When I look back over the last 2 years since diagnosis, I realise there is one product that has probably made its way into my shopping basket more than any other: Dietary Specials gluten free brown ciabatta rolls.
They are sold in packs of 4:
I was in my local Waitrose the other week and stocking up on a couple of packs (they were on buy one get one free) and the lady on the till asked me about them. She said she’d been recently diagnosed with Coeliac disease and couldn’t find any gluten free breads she liked. I shared my views on the main gluten free breads on the market and told her she needed to try some of the DS rolls, particularly while they were on special offer. I’m sure she was thinking “calm down dear, they’re only bread rolls”, but to me they’re not just a gluten free replacement, they’re as good – if not better – than similar regular bread rolls. If I had one piece of feedback, I wish they could make them a little larger.
I really like the linseeds and sunflower seeds in the brown ciabatta rolls. They’re also high in fibre. I usually prefer these rolls freshly warmed in the oven because it gives the outside of the bread a lovely crusty texture so rarely found in gluten free bread. However, they have been frequent travellers with me and I’ll happily eat them straight from the pack too.
The Dietary Specials website has a handy booklet you can download here with lots of recipe ideas for the ciabatta rolls.
Here are some uses I’ve found for my DS brown ciabatta rolls:
Inspired by one of the panini recipes in the above DS booklet, I made this goat’s cheese, sundried tomato and griddled courgette panini using a white ciabatta roll. As I don’t have a panini press, I used a griddle pan and its heavy lid. This didn’t look flat as panini cooked in a proper press would but it tasted great. I’d also forgotten how much I like goat’s cheese.
The ultimate comfort food: Gluten free fish finger sandwich using Young’s gluten free fish fingers. You can tell I have a favourite type of side salad!
Sausage sandwich with lashings of ketchup. These rolls are so widely available in the UK I’ve been able to rely on finding them wherever we visit in the UK, in this case a summer BBQ by the sea.
However, when I’ve travelled overseas I’ve often taken a pack with me. Here’s my gluten free stash for our holiday in France. I should add most of this returned home with us!
Finally, I’ve taken them as emergency food on flights. In this case on the way back from Albania. As the flight was just under 3 hours, Mr D was catered for but I wasn’t.
The great thing about these rolls is that they are long life (although they don’t taste like it) and this means you can take them away on trips and if you don’t use them, they can be stored for whenever you need them. Or just keep a pack in the cupboard without having to worry about wastage!
Dietary Specials ciabatta rolls are widely available at Waitrose, The Cooperative, Tesco, Morrisons and Asda.
