Every loaf that leaves Nonie's bakery in Botany, in Sydney's south-east, goes into a freezer as soon as it has cooled. Nothing has gone wrong. There are no preservatives in the recipe, and a gluten-free loaf left on the bench firms up within a day, so the freezer does the preservative's job. GF Precinct in Melbourne works the same way, freezing its loaves fresh each week.
That habit tells you most of what is different about gluten-free bread. It is built from starches and seed husks rather than wheat protein, it runs on far more water, and it stales by a different clock. Once you know why, the category's quirks make sense: why so much of it is sold frozen, why the fridge is the worst place for it, and why toasting brings a tired slice back. The rest is what an Australian label actually means, including the awkward position of oats, and a paragraph on each of the bakers we stock.
What gluten does, and what stands in for it
Gluten is two wheat proteins, glutenin and gliadin. Add water and knead them and they link into a stretchy net that traps the carbon dioxide from yeast and holds the loaf's shape while it bakes. Take the wheat away and you lose the net, so a gluten-free baker has to engineer structure some other way.
The toolkit has three parts. Starches (rice, tapioca, potato, maize) give bulk and gelatinise in the oven, which sets the crumb. Hydrocolloids bind water and thicken the dough enough to hold gas; psyllium husk, xanthan, guar and HPMC (E464) all do this job. Psyllium is the interesting one, because it forms a stronger, more elastic gel that can be shaped by hand, where xanthan and guar tend to give a pourable batter. The third part is protein. Eggs, soy protein or yeast protein coagulate in the oven and reinforce the structure and the browning.
Because starches and hydrocolloids absorb so much water, gluten-free doughs run far wetter than wheat dough. "Sourdough" means something slightly different here too. Schär, GF Precinct and Venerdi all use a rice-flour starter culture, added for flavour and acidity, but the loaves are still raised with yeast.
Why it goes stale so quickly
Staling is starch retrogradation. As a baked loaf cools, the starch chains slowly re-crystallise and the crumb firms, while moisture migrates from the crumb out to the crust. Wheat bread has a gluten network that slows this down. A gluten-free loaf is mostly starch with no such network, and rice flour in particular is high in amylose, which re-crystallises fast. Hydrocolloids, especially psyllium, delay it by holding onto water.
Two practical things follow. Retrogradation effectively stops at −18 °C, so a freezer holds a loaf roughly where it was on baking day. It runs fastest between 0 and 10 °C, the temperature of a fridge, so refrigerating gluten-free bread is the quickest way to ruin it. And heat partly reverses it, which is why a dry, crumbly slice comes back after a couple of minutes in the toaster.
What "gluten free" means on an Australian label
Australia's rule is stricter than most. Under the FSANZ Food Standards Code, a food labelled gluten free must contain no detectable gluten, and no oats or malted gluten-containing cereals. The United States, the UK and the EU allow up to 20 parts per million. "Low gluten" is a separate Australian category, up to 200 ppm, not intended for people with coeliac disease. "Gluten friendly" and "99% gluten free" are not permitted at all.
"Wheat free" is not the same thing. A wheat-free product can still contain rye, barley, spelt (which is a wheat) or oats. Gluten free is the legally defined term and the one to look for. The Coeliac Australia endorsement logo is a further marker: products carrying it have been reviewed and approved under the organisation's endorsement programme. Of the bakers below, only Nonie's is on that list.
Oats are the awkward case. FSANZ does not allow oats to be labelled gluten free in Australia or New Zealand, even when they are grown and processed well away from wheat, because oats contain avenin, a related protein. Coeliac Australia's guidance is that people with coeliac disease introduce pure oats only with their medical team. So Australian oat products say "uncontaminated" or "wheat free" instead, and those terms are not regulated.
The bakers on our shelves
Nonie's (the full range) was founded in 2014 by Nonie Dwyer, a chef who worked at River Cottage in the UK and who has coeliac disease herself. The loaves are hand-made in a dedicated gluten- and dairy-free facility in Botany, with no gums, no preservatives and no egg in the recipe; psyllium is the binder. The products are certified by Coeliac Australia. The Light Golden Bread is rice, tapioca and potato flour with linseed, sunflower oil, organic coconut sugar, psyllium and a little turmeric, vegan, and at least 61% Australian ingredients. The Seedy Brown is the signature loaf, with pumpkin, sunflower and poppy seeds and a touch of organic cacao. Both are $10.50 for 550 g, or $20.20 for the 1.1 kg Light Golden and 1.1 kg Seedy Brown. We also carry the Activated Charcoal & Quinoa, the Fig & Almond (contains almonds) and Nonie's pita. The loaves may contain traces of tree nuts, egg, sesame and soy. Nonie's is not organic-certified as a brand; only marked ingredients such as the coconut sugar and cacao are.
