Schär Gluten Free Wheat Free Pizza Crusts

Schär Gluten Free Wheat Free Pizza Crusts
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

There are many ways that pizza can be enjoyed by the general public, but when it comes to gluten free pizza, it's a magic trick as to whether the final product is going to be worth the invariable bags of money required. It doesn't seem to matter whether one orders a pizza from a restaurant that delivers pizza, if a person decides to visit the freezer section of their local grocery store or whether a budding chef decides that making a pizza from scratch is the way to go, the final result is going to be something that is going to cost a pretty penny.

A pizza that is gluten free and actually tastes good is definitely going to cost at least ten dollars for a very modestly sized pizza and likely much more if it's obtained from a restaurant that delivers pizza. While it is fortunate that so many gluten free food makers have recognized the need for a pizza that doesn't have wheat and gluten in it, the fact that someone will usually have to pony up a fair chunk of change means that trying such delicacies isn't going to be that common unless someone's been lucky with the Powerball numbers lately.

Schär Gluten Free Wheat Free Pizza Crusts
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

Regarding the Schär Gluten Free Wheat Free Pizza Crusts, a pair of crusts will range from a little over seven dollars to around ten dollars as they always come in a pair in a box. They're also individually wrapped, which means they can be eaten at very different times without issue. They also don't need to be frozen, which means they can sit in a cupboard for a while and be just fine.

Regarding the calorie content and nutritional value of the crusts, like most pizza that tastes good, the crusts are going to be rather caloric and the traditional toppings put on the pizza are probably going to add a few hefty calories of their own, especially if there are things like chicken or pepperoni added on top of cheese and sauce (I am suddenly rather hungry writing this...). When prepared correctly, these crusts do turn out very well, so it's important to have an active lifestyle if an entire pizza is on the menu for a single meal. They're not the sort of food that would rest well in the refrigerator either, so if you're not aiming to eat the whole pizza, having a friend who might be interested would probably be a good idea.

Without a doubt, pizza is this writer's favorite food and so if there's a pizza on the market somewhere that has the words "gluten-free" in it, you can bet it's going to end up in this blog. And since the wrong decision with cooking times, toppings and the finished product can provide wildly different results, experimentation can certainly be expensive.

Schär Gluten Free Wheat Free Pizza Crusts
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

For anyone seeking the best way to prepare this pizza, it's definitely recommended that a nice coating of oil accompany the bread-like disc into the oven as this will provide a much better finished pie with a nicely browned crust. It's also recommended that the pizza be cooked on a very high temperature in the middle of the oven. This provides a crust that isn't burned and a nicely charred bit of cheese on the top.

This crust can certainly come out a winner, but only if it's prepared correctly and some experimentation might actually need to take place depending on the likes and dislikes of the person making the pizza. Generally, such a crust is going to come out rather dry and even crumbly if it's placed into the oven without oil and likewise, if the crust is cooked for too long, it could tend to roll up somewhat and start to crack along the edges. To avoid the potential for an improperly prepared crust, a person is going to need to know his or her oven and how it likes to treat food. It's probably a good thing that there are two pizza crusts in every box because the first one always turns out weird if you don't know what you're doing beforehand.

The bottom line regarding this gluten free pizza option is that it's not going to be any cheaper than the other pizzas out there, but it can turn out to be a very good meal. The result is going to offer a pizza that is a little thicker than some of the other gluten free pizza crusts out there and this is why it's important to cook the pizza only as long as it takes to brown the crust and cook it thoroughly. It's not easy to burn it, but it is easy to dry it out (hence the suggestion on the oil).

Schär Gluten Free Wheat Free Pizza Crusts
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

Schär Gluten Free Wheat Free Pizza Crusts Report Card

The Good Stuff:

If you're willing to work with the crust and make a few of these pizzas with various toppings and types of sauce, this pizza can come out tasting pretty terrific. Definitely worth a try, especially if you like pizza and would like to make one on your own.

This pizza crust also conceals fairly well the fact that it's a gluten-free option and anyone who might be eating the pizza with someone who can otherwise indulge freely with wheat and all sorts of nefarious ingredients, it shouldn't be a big deal. The crust is a little denser than one might find of a general wheat type crust, but taste-wise it's a great option.

