough. If you can get one of the Warburtons cob loaves which you slice yourself that’s the best imo.

I’m looking at gluten free bread recipes at the moment! I think the way to go is to bake our own bread, slice it, freeze, and use as required.

I always used to keep one in the freezer for my coeliac grandchildren but even in there they go mouldy... apparently you can only freeze them to the use by date which is days.

Bloody awful stuff - I now keep crackers instead or crumpets/pancakes.

I find it so funny how us coeliacs all have our own faves. Personally I hate all the Genius stuff and find it inedible, so can't speak to the mould. I've just discovered an amazing local guy who bakes GF focaccia so I'm now eating that (despite the fact that it is errrr £5 per loaf, argh) Before that I quite liked the Schär stuff but only toasted, never fresh. And M&S is quite ok.

DH also loves the warburtons tiger loaves . He's basically tried them all . Don't get a problem with mould but do get some with gaping holes in the middle . Found it across loads of brands . Highly frustrating as it's so expensive .

Yup, tiny slices with lots of holes!

Frustrating for the price.

I experimented with baking but it was expensive for the little I eat.

I mean, a bacon sandwich on GF bread is never going to be like the real deal, but it’s my one treat!

Marks and Spencer GF bread is very tasty and keeps well to the best before date. The price is £2.80 but it's definitely worth a try.

Hi OP, Coeliac here. In terms of storage I'd recommend buying a loaf, taking a few slices out when you get it then freezing the rest. Annoying if you're buying it already mouldy!

My favourite GF bread is Asda's brown sliced, I find it very tasty, satisfying and easy to digest. At £1.90 it's also "reasonable" for gluten free. Sainsbury's and Morrison's brown aren't too bad either, especially toasted.

Genius white is vile, and the only time I'd buy that is if it's pennies a loaf, then I'd roll it thin, cut circles and pop in a muffin tin and make lower calorie mini quiches. Very nice for nibbles with drinks, picnics etc and can be frozen. 😊

We've been getting GF bread over a decade due to my ds's allergy. There was a time once that I found mouldy bread, but it seems like it's due to bad patch of products. Since gf breads have incredibly long shelf life, that's quite understandable it happens time to time.
If you find the mould on the bread on day of the purchase, I'm sure they are happy to refund or exchange.

Also, GF bread is quite simple and easy to make, if the cost is the problem.

Oh yea, I have up overpriced dry crappy pre made gluten free bread a long time ago. Definitely make your own! I use a basic Jamie Oliver gluten free bread recipe with either buckwheat flour, rice flour or tiger nut flour. Lasts a while. It's pretty quick and so much nicer than the packaged stuff.

Or if you want something more bread-cakey, then buckwheat flour, olive oil, milk, mashed banana, and dark choc chips in muffin castes are also great.

I was only diagnosed just over a year ago at the grand old age of 41, so it’s all still fairly new to me!

I am chuffed with myself though, I had the results for my first yearly bloods a few days ago. They went from high enough to be diagnosed by the consultant there and then without further testing (my levels were REALLY high), to coming right down to a normal level. So I am pleased with myself, it all seemed to daunting when I was first diagnosed! I never had any symptoms really, I was only diagnosed off the back of something else as the consultant I saw had a ‘hunch’ that I was coeliac and wanted to test, so it was a bit of a shock.

Oh and I'd never be tempted to buy Warburton's crumpets, however reduced they were. They somehow manage to be burnt on the outside yet still be doughy and uncooked on the inside. Every Bloody Time.

You'd think a longstanding baking firm could do better.

I tried them once.

I still have nightmares.

I quite like the Genius brown loaf, and it has been going mouldy very quickly lately. I've stopped buying it now as it was mouldy within 1-2 days of opening. That makes for a very expensive couple of rounds of toast.

It's great. I don't have an M&S Food near me so can't get it, but discovered it on holiday and brought two loaves back with me to freeze. I'm down to one last lonely slice now.

I was diagnosed over 40 years ago, and things have changed during that time. I used to get tins of round white bread on prescription, and if you toasted it for too long it melted and formed an impenetrable hard black lump similar to volcanic rock.

Gluten free foods really went downhill during lockdown and have never recovered. There used to be a choice of full sized Christmas cakes you could buy, often far too child orientated but Marks usually did a nice one. Nowadays, there's nichts, except possibly a mean little loaf. But that's ok, since we are not Coeliacs, we are pixies, hence the tiny tiny food.

My Schar loaf lasts fine for pretty much a whole week.
I seal it in a bag after opening, take a couple of slices out each day, and it’s put away in the cupboard rather than kept on the top.

I’m not a fan of genius, warburtons or the M& S ones, they’ve got a weird texture.

Schar frozen rolls are absolutely delicious and perfect for a bacon roll. I bake from frozen for 7 minutes and leave for 20-30 minutes to cool (you can do them in an air fryer to save putting the oven on). You can just defrost and eat like that but the baking makes them properly crusty outside and soft and bready inside. Even the gluten eaters here can't tell the difference with those.

I use Warburtons tiger for toasting.

All the Genius stuff I've tried has a horrible sour smell.

Yes! Everything is so bloody small!

I bought a packet of biscuits in Tesco. When I opened it, it was half packaging and about 6 tiny cookies.

And don’t get me started on pizza. Dh ordered me a GF dominoes for my birthday (vile, never again, I would have been better off eating the cardboard box). Why can’t I pig out and have a large pizza like everyone else can? I have to pay the price of a large pizza to get a small one.