EVERYTHING-Free Bread!

Alright, let's think about this for a minute.

It's pretty simple to get allergen-free bread. There's plenty out there that have no dairy, egg, soy, nuts, etc. However, they all contain gluten. 

Okay, simple solution. Ditch the gluten. So, bread makers get rid of the gluten, and add in some eggs. Well, that helps if you're just gluten intolerant. But, I can't have eggs. 

So the bread makers remove eggs, and add in dairy. Great.

Get rid of dairy, add in soy. No bueno. It's just one endless round of removing one thing, and adding something else. 

Basically, what I'm trying to say, is it's nearly impossible for me to find everything-free bread.

Note the word nearly.

Somehow almost 6 years ago I managed to stumble upon this brand, Ener-G, which makes- dare I say it?- everything-free bread. Yup. 

Ener-G does have some bread that uses eggs, so their facility isn't 100% allergen-free. But, for food sensitivities, it works just fine because the majority of their products are tapioca and rice-based (plant-based). In fact, they have almost 30 different types of bread that are egg-free! That's right- almost THIRTY. I can't have all of them, and some of them just really aren't that great, but I do have a few favorites that I don't think I could live without. 

Papa's Loaf

If you read my Plant-Based Butter post, you might remember me saying that I'm just slightly addicted to toast. Let me just say that Ener-G's Papa's Loaf is the reason why. It's one of the most normal-tasting breads they have. That's saying a lot, because when you remove all of the allergens that make normal bread light and fluffy, it becomes really dry and crumbly. It just kinda cakes in your mouth... pretty disgusting. As a general rule, any type of everything-free bread is going to need to be toasted or microwaved before you eat it (so better invest in a nice toaster now). With Ener-G Papa's Loaf, you can actually get away with not toasting it, which is huge. Like, if I'm going to just make a sandwich, sometimes I won't even toast the bread. 

BUT- If you do toast the bread, and put Melt butter on it... it's heavenly. Just incredible. Every single morning, without fail, for the past... 3 years? My breakfast has consisted of 3 or 4 slices of toast. Yeah, I eat 4 slices of toast every morning. Before you judge, keep in mind that the slices are pretty small. These aren't normal loaves of bread- I would say they're about 2/3 the size of a normal bread slice. 

Papa's Loaf is made primarily with rice and tapioca flour. Overall, it's my absolute favorite type of bread that Ener-G makes.

Tapioca Loaf

I ate the Tapioca Loaf for a couple years before I discovered the Papa's Loaf. It's a lot more dense than the Papa's Loaf, which is why it's not my absolute favorite (because we all love light and fluffy). The Papa's Loaf is pretty popular (I wonder why), and occasionally I can't order any for a while. That's when I have to resort to the Tapioca Loaf, which is still pretty good, but you definitely want to toast this stuff before you eat it. 

This is also made with rice and tapioca flours...

Egg-Free Raisin Loaf

Cinnamon raisin bread (without the cinnamon). That's what this stuff is. It actually has little raisins in it, and it's SO good. I just make toast with this, but it's really nice to have a variety for my breakfast when I get a little tired of the Papa's Loaf. When I first tried the Raisin Loaf, I was a little disappointed at how bland it actually was, since it doesn't have any cinnamon in it (which I guess I was expecting Sun-Maid Cinnamon Swirl Raisin Bread quality from back when I was 5). I kept eating it though, and now it's definitely one of my top favorites. It's just incredible toasted with butter.

Tapioca Dinner Rolls and Hamburger Buns

I'm going to group these two together, because they're basically the exact same thing. Dinner rolls= you get 6 of them in a package and they're smaller. Hamburger buns= you get 4 per package and they're bigger. So, as long as you don't have super huge burgers, I'd roll with the dinner rolls (aren't I so punny?) because you get more meals out of it for the same price. They're really good, but you definitely want to toast them before eating or else they'll cake in your mouth. 

I use them mainly for turkey burger buns, but you can also toast them and slather on some butter. 

English Muffins

These aren't very good as burger buns, or even to put butter on. Not even to toast. Yet, if you put them in the oven with cheese and meat, or marinara sauce and cheese, or any combination of those, you can have yourself some really good pizza-type... things? I'm not sure what to call them, but they're really tasty. Basically anything in the oven is good for these.

Also- I would recommend cutting each "muffin" into thirds because they're so thick/dense.

Tapioca Hot Dog Buns

There's nothing to be said here. They're hot dog buns, and they fit the hot dogs. Would recommend using the microwave, since they don't really fit in the toaster. I love these things!

(The lighting on this picture from the Ener-G website is horrible, it makes the buns look like really yellow burritos. I promise they're more appetizing than the picture makes it look lol).

BAGELS???!?!?!?!!!

If you remember my Cheese post, when I talked about Violife's and Daiya's cream cheeses, I mentioned that the cream cheese is kind of useless to me, since there were no everything-free bagels I could have.

Well, lo and behold, about a week after I posted that, my mom told me that Ener-G now has BAGELS. Wow. Guess I really need to do my research before I go say something doesn't exist. 

I haven't ordered them yet, but I have high expectations. 

Other random bread

I've only touched on a few of the breads Ener-G has available. The ones I discussed are the only ones that I actively eat. The rest of their breads are either:

A) Gross, like most of their yeast-free breads. Blegh. 

or B) I just can't have them, like their corn loaf which I've tried and is SO GOOD, but I don't eat corn... so....

So, where can you get Ener-G bread? The best place to get it is online on Ener-G's website. Most of the bread packages are between $5-6-7, which is pretty pricey, considering that's over a dollar each for some items like the English muffins and hot dog buns. You can also get various types of their bread at stores like Sprouts, Natural Grocers, Frys, Whole Foods, maybe even Walmart (but don't quote me on that)? But usually they just have some of the yeast-free (blegh) and other random types in-stores, so your best bet is Ener-G's website for a full range of choices.

https://www.ener-g.com

Food For Life Gluten-Free Brown Rice Bread

The ONLY other brand of bread I've been able to find that I can have is Food For Life, and only their Brown-Rice Bread (gluten-free). I don't buy this very often, because it's SUPER dense. Like, they're still small slices but I only need to eat 2 to get me filled like 4 of the Papa's Loaf. Definitely would not recommend for sandwiches but I do occasionally buy a loaf just for some variety in my toast. Toasting is a must. Crust is crunchy which I LOVE.

You can get this at Sprouts and Natural Grocers.

That's all for everything-free bread. Thanks for reading! I'm hoping to get a more established blog posting schedule by August... but until then, you can look forward to my ice cream post coming next week! Mmmmm....

Don't forget to follow my Instagram account @Theeverythingfreegirl. I post there every time I write a new blog post, so you'll never miss out!