What Could Improve:

The pizza crust does indeed require some special treatment so as to make sure that it doesn't turn out dried and cracked. Not everyone is willing to put this sort of time and effort into a pizza crust, even if they are promised a terrific result. But whether that is truly something that is worth a check in the negative column is probably up for debate.

Schär Gluten Free Hazelnut Wafers

Schär Gluten Free Hazelnut Wafers
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

Dessert wafers are meant to be a lightweight and delicate sort of treat when they're eaten and while companies used to sell these wafer treats primarily in flavors of vanilla, vanilla or vanilla, there have certainly been some expansions on the classic treat with just about every sort of flavor put into the wafers themselves or into the powdery, sugared filling in the center.

Schär Gluten Free Hazelnut Wafers are a nice step in a creative direction by the company as they not only offer a light style of dessert to people who require gluten-free food, but they also do it in such a way that it's a bit different from the standard vanilla wafer setup. Hazelnut is an intriguing choice for a wafer candy since it's pretty subtle and is a great compliment to the overall weight of the treat itself.

The best way to describe these little treats is that they taste like a less substantial version of a Ferrero Rocher chocolate ball. They are a great flavor to put in a wafer and like vanilla, hazelnut is a particular type of flavor that doesn't require any accompaniment and stands just fine on its own.

The texture of the wafers is appropriate although like most wafer treats, they do seem to be rather prone to leaving crumbs absolutely everywhere. 

It's likely that the best time to eat these isn't going to be while sitting on the couch wearing black pants because everything just gets covered with wafer dust and crumbs whenever someone takes a bite.

As long as someone isn't worried about the crumbs in these things or has a suitable place to eat the wafers (outside is a good place. you'll really, truly never get all those crumbs out of the couch cushions!), the only things to be concerned about with this treat are the calories and fat in them. For such a feathery and dainty type of treat, they sure do pack a punch when it comes to the nutritional content. 

Just a single, small package weighs in at 260 calories and a rather hefty 13g of fat (the picture at the top of this blog post is a small, snack-size pack and should probably be as much as anyone should eat in a single sitting). For as light as the wafers are, it's amazing that much fat is in there somewhere.

Overall, these wafers are exactly what you might expect from any sort of wafer treat and the fact that they're gluten-free seems to be a bonus as they wouldn't look out of place amongst the rest of the bagged cookies and dessert offerings on the shelf at the grocery store.

Schär Gluten Free Hazelnut Wafers
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

Schär Gluten Free Hazelnut Wafers Report Card

The Good Things:

If you like hazelnut and would enjoy an airy sort of treat, these little wafers will fit the bill. The flavor of hazelnut is a terrific choice for this type of dessert and Schär has done exceedingly well with their recipe. 

Another tasty element of these little wafers is that they don't taste like they're gluten-free and this means that someone could probably put these little wafers out at a party or share them with a friend without having to preface the offering with "well, they're gluten-free, but they're still good."

What Could Change:

As noted above, these little things might be delicate as far as weight and taste are concerned, but they're certainly not fragile when it comes to their calorie and fat content. It's best not to eat too many of these little treats in one sitting.

In addition, they are ferociously messy and even though Schär has conveniently offered them in a small, snack-size bag, they probably should still have a plate under them unless they're going to be snacked upon while walking around outside where the crumbs won't matter.

Schär Naturally Gluten-Free Spaghetti

Schär Naturally Gluten-Free Spaghetti
Photograph Copyright 2012 Kelsey Wyatt

Pasta is available in a number of gluten-free forms and various types of pasta tend to taste better with different toppings. Rice pasta is generally the best pasta for a classic bowl of macaroni and cheese while corn pasta is often going to taste best with some marinara sauce for its topping. While it does come down to individual taste, the nice thing about pasta is that if someone has a gluten or wheat allergy, there are many alternatives and finding the best option for a pasta dish just takes some experimentation.

And for a plate of spaghetti, it is this author's opinion that one of the best options is going to be corn pasta due to the general strength of the pasta after it's been cooked. Any type of pasta might tend to get a little mushy if it's left in a pot too long, but alternative non-gluten based pastas are extremely vulnerable to becoming a mushy mess. This is where corn pasta shines as it has a strength to it that other pastas do not.

