Jules Gluten-Free Mixes

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jules

The kind folks at Jules Gluten-Free sent the group a Jules Gluten-Free Bread Mix and a Jules Gluten-Free Cookie Mix.

We use Jules Gluten-Free Flour Mix all the time for a variety baked goods, but this was our first look-see at the bread and cookie mixes.

Cookies

Since we [when I say we, I mean Peg since she's the one with the baking skills] were short on time, we [Peg] decided to mix up the cookie dough Thursday night and store it in the fridge until Friday night. These cookies require the dough to be chilled before baking anyway.

Peg had one pan in the oven and one pan of dough balls on deck. As I peeked into the oven and saw that the cookies were a good 3+ inches in diameter, I mistakenly asked if the dough balls were the right size.

Yeah, that remark got me "The Look", Hey, my only concern was that we'd have enough cookies for the entire group, that's all.

Peg prompted me to take a look at the large bowl of dough that was waiting to be made into cookies and said not to worry. As in most cases, Peg was right. This mix makes 50-60 cookies! I bow to her baking prowess - I am not worthy...I am not worthy...

*I slunk back to living room to finish prepping for the meeting*

Most of the cookies survived the night and made it to the meeting. Indeed the cookies were a hit! One member exclaimed - "These taste just like Toll House cookies!" Sure'nuff, they do!

If you run out of your own ideas on how to use this cookie mix, Jules sells an eBook with recipes for twelve different cookies.

julesgfcookiesingle        julesgftowercookie



"C is for cookie, that's good enough for me"


Bread

julesgfloaf

Peg was a bit nervous about the bread. The dough was dense, not the texture of most gluten-free breads that she is used to making, as well as not rising very well in the warm oven.

Learning my lesson during the "cookie incident", I decided it best to play the supportive spouse...

This means nodding, actively listening and quietly being "the canvas" in which she can "paint the picture" of her concerns. It does not involve me offering up any suggestions on how to "fix" said problem - something guys are genetically programmed to do.

I may have mentioned that my baking skills and knowledge are limited, but the primal, in-born male instinct to "fix things" often times overrides the fact that males may lack the proper knowledge to offer up any type of useful suggestion...this is how arguments start. :-)

julesgfbreadsliced
By the time Peg was done "painting the picture", the bread had risen and it was time to bake!

Hmmm, it appears that being the supportive spouse had paid off. Whoohoo!

As you can see by the pictures, the bread turned out well. In fact, my pictures look very similar to those found on Jules' website.

I was surprised at the size and height of this loaf of bread! It did not suffer from shrinkage that I've seen in other gluten-free breads. [My uneducated guess has to do to with the fact that this dough was drier than some of the others, but what do I know?] Any guy will confirm that shrinkage is not a good thing...

Just like the cookies, members liked the bread.

One member suggested this bread would work great for French Toast. Yeah Toast!

Another member said "I really liked it!"

One of our "chronologically enhanced" members specifically requested to take home the heals of the bread. Bless you Don!!

The bread must've been good, because at end of the meeting, there were only 3 slices left for me bring home.


Certification

I like that Jules' products are certified by the Gluten Free Certification Organization (one of several programs offered by the Gluten Intolerance Group of America). Actually, I applaud any company that deems it important enough to certify their products, either through GFCO or CSA.


Where to find

Jules' products are not found locally, but they can be ordered from her website.

If you are lucky enough to live in a handful of states, you can find it locally.

If you are a first time customer, there is a Welcome Pack and an upgraded Welcome Pack. Either one is a good deal. It just depends if you want 1 or 2 bags of flour.




Thanks again Jules Gluten-Free for
sharing your products with our group!


Jules, LLC | 7120 Minstrel Way, Ste 206 | Columbia, MD 21045
Customer Service: 877-236-3940 or email: support at julesglutenfree.com



Katz Gluten-Free Bakery

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KatzLogo
For this month's meeting we had a bread tasting event. Katz's Gluten-Free Bakery in Monroe, NY, was kind enough to send us some of their products to sample.

I chose the popular Challa Bread and their Whole Grain Bread. As a bonus [I didn't request it, didn't want to appear piggish after all], they sent us some Chocolate Rugelech! Cool!

I must apologize, I did not get a chance to take any pictures of our event. I know, I know - very uncharacteristic me.

The Challa Bread was popular. I had fun finding out the history of Challa bread. Several members particularly commented on the crust and how well they liked it. It's a great tasting bread with great texture. A good all around sandwich bread.

The Whole Grain Bread was liked, but not as much as the Challa. Everyone loved the taste, but texture was a bit chewy [at least for my tastes]. To be fair, the bread was not completely thawed, so we put it microwave a few seconds right before the tasting. I also noticed that Katz's website states...

We recommend toasting this bread to achieve a maximum level of taste and crispiness.



Grilled Katz's bread
Sadly, we didn't have access to a toaster in the meeting room. While I was grilling some burgers for dinner, I decided to grill up a few slices of bread. This worked wonders.

I think everyone commented on the fact that either bread did not fall apart when applying the butter or jelly. So many GF breads tend to crumble in your hand while doing that - not Katz's!

The Chocolate Rugelech was a new experience for me and I think for the rest of the group. I admit, I had never even heard of Rugelech before, let alone taste it. Rural Wisconsin does not have a large Jewish population, so we tend to miss some of the world's cultural foods. German, Polish & Scandinavian cultures, we got covered. Yah, you betcha! . :-) Now that I think of it, a good GF beer would pair nicely with the Chocolate Rugelech.

I think the most common comment I heard was..."Interesting". I will say, they do have a taste that is not usually found are this part of WI. They are not overly sweet [which is what you usually find around here], there's a slight bitterness that takes you by surprise. These look like a mini-cinnimon rolls, so perhaps my brain was expecting something more along those lines. After my third or forth one, I found that I was sad because they were gone.

After I contacted Katz's, I happened to find their bread at Woodman's Grocery in Appleton - it's in the freezer section by the GF foods. I'm not sure if they are carried at all Woodman's locations or not.

A special thanks to David at Katz's for being so generous with their products. I tip my hat to any and all companies like Katz's that provide us foods to make us happy and feel "normal".

Until next time...

Al

1st Anniversary

Wow, it's been one year since our first meeting. Time really flies.

We had a nice little surprise for our meeting. A member I know from
celiacforums.com was able to attend. It was the first time I got to meet her face to face.

She was even kind enough to bring GF baked goodies from
Molly's Gluten-Free Bakery. Once the owners of Molly's found out that Judy was bringing them to a support group meeting, they were kind enough to let us sample them - for free!

Wow - thanks Molly's, that was more than generous of you! All the members took business cards and order forms, hopefully we can turn those samples in to orders for you. Thanks Judy for bringing us new treats to try!

I think things are going pretty well for the group. It's not particularly large, but slowly growing. Our members faithfully attend every meeting they possibly can.

While we have got some flyers out in the community, we want to go further in spreading the word. One of our members proposed the idea of attending health fairs that speckle our area. I think that's a great idea and will be looking into that.

Another member was kind enough to get the group some business card printed up. It's an easy way to let people know when & where we meet.

Thanks Becky for your donation of the cards!

Here's to another year!