Good gluten-free bread is quite rare.  As you know, it’s hard to find the perfect weight, texture, durability, and of course, tastiness without the gluten.  I’ve found that the best gluten-free breads come from my own kitchen or local bakeries like FiddleCakes and Aunt April’s Bakery.  But frozen breads are a good back up when life gets busy.

Recently, I was completely amazed by the best frozen gluten-free bread I’ve ever purchased.  Udi’s whole grain bread blew me away with it’s texture, lightness, and ability to hold the contents of a sandwich.  Udi’s increased my faith in store-bought, gluten-free breads, and gave me reason to walk slowly past the freezer section of Whole Foods this week.

I slowed to a stop when I saw a gluten-free bread made by Smart Treat, a company that I had never heard of before.

As I read the label, I was impressed with a lower calorie count than most gluten-free breads, the inclusion of organic ingredients, and the fact that it was made in Asheville, North Carolina.  With such a great gluten-free experience in Asheville last weekend, I was hopeful that this would be a wonderful bread.  Into the cart it went as I mentally changed my lunch plans.

I decided to do a side-by-side comparison with a slice of Udi’s bread and Smart Treat bread before I made my sandwich.  Can you guess which one is Udi’s?

Sadly, I could too.  This was my first clue that maybe Smart Treat bread wasn’t going to come close to the wonder of Udi’s.  (Udi’s is on the right.)

But I really wanted to like this bread.  I piled the Smart Treat bread with my usual sandwich fixin’s, placed the top slice on, and felt my hopes rise.  It sure made a beautiful sandwich.

If you remember, the first gluten-free bread assessment is the knife test.  Udi’s bread had passed this test with flying colors.  The sandwich cut perfectly right down the middle without any more crumbs than regular sandwich bread.

But when I cut the Smart Treat bread, it instantly fell apart around the edges, not just in little crumbs, but in big chunks.

But, I really wanted to like this bread, so I tried to put it back together so that I could move on to phase two of the bread assessment, the bite test.

Now, Udi’s bread showed its strength when I was able to eat the sandwich over the floor without having to worry about falling crumbs.

But when I took a bite of the sandwich that was made from Smart Treat bread, I dove for the cutting board so that the cascading crumbs might be contained and the sandwich contents saved.

I really wanted to like this bread, but it was an utter sandwich disaster.

I ended up eating the sandwich with my fingers, piece by piece, from the cutting board.  After eating several large chunky crumbs, I realized that I probably should have taken a picture to show you just how many crumbs were left after my “sandwich” consumption.

I did really want to like this bread. And I wish that I could tell you that even though it fell apart, I enjoyed the taste.  But the bread actually tasted bitter.  I definitely won’t buy this bread again, but I will try Smart Treat’s sandwich bread.  Since I had my first Smart Treat sandwich on their seeded bread, and not their “sandwich bread”, maybe there will be a difference.  So, I went back to Whole Foods after my unsuccessful sandwich experience to see if I could find their sandwich bread.  That particular store did not carry any Smart Treat goods.  So I’ll have to save that experience for another week.

The sandwich was a disaster, but there are several things that I do like about Smart Treats.  I like that Smart Treats is a small company with a master baker who prepares all of their goods in small batches.  No assembly lines, no product development research teams, just good people who are committed to making quality, wholesome, gluten and dairy free treats.  I like that they have other products besides breads like cookies, cakes, tartletes, granola, brownies, and quick breads that look promising that I have yet to try.  And I like that they’ve been around since 1994 and are always wanting to improve their products.  The company has heart.

I really wanted to like this bread, but I ended up liking the company instead.  Have you ever tried Smart Treat’s products?  What should I try next?