Tag: bread

Sara Lee Debuts Low-Carb Bread

Ashley Bischoff73 Comments

Climbing onto the low-carb bandwagon, Sara Lee has introduced some low-carb breads. Though I’ve only found a press release on this (previous link), the write-up is pleasantly not as self-congratulatory as a regular press release.

The new line of Delightful breads will feature:

  • Sara Lee Delightful White Bakery Bread — A 20-ounce sandwich loaf that offers a 40 percent reduction in carbohydrates and a 44 percent reduction in calories compared with typical regular white breads. Each slice of Sara Lee Delightful White contains only 9 grams of carbohydrates compared with 15 grams for typical regular white breads and contains just 45 calories, compared with 80 calories.
  • Sara Lee Delightful Wheat Bakery Bread — The 20-ounce Delightful Wheat sandwich loaf also contains only 9 grams of carbohydrates and 45 calories per slice [the carbs may be even lower after subtracting fiber]. That compares with 13 grams of carbs per slice for typical regular wheat breads, a 31 percent reduction for Sara Lee Delightful Wheat, and compares with 70 calories per slice of regular wheat bread, a calorie reduction of 36 percent for Delightful Wheat.

Both varieties of Sara Lee Delightful breads are good sources of fiber and have no trans fat or artificial colors or flavors. And each slice is full sized, in contrast to some "light" breads that reduce the dimensions of the slice. Each loaf has tested favorably in consumer taste tests, even outscoring some leading full-carbohydrate breads. […]

I’ll reserve judgment on this one until I’ve had a chance to try it, but I’m pleased that they focused on creating a good-tasting bread and not just a low-carb-at-all-costs bread. And, to their credit, the bread also avoids trans fats, which can be rather tricky to avoid in baked goods. I’ve also found a picture of the packaging, which may make it easier to find this bread on store shelves.

More on Sugar Free Bread

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

I bought some Mrs Baird’s Sugar Free Wheat Bread yesterday. At the time of that entry, I hadn’t tasted it yet, so I couldn’t comment on that aspect of it. Well, I tried it today and I&rsuo;m pleased to say that it’s very much like regular bread.

I wanted to be sure to write about how it compared to regular bread (since the target audience presumably already likes regular bread but is just looking for something with fewer carbs). However, I found that comparison more difficult that I expected since I haven’t had regular loaf-bread since sometime last year (not counting the occasional bread or roll served at a restaurant).

I was really jonesing for a tuna sandwich this afternoon, so that was the sandwich du jour. I removed two slices from the bag and prepared the tuna. However, before applying the tuna to the bread, I made sure to take a bite out of one slice (plain) just to get an idea of the bread’s flavor and texture without the tuna influencing my perception.

As I chewed the bread, I noticed that it might have been just slightly chewier than regular bread. If anything, it wasn’t overtly chewy. And on the chance that I wasn’t remembering regular bread correctly, perhaps it was no more chewy in the first place.

Texture aside, it tasted very much like regular wheat bread. At the time, it seemed to have an elevated wheat flavor, but maybe that was just because I was eating that bite as plain bread. I was also concerned that the Aprartame (Nutrasweet) might get in the way (since that’s one of the ingredients), but I detected no Aspartame taste.

I then proceeded to apply the tuna to create the sandwich. It was a rather pleasant afternoon as I ate the sandwich while watching some Wimbledon (ahh, Sundays). Perhaps the tuna moistened the bread or maybe I was imagining it all in the first place, but the chewiness wasn’t an issue in the context of a sandwich. And the bread still had a distinct wheat flavor but that was definitely a Good Thing (there’s no point in flavorless bread, after all).

I bought two loaves of this Sugar Free bread on a lark, but I’m glad I did. It costs about the same as regular bread ($1.87/loaf - 18 slices) and it tastes about the same as well. I think it’ll be a part of many tasty tuna sandwiches to come.

Sugar Free Wheat Bread

Ashley Bischoff29 Comments

I needed some mayo, so I stopped by Target on the way home from the gym this evening. On my way to that area of the store, I ended up walking past all the breads (since they’re in the same aisle). What caught my eye was some Sugar Free 100% Whole Wheat bread from Mrs Baird’s.

I wasn’t even aware that regular bread had an appreciable amount of added sugar (I just figured that all their carbs were due to the flour). At first, it came to mind that maybe this was like the labeling of some peanut butters as “cholesterol free”. Of course, because only animal-based products can contain cholesterol, all peanut butters have no cholesterol (since they’re made from peanuts). Along those some lines, I considered for a moment that maybe this was just a new labeling initiative.

But, I then went to check the labels themselves. I compared the Sugar Free bread to some nearby rye bread (also from Mrs Baird’s). The rye bread had 14g carbs (with 1g fiber) while the Sugar Free bread had 9g carbs (with 2g fiber). So, discounting the fiber, the Sugar Free bread had an effective carbs of 7g per slice — which is about half that of regular bread.

