Hot off the Press Newburn Bakehouse news

If you received a post that looked like this last night, please ignore it, this is the updated version

I was a very lucky blogger this week as I visited Warburton’s Newburn Bakehouse factory in  Newcastle and had a brilliant time!   I was among a handful of  influential gluten free food bloggers and members of Coeliac UK invited to learn more about the Warburton’s rebranded wheat and gluten free range.  Chris Hook the MD spent loads of time with us talking about Warburton’s gluten free journey and answering all of our questions.  We also had a tour of the factory which was incredibly interesting.  In the fact the whole day was fascinating.

Chris Hook MD Warburton’s Newburn Bakehouse

I’ll do another post about that side of it very soon but for now thought you’d like to hear some hot off the press news straight from the Bakehouse’s oven:-

• From mid March you’ll be able to buy their “bread like” gluten free crusty white rolls from  Tesco and Asda.  Below is a picture of said crusty rolls which needs to be baked before hand but has a great texture and crust and tasted like a regular roll (yes really!). Dave in the development bakery has spent 9 whole months perfecting these little beauties.  I have to say Dave, they were 9 months well spent!

The NEW Newburn Bakehouse white crusty roll

• Talking of bread, The Newburn Bakehouse have created a mulitgrain gluten-free loaf which is soft and tastes remarkably like… bread!  It’ll be available from mid March too.
• The third new product developed by the bakery is a really good fruity gluten-free muffin, also available Mid March.
• Lots more products are in the pipeline including some which will make a lot of you very happy! Can’t reveal what at the moment, but be sure to watch this space.
• Chris Hook was very interested to hear my readers comments about doing a wider range of gluten free aimed at children, and individually wrapped items so fingers crossed for some development there.
• If your local corner store is always telling you they can’t order your gluten free bread because it’s too small an order.  Tell them Chris says no matter how small the order is Warburtons will deliver all they have to do is set up a Warburton’s account.

I’d say that’s pretty exciting stuff don’t you?!  So keep your eyes peeled for the Newburn Bakehouse new products and let me know what you think.  I’ll be back with more details on my factory tour and what I learned about Warburtons approach to the wheat and gluten free market.

Warburtons gluten free range re-branded Newburn Bakehouse

Warburtons have re-branded their gluten and wheat free range and have sent me a box of goodies to try. Well it’s hard work but someone’s got to do it!  When I last tried the range I found it didn’t freeze very well and it just fell apart when defrosted so I shall be very interested to see if that’s improved. When you’re the only one in the family on a restricted diet using bread as and when you need it is of the upmost importance.  So there’s a loaf currently chilling in the freezer for this very purpose.

Warburtons wheat and gluten free range, re branded as Newburn Bakehouse

So nestled in the box there’s white and bread brown bread (spot the loaf I’ve already opened!), lemon and poppy seed muffins, blueberry and cranberry muffins. toasted tea cakes and a fruit loaf.  Mmmm!  That lot is definitely going to make meal and err snack times more appealing.

Once every last crumb has been consumed I will do a full report back…. honest!

In the meantime I’d be really interested to hear if any of you have tried the new range yet and what you think of it compared to the previous one?

 Delicious gluten-free bread from a mix …

Gluten-free bread for me is the holy grail of gluten-free food.  A hurdle yet to be overcome to make gluten-free eating as good as a regular diet. Although, I’ve come across some pretty good attempts they still pale in comparison to their glutened cousins. But I have had a kind of Eureka moment and for the first time in eighteen months eaten some bread that made me go WOW and it’s from Glutafin.

Back in November I attended the Cambridgeshire coeliac group’s gluten-free food fair.  Whilst there I was handed a few free freebie products to try, one of which was a box of Glutafin’s multipurpose white mix.  The box suggests using it for making bread, pastry, biscuits, scones, batters and sauces which I’m sure you’ll agree is truly multipurpose.

I opted for the bread in the breadmaker version and it certainly looked and felt like real bread when I took it out, unlike the usual gluten-free varieties which are more brick like in stature and sometimes texture too.

But this one was … WOW… it  was light with a lovely crust and it honestly tasted like real bread-maker bread, just look at it !

Gluten-free bread made with Glutafin multipurpose white mix

The best gluten-free I have EVER tasted!

In fact my gluten eating children kept pestering me for some as they liked it so much but I guarded it jealousy. It was brilliant, even my gluten eating husband agreed (and he’s not easy to please!) I so enjoyed my first slice I’ve frozen the rest to enjoy as a special treat.  You see I’m not coeliac so don’t get food on prescription and on checking out the Glutafin website it’s a product that’s only available via this method.

However, I note from their website that Glutafin products are now available at Holland & Barrett so maybe this is a step towards their goods being widely available for everyone.  Please Glutafin could you make the multipurpose white mix available online or at Holland & Barrett.  It’s seriously the best gluten-free bread I’ve tried EVER!

If you’ve tried the mix I’d love to hear what you used it for and what you thought!

Cooking up a storm

Gluten-free bread and it’s good!

In a recent post I went on a bit about my lack of gluten-free choice at breakfast so I took to leafing through recipes for bread, that holy grail of gluten-free food!  I’ve been buying Genius’ Multi Seed loaf for sometime. it’s a good alternative but I’ve had a hankering for some of the homemade stuff.  It can be quite torturous smelling bread baking in the bread maker for the rest of the family when you can’t eat it!

Having discovered a good recipe for gluten-free Buckwheat soda bread, there’s been a contamination issue with the buckwheat harvest so the flour is  hard to get hold of.  So on Chef Dan Lepard’s suggestion I will be purchasing some Psyllium Husk powder which I have been assured is great in gluten free bread.  Watch this space for news on my attempts to use it!

In the meantime, I’ve had a bash at a recipe for gluten-free bread from the lovely Michelle at Utterly Scrummy Food For Families and do you know what it was good!  The loaf is quite cake-like so has a lovely soft texture, it’s not gritty and solid like a lot of other gluten-free breads can be.  Believe me it  was a welcome change for breakfast piled high with delicious homemade marmalade (courtesy of hubby’s aunt Janet).  I guess Gluten-free bread is never going to be the same as regular bread, but this was a definite contender.   It’s also scores highly for me as it’s much cheaper than shop bought gluten-free bread and it was easy to make. The only downside is if you’re feeling peckish you need to factor in enough time to allow it to rise

Gluten-free white bread

So go on give it a go and cheer up your breakfast time too..

Utterly Scummy’s Basic Gluten Free White Bread