Review: Mariposa Gluten-Free Bakery

Come sample some of Mariposa Baking's sweet creations at our upcoming Food Allergies Rock concert event.  RSVP by 8pm PST on Monday 10/31 for your chance to win a free set of Allergy Alert Stick Ons!

Mariposa Baking Company is a dedicated gluten-free bakery located in Oakland.  The company takes pride in its artisan-crafted goodies that are mixed and formed by hand in small batches to ensure the highest quality.  Mariposa uses natural ingredients throughout an extensive menu that includes brownies, biscotti, cupcakes, breads, and bagels.

Last week I picked up some of Mariposa's baked goods at a gluten-free retail shop.  I haven't eaten much wheat for the past two months -- a bit of a personal test to kick my self-diagnosed carbs addition -- so I was pretty excited to sample the goods and get in my bread fix.  I bought a gluten-free, milk-free focaccia bread (it does contain eggs) and a pack of two pizza crusts (gluten-free, vegan).

We ate this so fast we almost didn't get a picture of it!

First, the verdict on the focaccia?  Yum!  It was light and delicious with a nice rosemary taste.  Made with simple ingredients such as brown rice flour, tapioca, oil, eggs, and rosemary, the texture was just slightly on the delicate side.  If I didn't know it, I would have never suspected it was gluten-free.

Two 10-inch GF vegan pizza crusts for $9.50.  A good deal!

We used the pizza crusts that same night.  And with a new crust to try, I figured I should use a new pizza recipe, too.  I found a recipe similar to California Pizza Kitchen's rosemary potato and chicken pizza and made substitutions to eliminate milk and gluten: Earth Balance instead of butter; allergy-friendly Daiya vegan shreds instead of mozzarella; and San-J gluten-free tamari instead of soy sauce.  (If you need something dairy-free and soy-free, look for soy-free Earth Balance in the dark red tub.)  The recipe called for 1/8-inch thick potato slices baked for 45 minutes.  I sliced the potatoes thinner than the recommended 1/8-inch width and they began to burn at 30 minutes.  Besides that, I followed the recipe pretty closely.

Gluten-free, milk-free rosemary potato and chicken pizza

The verdict on the pizza crusts?  They were impressive.  I admit when I saw them in their package I had my doubts.  They looked a little thick.  But I preheated the oven to the directions on the package and assembled the toppings.  After cooking the pizzas and tasting the final product, I was so happy!  The crust was crispy on the outside with a soft texture when you bite into it -- in other words, it tasted just like a good pizza crust should.

Despite overbaking the potato slices, the pizza was a big hit!

Ryken takes another crunchy bite.  The overbaked potatoes were like potato chips!

Mariposa provides a complete list of ingredients for its mainstay products on its website.  Many of Mariposa's products are dairy-free, egg-free, and/or nut-free in addition to being completely gluten-free.  This is great for kids with multiple food allergies.  It's nice to see that they do not use nut-based flours (such as peanut or almond flour) which are often seen as good substitutes for wheat flour.

The bakery's sweet and savory treats are sold at many locations including their Oakland bake shop, the San Francisco Ferry Building kiosk, farmers' markets around the San Francisco Bay Area, and in specialty shops such as Miglet's Cupcake Shop which is where I bought mine.

Aren't local to the Bay Area?  You can still enjoy many of Mariposa's artisan goodies by buying online from their mail order menu.

Happy GF eating!