It came to mind that it could be mighty tasty to have a tuna sandwich from time to time (just like old times), so I picked up two loaves. I’ve transcribed the ingredients below, and it looks like there’s nothing egregiosly bad in there:

Whole Wheat Flour, Water, Wheat Gluten, Yeast, Wheat Bran. Contains 2% or Less of the Following: Soybean Oil, Crushed Wheat, Extract of Corn and Barley Malt, Maltodextrin, Wheat Fiber, Calcium Sulfate, Salt, Datem, Grain Vinegar, Corn Starch, Mono and Diglycerides, Ethoxylated Mono and Diglycerides, Calcium Prorionate, Aspartame, Soy Lechtin, Enzymes

And, yes, it apparently contains Aspartame (Nutrasweet). Perhaps breads normally have token amount of sugar to round out the flavor (as opposed to conspicuously sweetening it) and the Aspartame was needed to fill that role. And if Mrs Baird’s website didn’t suck so much, I’d compare this with the ingredients of their other breads (but, their website doesn’t list the ingredients for any of their products).

In any case, I’ll write more about the bread once I’ve had a chance to taste it. And, if you’re looking for this bread on your own, the most easily noticed design element is probably the words “Sugar Free“ which are written in white text against a green banner.

DFWBlogs Anniversary Party

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

I had a great time at the DFWBLogs Anniversary Party this weekend! You might not think that a meta-vacation would be much fun, but I actually found it to be very refreshing (that is, if my current situation could be considered a vacation at all, harrumph).

I left Dallas around 1:30pm, after having attended the North Texas Linux Users’ Group meeting in the morning. And, the directions that Tina gave to the Winslow’s house were very good — up until the end. One of the last turns was onto Clear Creek Rd. However, that road turned out to not be labeled at all. So, I ended up just taking a guess after having driving back and forth a few times.

In the end, I found it. And, by almost-4:00, when I arrived, I was quite hungry for lunch (I hadn’t anticipate it taking so long to get there). Luckily, the fridge was stocked with meat, so I made myself a chicken sandwich on the grill outside on the deck.

The bread that I found was Milton’s “Healthy Multi-Grain Bread”. Though it’s 99% fat-free, I don’t know if I agree with that “healthy” claim — it has 28g Carbs and 130 Cals/slice, which is about twice that of normal wheat bread. But, you know what? Early on, I had decided that I’d ignore any attempts at healthy eating for the weekend (I wasn't sure if it would even be possible, in any case).

Healthy or not, that is some fine bread. Dense and full of wheat flavor, it was one of the best breads I had ever tasted. And, it’s apparently available at Sam’s Club (which is convenient).

To let you know how much I love it, I have to drive an hour and a half just to find a place close enough to purchase it. I eat it plain, toasted with peanut butter, or on sandwiches. There is such a distance in order to purchase the wonderful bread, that by the time my daughter and I get back in the car to head home, we’ve already got the bag opened and are eating it right out of the package. […]

(just one of Milton’s bread fans)

As the house was right down on the lake, we made full use of that as well. I didn’t go swimming on the first day, but I did enjoy a boat ride. The Winslow’s have a smallish motorboat that can hold maybe eight people (with padded benches along each side of the boat). Anyhow, that first boat ride was in the evening, and we were able to enjoy the moonlight glistening across the waves in the lake. It was very pretty to look at, and I sure yearned for a camera at that moment (damn this lack-of-a-paycheck).

I went to bed around 12:30, I think, which was earlier than some but later than others. With about ten people in total (maybe more?), there weren’t enough beds to go around. So, I found a fold-out foam bed upstairs and made use of that (you know, one of those foam beds that folds back into a chair, and actually isn’t very suitable in either function).

I woke up with some back pain, but a few ibuprofens took care of that. For breakfast, there was bacon and Pillsbury Grands (along with scrambled eggs, and perhaps a few other breakfast foods that I don’t remember).

Now, being that they were Pillsbury, I would never buy Grands on my own. However, since the purchase was already made, I had some (I can be pragmatic at times). The Grands were fluffy and almost creamy in texture (full of fat, I&rquo;m sure, but recall that I was ignoring healthy foods for the weekend). To my surprise, though, the Grands were perceptively sweet as well. Now, they weren’t cake-sweet, but a level above what bread would normally be. I wasn’t turned off by the sweetness, and actually it was rather nice.

I had a turkey sandwich for lunch (again with Milton’s bread), and a couple hot dogs in the afternoon with Connie. I used the grill, once again. I hadn’t cooked hot dogs on a grill ever before (previously, other people were the chefs for hot dog grilling). I happened to align the hot dogs perpendicularly to the slats in the grill, but I wasn’t sure whether parallel alignment would have made for different cooking times (of note: the propane spouts were in a line running from left-to-right along the width-center of the grill).

As a post-lunch treat, I made some s’mores over the grill. I just placed a couple marshmallows on the two-pronged grill fork and roasted away. And, for some reason, Connie was surprised that I wanted to make s’mores in the summer (?). In any case, they were still tasty.

With dinner, Tina made a salad with avocado. I really liked that, as I’m a big avocado fan to begin with. After my first helping of salad, I went looking for some more. There was more salad but no further avocado present. At that point, Leia offered that there was a spare avocado left over (apparently, just one avocado went into the salad). I thought to myself “Why use a middle-man?” and proceeded to just eat the whole avocado plain (with a touch of salt, of course). Ooh, so delicious.

Lest I forget, throughout the weekend there were also Nestle Drumsticks. Drumsticks, of course, are those ice cream cones that come dipped in chocolate and peanuts. Over the course of the weekend, I probably had two or three drumsticks. The only downfall to Drumsticks is that the ice cream (and chocolate) aren’t the type that are very flavorful when fully frozen. After having learned this (after eating the first one), I made sure to let each Drumstick “ripen” on the counter for a few minutes before eating.

Other than getting lost a little on the way there, I had a great time all weekend, from start to finish.