Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Wheatless: Vermont baguette

(Garlic toast with polenta in red sauce. Gluten-free, really!)

This is a rosemary loaf from Against the Grain, but there is very little rosemary present. However, it gets high marks for visual appeal.

Against the Grain is made in Vermont, another plus.

What does it taste like? Untoasted, the texture is like old choux - rather, day-old "pate a choux" (paht-ah-shoo) pastry. The flavor is neutral, and the rosemary imparted nothing discernible, not even visually, to the bread.

That's 397 mg of sodium per serving; 3 servings to a loaf - if you want a whole sandwich or a sub, you will probably be cutting each loaf in half . I thought the amount of sodium was excessive for people on a restrictive diet.

(The crust falls off when you try to cut it thinly.)

Okay, full confession: I'm going to consume half of this baguette as garlic toast, regardless of what it says on the label - I'm ignoring everything that I should heed because I haven't had garlic toast in 2 years.

However, unless it's a special occasion, say, I came across some mortadella or proscuitto, something that cries out "MAKE A SANDWICH", I won't be buying this again. It's firmly in the forbidden category because of the sodium content.