GF Precinct (the full range) is an independent, Australian-owned bakery in Knoxfield, on Melbourne's eastern edge, baking daily in purpose-built gluten-free premises with no preservatives or additives. The loaves use a brown-rice sourdough culture and are frozen fresh each week. The Market Loaf is built on organic besan (chickpea) flour with potato and tapioca starch, flaxseed and amaranth flour, olive oil, vinegar and psyllium. The Sprouted Loaf adds sprouted mung beans, sunflower and pumpkin seeds to the same base. The Buckwheat Chia swaps in stoneground buckwheat and chia flour. There is also a Fruit Loaf and a pack of Pizza Bases. All are egg-free, dairy-free and nut-free by ingredient, but the Market and Sprouted loaves contain chickpea, a legume, and we could not find a published "may contain" statement, so check the pack. GF Precinct is not on the Coeliac Australia endorsed list.
Schär (the full range) is the big European name. Dr. Schär started in 1922 in South Tyrol, northern Italy, Ulrich Ladurner launched the gluten-free brand in 1981, and it is still family-owned, with around 18 production and distribution sites in 11 countries. We stock the Classico White Sourdough with millet and quinoa, a 300 g shelf-stable loaf in a protective-atmosphere pack, built on maize and rice starch with 16% rice-flour sourdough, psyllium fibre, rice syrup, sunflower oil, soy protein and HPMC, plus a little millet and quinoa flour, yeast and honey. It is the loaf for the cupboard. Contains soy; may contain lupin and mustard; egg-free and dairy-free but not vegan because of the honey. Made in Italy. The Schär Crackers sit alongside it.
Gluten Freedom is a range from Venerdi, a family-owned bakery in Kelston, Auckland, baking since 2002. Their seedy sourdough shows the approach: a 16.8% activated seed mix over tapioca and maize starch, a rice-flour sourdough, coconut oil, guar and psyllium, vegan and free from dairy and soy, but containing sesame and possibly traces of egg and almond. What we have on the shelf is the Gluten Freedom Long Rolls, handy for lunches; the rolls have their own ingredient list, so read the pack for allergens. Venerdi is not Coeliac Australia endorsed.
No Grainer (the full range) is run by sisters Jo and Sally Godfrey, both of whom have food intolerances, baking in Reservoir in Melbourne's north. "Grain-free" here is literal: no grains or pseudo-grains, no bean flours, no gums. The flours are almond, coconut and chia, psyllium binds, and eggs give the structure. The Paleo Almond Loaf is Australian blanched almond flour, psyllium, coconut flour, organic free-range eggs, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, baking powder, chia seed flour, raw honey and rock salt. The Paleo Mixed Loaf adds pepitas and sesame seeds. These are denser and richer than the starch-based loaves, and at $18.99 to $19.99 they are the dearest we sell. We also carry the Olive Rosemary Loaf, the Almond Wraps and the Oh Mega Bun. Contains tree nuts (almond) and egg; the Mixed Loaf contains sesame; the honey means none are vegan. Yeast-free and soy-free. Not organic-certified as a whole, though several ingredients are.
Gloriously Free (the full range), which also trades as GF Oats Australia, was started in 2009 by Kylie Martin Hollonds, at first importing oats from the United States. The business is based near Toowoomba in Queensland, and since around 2020 to 2021 the oats have been Australian-grown, handled under the Global Oats Purity Protocol with every batch independently lab-tested. Because oats cannot be labelled gluten free here, the pack says "uncontaminated". We stock the Uncontaminated Oats 500 g and the Oat Flour 500 g. Both contain oats, which contain avenin.
Storing, slicing and bringing it back
Treat the freezer as the default. If a loaf arrives frozen, keep it that way. If it arrives fresh, slice it and freeze the slices; Nonie's advice is to separate frozen slices with a bread knife and toast lightly. Toast straight from frozen rather than thawing on the bench, since thawing at room temperature restarts the staling clock and toasting is the step that reverses it.
Keep it out of the fridge. A shelf-stable loaf like the Schär Classico is the exception while sealed: keep it in a cool, dry cupboard, then once opened reseal it and use it within a few days, or freeze what is left.
If you bake your own, the same principles apply: psyllium gives a dough you can shape, xanthan gives a batter, and a rice-heavy blend stales quickest. We keep Bob's Red Mill GF 1-to-1 Baking Flour for that purpose.
Questions people ask
Why is gluten-free bread sold frozen?
Because the small bakeries leave out preservatives, and freezing stops the starch retrogradation that firms the crumb. The loaf you thaw is close to the loaf that came out of the oven.
Should I keep it in the fridge?
No. Fridge temperatures, 0 to 10 °C, speed up staling rather than slowing it. Freeze it, or keep a shelf-stable loaf in the cupboard until opened.
Is gluten-free sourdough really sourdough?
It uses a sourdough culture, usually rice flour and water, for acidity and flavour, but the loaf is still leavened with yeast.
Is gluten-free bread vegan?
It depends on the baker. Nonie's, GF Precinct and the Gluten Freedom seedy sourdough are vegan. Schär's Classico contains honey. No Grainer's loaves are made with eggs and honey.
Why does it cost more than a wheat loaf?
Most of these are small-batch, hand-made loaves from dedicated facilities, using starches, seed flours and binders that cost more than wheat flour. That is why a 550 g loaf sits at $10.50 and a nut-flour loaf closer to $19.
All of the loaves, rolls and flours above can be ordered online for Sydney delivery, or found in the freezers and on the shelves at Leichhardt and Crows Nest.