Schär Naturally Gluten-Free Spaghetti
Photograph Copyright 2012 Kelsey Wyatt

Of course, it should be noted that corn pasta does taste different than traditional pasta that is made from wheat. For Schär Naturally Gluten-Free Spaghetti, the strength of it is generally within expectations and covering it with a pile of marinara (or any sort of tomato-based sauce) along with some Parmesan (or even mozzarella) is a fine idea as the resulting taste is pleasing.

One of the benefits of this particular brand of pasta is the fact that it's made with words like "natural" on the package, which might be an attractive element for anyone who is interested in eating foods that haven't been through significant processing. Not only is the product gluten, wheat and lactose free, but it's also got zero cholesterol and is not made with preservatives. This is a great pasta to use if you're interested in making your own sauce and having a natural pasta to serve with it.

Schär Naturally Gluten-Free Spaghetti
Photograph Copyright 2012 Kelsey Wyatt

The one area where people who enjoy eating pasta might have to watch out is in the calorie column as just a single package of pasta (which is likely good enough for three people so long as there are sides involved) equals about 1200 calories. This means if you add cheese and sauce to the mix and perhaps some gluten-free bread with a little garlic and butter, you might very well be looking at thousands of calories worth of food for what might be just part of a full meal. 

Schär Naturally Gluten-Free Spaghetti w/Marinara & Parm
Photograph Copyright 2012 Kelsey Wyatt

It's advisable that anyone seeking to eat a healthy amount of calories each day be careful not to toss the entire package into the pot unless they're interested in seeing the number on the scale jump up or they've got some friends over to share the meal.

The nice thing about this pasta is that it's not going to need an extreme amount of babysitting at the stovetop as would rice pasta (which is generally a type of pasta that cooks at a lightning pace). 

Of course, that doesn't mean that it can be left on the stove for a half hour and come out just fine. As with any gluten-free types of pasta, it's always best to cook it just a few minutes less than you might cook pasta that was filled with gluten. But just a hair less when it comes to corn pasta as it does perform well when it's cooked right.

Schär Naturally Gluten-Free Spaghetti Report Card:

Schär Naturally Gluten-Free Spaghetti
Photograph Copyright 2012 Kelsey Wyatt

The Good Things:

Schär does generally make pasta that's tasty and this (mostly) corn pasta is something that should pair well with some traditional Italian toppings such as a type of tomato sauce and any sort of cheese that you might expect to see in an Italian restaurant.

What Could be Better:

There's not a lot that Schär could really change regarding their pasta as it performs well in cooking tests and does produce a tasty pasta experience when fully cooked. For anyone who has had the pleasure of eating regular gluten-filled pasta, the taste difference is certainly noticeable, but anyone who can't eat gluten shouldn't feel too deprived when they're forced to eat an alternative type of pasta such as this corn pasta.

A warning to anyone searching for a gluten-free pasta - as is the case with most gluten-free dishes, you'll likely pay much more for a small package of Schär Naturally Gluten-Free Spaghetti than you would pay for a run-of-the-mill pasta where "gluten-free" wasn't printed somewhere on the package. Expect to pay as much for a small package of Schär pasta as you might for a family size package of the regular wheat stuff.

Schär Multigrain Bread

Schär Multigrain Bread
Photograph Copyright 2012 Kelsey Wyatt

One of the most popular offerings for gluten free products is regular run-of-the-mill bread and there are all sorts out there like white bread, flax bread, and multi-grain bread. And the sad truth is that most of these breads are going to taste like cardboard. The majority of the population will probably feel as though they're eating a saltine cracker instead of biting into a chewy piece of delicious bread. And the primary reason for this particular issue is the fact that the "glue" is simply missing from the package.

Gluten simply holds the whole package together and without some wheat in that mixture, bread is often going to be crumbly and without real strength.

And this is why most gluten-free breads are always going to require special care when they are used for just about any meal whether they are tossed in a pan for grilled cheese sandwiches or they're put into a toaster. Just staring at gluten-free bread is often enough to cause it all to spontaneously disintegrate into a million little pieces of gluten-free pebbles. Which might be fine if you like your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on pieces of bread that are an inch square.

