The Gluten-Free Bread You Should Never Pick Up At Trader Joe's

From the classic crisp bread to the French baguettes, and from the whole grain bagels to the seasonal, pumpkin bread boxed mix, you have all sorts of grain-free breads to choose from at Trader Joe's — but some aren't as great as others. In fact, you shouldn't even bother picking some of them up. At least, that's what our taste testers found in their ranking of Trader Joe's breads. Of all the 13 varieties they tried, gluten-less and not, they concluded that the gluten-free cinnamon raisin bread was the worst.

Gluten-free bread has come a long way — look no further than this gluten-free cinnamon raisin bread as proof. But, our taste tester's issue with this bread has nothing to do with how it looks. It's actually quite the contrary. Trader Joe's gluten-free cinnamon raisin loaf looks just as swirly and soft as any other bagged variety you'd find at the grocery store. Where it misses the mark, however, is its texture. While it might look light and fluffy on the outside, customers can't seem to get over how dry and tough it tastes on the inside. 

While gluten-free bread tends to be tougher, customers also find the slices of this bread to be too thin. Add that to the fact that the cinnamon flavor comes off artificial and the scarcity of the raisins, you seem to miss out on all the things you look forward to when popping a piece of cinnamon raisin bread in the toaster.

Just because you're compromising on the gluten in your diet doesn't mean you have to compromise on the bread you eat — especially not today. There are plenty of options out there that taste just as good as they look, if not better. Just read through our taste tester's ranking of gluten-free breads for examples. Schär's gluten-free white bread is their favorite and Young Kobras' gluten-free sourdough is ranked just behind it in second place, with both brands receiving rave reviews from customers for being as soft as regular bread. But, if you're interested in something from Trader Joe's specifically, you might want to consider varieties other than the cinnamon raisin.

Apart from the gluten-free cinnamon raisin bread, Trader Joe's also offers grainless slices of its multigrain and white sandwich bread. But, considering how tough the gluten-free cinnamon raisin is, you might want to pick out something different entirely, such as opting for a brown rice wrap, gluten-free baguette, or a grainless bagel instead. However, if it's a gluten-free cinnamon raisin bread in particular that you're after, you'll be better off shopping somewhere else. Canyon Bakehouse — a brand our taste testers also ranked highly — makes its own version of the bagged slices (with just the right amount of chew), while Schär's offers gluten-free cinnamon raisin bagels. You might even consider using them to make your own, gluten-free French toast.