Product Review – Helen’s Brilliant Bread Mix
Helen’s gluten-free brilliant brown bread mix
I was recently sent some of Helen’s Brilliant bread and scone mixes to try. I must admit I haven’t come across the range before but I don’t have a Sainsbury’s near me where they are sold. Now although I like to bake from scratch most of the time, there is something very appealing about a time saving bread mix.
As those of us on a restricted diet know gluten-free bread is the holy grail of the gluten-free world. Whilst I’ve certainly bought and made some good gluten-free loafs none of them could pass as loaf made with wheat flour. I love bread, it’s the thing I miss the most. In my wheat eating days I’d relish the opportunity to slather a piece of freshly baked bread with loads of butter and jam!
So I was quite excited to try Helen’s gluten-free bread mix. Helen is a real person and is a qualified nutritionist, food scientist as well as a busy working mum. The accompanying press release states “Because of the choice of flours we use the end products have a taste and texture similar to wheat based products”. The key word being of course similar so I guess we know to adjust our expectations.
The flours used in Helen’s brown bread mix are wholegrain rice flour, cornflour, potato starch and flaxseed flour. So what was the result? Well it was straightforward to make you just add egg, vegetable oil and milk and bake it in the oven. It came out looking like this…
Brown Bread made with Helen’s Brilliant Brown Bread Mix
I must admit it was smaller than I expected it to be, too small for a sandwich but fine for spreading with butter! I didn’t like the taste of the crust which was a little sour for me, but the texture of the bread was impressive. It was light and fluffy with a texture like regular bread, however I did find it a little bland in taste. But again that is comparing it to regular bread.
My gluten eating children liked it though. We gave it an overall score of 7/10.
I will be trying Helen’s other Brilliant Bread Mixes out and am especially looking forward to a gluten-free cream tea with the scone mix!
Twitter: nutriviveclinic
March 2, 2013 at 2:32 pm
Jus after baking Helen’s scone mix.. It made 8 small -medium size scones.
They were really yummy and tasted like most other regular wheat / gluten containing scones! really enjoyed them with some strawberry jam. I will try to freeze a few to see what they are like next week.
I like the fact that flax seed flour was used and that sugar is towards the very end of the
ingredients list. Will be recommending to some
of my coeliac / Low FODMAP IBS clients as a nice treat
of.my mymy coeliac / Low
Twitter: twitter (username)
February 1, 2013 at 12:06 am
Helen’s sandwich bread mix is the best gluten free bread I have ever tasted. Yummy. It also makes gorgeous toast. It tastes like real bread and is so easy to make from the mix by just adding oil and water. The new bigger size packs make a decent loaf size. And one of the best features of the bread is that it is made from all natural ingredients.
Hi Ann
Thanks for your comment. Do you know I’ve just made some white bread from her mix in the bread maker and it looks better than Helen’s brown loaf I made in the oven. This one is a better size to use for toast or a sandwich & seems a more pliable texture, so I’ll try some once it’s cooled and do a post about it. Great to know there are some gluten free breads out there that taste good!