Everything you’d expect from Warbutons bread – without the gluten or wheat
Hot on the heels of Genius, Warbutons, the UK’s leading independent baker, have launched their own gluten free bread. And Gluten Free Blog was lucky enough to be invited along to the recent launch breakfast, at London’s Covent Garden Hotel, hosted by the celebrity chef and gluten free expert Phil Vickery.
Warbutons Gluten Free range
What did we eat? Well, it was an early start. So we tucked into tiny slices of toast topped with salmon and egg, bacon butties, sausage sarnies and toasted teacakes. And, as you’d expect, it was all quite delicious.
Warbutons decided to build their first gluten free and wheat free bakery in March 2010, in response to customers’ requests for a tasty, gluten free range. “We’ve thrown ourselves into this project with the same passion and care we show for all our products” says Jonathan Warbuton, Chairman of the family-run company. “The whole team is really pleased with the results and it’s our hope that you will be too!”
Phil Vickery is working with Warbutons to launch the new range and as you know, we’re fans of Mr V here at Gluten Free Blog. So it was great to meet the man himself and talk all things gluten free cooking. We also chatted about salad cream and crisp sandwiches, which both of us used to enjoy as kids!
Our goodie bag included Phil’s latest book, Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Baking, which we can’t wait to tuck into. And our bag also had a white loaf, brown loaf and a packet of tea cakes which were tested on the guys as soon as we got back to the office. And all got a thumbs-up.
Warbutons Gluten Free Bread
So what’s in the Warbutons gluten free range? So far sliced white and sliced brown in 400g and 600g sizes; sub rolls in white and brown; crumpets; and fruity teacakes which are all available in all UK grocery stores.
One of the gripes, I guess, is the price. The 600g loaf retails at £2.89, the sub rolls at £1.99 and the crumpets and teacakes at £2.19. At the time of writing the small loaf (400g) is on special offer in Asda for £2 although it normally retails for £2.49. And yet the same size loaf of ‘normal’ Warburtons bread costs a measly 67p. Hmmmmm. If Warbutons really want those with coeliac disease not to “miss out on this tasty daily staple” we’d really like to see their prices come down a bit.
Read the follow up post here. Warbutons gluten free bread – falling apart?
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Folks. I’m not a coeliac, and I love bread.
None of the bread made by Warburtons (or any factory baker) is very nice. Good bread is made in a real bakery not in a factory.
Warburtons, Genius and others have shown that it is possible to recreate nasty factory wheaten bread without using gluten. This should not be a cause for celebration.
Many people with coeliac disease are great home-bakers – from necessity, not from choice. And just as it is possible to recreate
nasty factory wheaten bread, it is also possible to recreate fresh, crusty, artisan bread without the gluten. Bread you want to nibble on the way home from the bakery because it is so good. Gluten-free bread that non-coeliacs actually choose for its taste, its aroma and its texture.
I know, because I make and sell such a bread. I will not reveal here the name or location of my business, because it wouldn’t be right to use this comment for advertising. I just want you to know that you do not have to settle for factory bread just because you are coeliac.
Hi Edward
I guess no shop bought stuff is ever as nice as home made – whether it’s gluten free or not. I often don’t have the time to make my own bread so it’s handy to grab the shop bought stuff occasionally.
But feel to send us some of your GF bread Edward and we’d be happy to do a review of it here on the blog!
What a lovely invitation, lucky you! I like Phil’s new book too
Warburtons loaf: ok on day 1, but by day 4 it really crumbles and does not stay a slice, so this renders it pretty useless, disappointing and extremely expensive given the poor quality
I’d like to try the teacakes next…
Wish the person who left the first comment would leave some contact details/more pointers for recently diagnosed – I’d love to learn how to make homemade GF bread, especially as I’ve bought a bread machine recently…
thanks, Charlotte
This book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gluten-free-Bread-Cakes-Your-Breadmaker/dp/0572035691/ref=dp_ob_title_bk has recipes that work well in a bread-machine; we used it as a source book when developing the recipes we use in our bakery. Her recipes actually work much better in the machine than they do scaled up for production, so our actual products are made differently.
I’d love to give you more contact details, but I really hate it when businesses spam forums and comment threads with advertising. Let’s just say that we’re a wheat-and-gluten-free retail artisan bakery with shop and cafe, we’re in London, and we do have non-coeliac customers who come back to buy our crusty gluten-free bread. It’s very tasty, but you can tell it’s gluten-free. Our gluten-free cakes, pies and fresh pasta are indistinguishable from the wheaten versions however.
I was really excited about the Warburtons, and paid more than Genius from it. Got it home and was completely put off by the texture, it was like eating a loaf made of compressed bread crumbs. And it was grey, and didn’t taste nice. Really rubbish effort.
dear Edward,
thx very much for the book recommendation, had that book when furst diagnosed…will borrow it again noew that i’m a bit more able to experiment. A quick search failed to find your outlet, I’d love to look you up & visit during my next LDN trip, perhaps you’d be kind enough to tweet me (@cupcakecorneruk) or email cjmarsh30@msn.com
(I’ll remove my contact details from here in a week)
best wishes & thanks for the positivity!!!
charlotte
[…] you know, we went to the Warbutons gluten free launch the other week. And the two loaves we were given to try were […]
Have been frustrated by the quality of the two main competitors (dietary specials + genius)hitherto. However not any more! Have only tried the white sliced loaf, but I was amazed at the taste of this loaf. It really elicit memories of when I was able to consume bread without concern. Its not identical in texture and flavour to wheat free bread, but this is as close as ive tasted yet!Any one in doubt should not hesitate to give it a try.