How to Choose Gluten-Free Breads

Selecting an entirely gluten-free bread can be difficult, since many grains are forbidden, and there are fillers and other bread ingredients that contain gluten. If you have digestive ailments or diseases that make adopting a gluten-free diet essential, it's important to know how to choose the best, safest foods for you.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Avoid all breads containing wheat (including semolina, faro, kamut, durum, spelt and einkorn), rye and barley. Even if a bread is labeled as "potato bread" or "cornbread," other grains and flours may be included in the ingredients. Read carefully.
2. Be wary of any of the following, which probably have been made with grains with gluten: starch, modified starch, modified food starch, stabilizers, flavoring, emulsifier, malt, malt flavoring and hydrolyzed plant protein.
3. Put anything with the ingredient "Malted vinegar" back on the shelf. It contains gluten. Select breads with "distilled white vinegar" instead.
4. Buy breads with specified flour ingredients only. If an ingredient is listed merely as "flour," it is probably made from wheat or other gluten-containing grains. Look for these specific flours instead: pure corn flour, rice flour, potato flour, whole bean flour or soy flour.
5. Avoid "vegetable gum" unless it's one of the following: carob bean gum, locust bean gum, cellulose gum, guar gum, gum arabic, gum aracia, gum tragacanth, xanthan gum or vegetable starch.
6. Look for breads made with any of the following gluten-free ingredients: corn, cornmeal, potato, rice, soybeans, buckwheat, millet, amaranth, quinoa, tapioca, arrowroot and carob. Select breads with soy or corn vegetable protein. Buy breads with corn, potato, arrowroot, tapioca, maize or waxy maize modified starch only.
7. Look in your local grocery store for specialty food aisles or sections in which you can find organic products and dairy-free or gluten-free items. Ask for help if you can't locate any gluten-free breads; stores will often order products for you on request. Shop at health and organic food stores, like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods (see Resources below). These stores carry many specialty items, and you're more likely to find gluten-free breads and other products here. Check out Internet stores (see Resources below) that specialize in gluten-free breads and other foods. These specialty online shops often make *only* gluten-free products so you can do more than just bread shopping.
8. Make your own bread. There are a variety of great gluten-free bread recipes available in books and online. Making your own bread is the best way to make sure that it is gluten-free.

Tips & Warnings

• Pure oat bread can be tolerated by many people who need gluten-free foods, but check with your doctor or dietician about the best course for adding oats to your diet. Oats are often processed with wheat grains and can get contaminated, so you have to be sure it's a pure oat product made separately from other grains.
• Malt vinegar is made from gluten-containing products, but corn-derived malt flavoring is safe. Read the label carefully to be sure it is made from corn.
• Make a list with two columns labeled "Safe Ingredients" and "Unsafe Ingredients." Take this list with you to the store, so it will be easy to check each bread for gluten-free ingredients.