Schär Multigrain Bread
Photograph Copyright 2012 Kelsey Wyatt

And Schär Multigrain Bread is definitely a bread that requires some carefully handling or it is likely to come out looking like bread crumbs that you might want to stuff inside a turkey instead of using for anything more rigid, toasted or cooked. And as you can see from the picture above, you don't actually have a lot to work with when you buy a loaf. 

Schär Multigrain Bread
Photograph Copyright 2012 Kelsey Wyatt

Not only is the length of the loaf much shorter than what you might find from your local, standard loaf of white bread, but the pieces themselves are quite small in size. This means that anyone who is over the age of twelve will find the cute smallness of the pieces of bread should require the use of at least four pieces of bread for a few sandwiches unless there's a huge bag of potato chips standing by to help with the lack of bread real estate.

And eating four pieces of bread shouldn't have too much of an impact on anyone who is calorie counting as each slice only has seventy calories in it. Anyone looking to reduce their overall consumption of fat should note that there is a gram of fat per piece so with four pieces of bread, that's grams of fat added to whatever toppings might be included in the meal such as cheese on a grilled cheese or perhaps butter on a simple piece of toast. 

Overall, one gram of fat per slice isn't a lot of fat, but it's interesting that these pygmy-sized pieces have the same amount of fat that's generally found in a regular sized piece of bread.

Schär Multigrain Bread - Pieces Break Easily!
Photograph Copyright 2012 Kelsey Wyatt

For the purposes of this review, I decided to make grilled cheese as it was a project that would require more than just slapping some peanut butter on the loaf and calling it a day. 

But when I took the bread out of the hermetically sealed package, there were already signs of breakage on the slices despite my generally careful handling of such items. I know that bread in particular has a tendency to break apart rather easily but that didn't stop the Schär slices from being crumbly right out of the bag. It's not as if I'd played fetch with the family cat before opening the bag.


My strategy to cook proper grilled cheeses despite the breakage would be to use the cheese as a type of glue. This strategy was successful for the most part and the bread behaved itself for the majority of its time in the pan until it was browned up and the cheese was melted.

Schär Multigrain Bread - Cheese is Glue!
Photograph Copyright 2012 Kelsey Wyatt

This meant I had to be particularly careful with how I flipped the sandwiches once the cheese was added and the pieces were clamped together. The annoying thing about this issue was that the pieces were already crumbly right out of the bag, so it's not as if I could have simply been very careful during the actual cooking process. 


Breakable pieces are just another one of those little elements of gluten-free cooking that is likely to impact just about any sort of sandwich bread.

As far as the taste of the finished product, assuming a very heavy amount of additional ingredients are used such as the cheese and butter in the case of a grilled cheese sandwich, the taste of a Schär Multigrain Bread sandwich will probably remind you of a very slightly sourdough type of bread although that's clearly not the type of bread that Schär is trying to make with this bread option. But this aspect isn't a deal-killer unless you have an absolute hatred of sourdough.


Overall, the end result for using this Schär product in a grilled cheese is a positive one for giving you the sort of sensory satisfaction that a grilled cheese can offer, but it's a bit of a hassle to pull off a non-broken and intact sandwich. Also, the taste is going to be just a little off as far as how it compares to true bread. But that's not entirely unexpected.

Schär Multigrain Bread - Grilled Cheese Form
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

Schär Multigrain Bread Report Card


The Good Things:


As long as you're creative with how you handle this bread and you don't mind the mild taste of sourdough, this particular Schär product can definitely be turned into something resembling a normal meal. Just remember to load it up with toppings.


What Could Be Improved:


The fragile nature of the bread is something that can be dealt with, but the Schär folks really could benefit from some experimentation in how to make their bread a little more solid. The recipe could also benefit from some tweaking so the sourdough taste wasn't so evident.

Schär Multigrain Bread Getting Cheesed
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

Getting a Great Meal from Schär Multigrain Bread:


There's nothing wrong with loading up these slices of bread with tons of butter and cheese. After all, the best way to enjoy a grilled cheese is to go overboard with the ingredients.


But remember to be absolutely careful with the bread as it is cooking otherwise the end result will be crumbly pieces of bread fit for nobody but the ducks at the local pond.


On a final note, the best option for this bread and its taste is always going to be in toasted form. Eating it straight out of the bag is definitely not recommended.