Sunday, November 27, 2016

Gluten Free Panettone

Pre-celiac, I loved panettone, an Italian sweet bread that is traditionally served at Christmas.  My favorite was a panettone filled with candied chestnuts from Williams-Sonoma.


I was so excited to find gluten free panettone for the first time last year at Bottega dei Sapori at Pittsburgh International Airport.


Trentasette Gluten Free Panettone (affiliate link) is available from Amazon, and several blog readers have told me they have seen it at Whole Foods, but I have had no luck finding it at any local stores in Orlando or California.


My husband and I both liked the Trentasette panettone, but it was not as good as the Williams-Sonoma panettone I used to enjoy before I was diagnosed with celiac.


We served it room temperature with a little bit of butter.


This year, I ordered flour different brands of gluten free panettone, including the Trentasette panettone we tried last year.  I purchased Bauli Gluten Free Panettone (affiliate link) from Amazon.


This morning, my husband and I decided to make french toast with it.


We soaked the bread for a couple of minutes in a mixture of 4 large eggs, 1 cup of milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg, and a very small pinch of sea salt.


We cooked our french toast in a non-stick frying pan with a little bit of butter over medium heat.


I really liked the french toast, which we ate with fresh fruit.  Next time, I might serve it with some syrup, or add a little bit of sugar to the egg mixture, because I wanted it to be a little sweeter.  


The Bauli panettone is not as sweet as the Trentasette panettone.  My husband and I both agreed we liked the taste of the Bauli panettone better.  It was so good on its own, we each ate one piece of french toast, and one piece of room temp panettone.  It didn't even need butter.  I am not a fan of raisins, but I could not taste them in the Bauli panettone at all.

After breakfast this morning, I ordered another Bauli Gluten Free Panettone (affiliate link) from Amazon.  I am still waiting for my Schar Panettone (affiliate link) from Amazon, and the gluten free panettone I ordered from Williams-Sonoma.  I will update this post with my reviews of both after they arrive.  I hope to make panettone bread pudding over Christmas break.  I found two Giada De Laurentiis recipes on the Food Network's website that look great.

December 1, 2016 Update



This morning, I sampled the panettone I purchased from Williams-Sonoma, which arrived in the mail yesterday.  It was pricey, but I received two panettones with my order.  They were wrapped in plastic wrap and packed with ice, and they were heavy, which I thought was strange, because panettone is a very light and airy bread.  I froze one and let the other panettone sit at room temperature overnight.


Overall, I was not impressed, and would never buy this panetonne again.  It did not taste fresh, it was not sweet enough, and it was too heavy.  It was made by Flour Craft Bakery, a 100% gluten free bakery in San Anselmo, California.  Ingredients: organic cornstarch, tapioca starch, brown rice flour, millet flour, sugar, yeast, xanthan gum, salt, milk, eggs, vanilla, butter, candied citron, brandy, fiori di sicilia extract, and lemon juice.  I did toast a piece of my panettone this morning in the hopes that it would taste better, but I think I will need to use this panettone to make my bread pudding, because it is not worth eating on its own.

December 27, 2016 Update

With my Williams-Sonoma panettone, I ended up making baked French toast muffins with the first loaf, and orange upside down French toast with the second loaf.  Even though the panettone disappointed me on its own, it was good in both of these recipes.


On Instagram, I learned that Mariposa Baking Co. makes gluten free panettone for the holidays, so I ordered a loaf online, because we had no plans to go to San Francisco or Oakland before Christmas.  Mariposa's panettone contains their gluten free flour blend (organic brown rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, organic amaranth flour), organic almond milk, organic unrefined cane sugar, organic palm oil shortening, eggs, almonds, thompsons raisins, golden raisins, water, organic honey, yeast, candied orange, candied citrus, rum extract, vanilla extract, xanthan gum, sea salt, fennel seeds, and ascorbic acid.


My order arrived one day after it shipped, but the panettone still tasted a bit dry and stale.  We did toast it and eat it with butter, but overall, I was not impressed enough to ever order it again.  I was shocked that my daughters liked it, because they usually have no interest in panettone.


My Schar gluten free panettone took a while to arrive, because it was shipped from Europe.


I thought it was pretty good, but it was very small for the price.  It tasted fresh, and I enjoyed the flavor of the panettone.


As far as freshness, taste and texture go, Bauli Gluten Free Panettone is definitely my favorite.  This week, I have been enjoying it toasted, topped with butter and a poached or soft boiled egg.  It is so incredibly delicious, I keep ordering more every time I see that it is available from Amazon.


What is your favorite brand of gluten free panettone?

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.  If you purchase the products using these links, I will receive a small commission, which helps support my blog.  It does not change the price you pay for the products.  



2 comments:

  1. everybody eats in Brooklyn NY makes a great gluten free panettone

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    1. Thanks for sharing! If we make it to NYC next Christmas Break, I will have to try one.

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