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Since the subject of great gf bread has come up, I'd like to nominate
Genuine Bavarian's Gluten-Free Whole Grain Bread, which was discussed on
this list in 1998.

This product, available in the United States, is an authentic-tasting,
authentic-textured thin-sliced brown bread that comes in cube-like packages
and doesn't need refrigeration (though I refrigerate it after I've opened
it). I suppose the slices can be eaten straight out of the package
(separating each slice using a knife), but I strongly recommend toasting,
after which it qualifies as a 100% respectable and delicious brown bread.
It appears that Glutano and 3-Pauly market a similar bread that generally
costs more to folks in the US--which makes the Genuine Bavarian brand a
bargain in comparison.

I found out about this bread in a roundabout way:  I noticed the 3-Pauly
version when I was traveling in Bavaria last year.  I carried a package
home.  Once I had returned, I started noticing the Genuine Bavarian version
at my own health food store!  It was shelved with the other Genuine Bavarian
breads, which are not gluten-free.

I'm so enthusiastic about this bread that I emailed PEMA, its German bakery,
to find out more about how people in the USA could get it.  The bakery got
me in touch with the importer/exporter for the USA.  From him I learned that
health food stores can order it through the distributors, United Natural
Foods.  Apparently its item number is 104.  You can see an image of the
package, with a brief and accurate description of the product, at the bottom
of this page:  www.pema.de/e/pages/organically.htm

Going through the archives, I notice that the bread was mentioned in 1998
but that there were concerns about one of the ingredients being millet and
also concerns about potential contamination during the manufacturing
process.  By now it should be clear that, for celiacs, millet does not share
the forbidden status of wheat, barley, and rye.  As for the contamination
issue, I just received a note from a PEMA plant manager who assured me that
the gluten-free bread is truly gluten-free.  This plant manager wrote that
the gluten-free bread is prepared on a day when no other bread is prepared,
that the baking line is exclusively gluten-free, that the slicing and
packaging lines are intensively cleaned and controlled by quality assurance,
and that samples from each preparation are sent to an independent lab for
testing (and that products would not be released if contamination were
found).

I have no connection to this company and its importer/exporter except for
the fact that I enjoy the bread and want others to be aware of it.

David Fischer
New York

*Please provide references to back up claims of a product being GF or not GF*