The sourdough bread craze is one trend that we love to see because sourdough offers some awesome health benefits! Plus, it’s made simply from just a few ingredients.
While we love to make sourdough bread from scratch (when time allows), we were thrilled to hear about Wildgrain, a food subscription box that delivers bakery-made sourdough bread directly to our doors.
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When we first learned about Wildgrain, we didn’t hesitate to sign up to try it. The specificity of this subscription box (sourdough bread, fresh pasta, and other artisanal baked goods) certainly piqued our interest and sounded so good! That was over two years ago, and all three registered dietitians on our team have been paying members ever since.
In this honest Wilgrain review (not sponsored by the brand), we’ll introduce you to this subscription service that delivers sourdough bread and so much more right to your doorstep. We’ll let you know what we think and cover:
- What you get in a box
- Our experience and insider tips
- The pros and cons of Wildgrain
- The cost, value, and taste
- Who should and shouldn’t subscribe
Our Verdict
How We Reviewed Wildgrain Products
In the summer of 2021, Wildgrain reached out to us asking if we’d each like to receive a box of their frozen sourdough breads and other artisanal baked goods. Since we always test and taste products and services before sharing them with you, we agreed to give it a good test run.
We each baked, tasted, and experienced the items in our first box over the next few weeks. After we had tried everything from that first sample box, it wasn’t long before we signed up to be paying members of this service. We each get (and pay for) a box that arrives about once every 4-8 weeks. Since that first complimentary box 2.5 years ago, we’ve been buying Wildgrain boxes and testing them in our normal cooking and recipe creations. Each of the five members of our core team, including three registered dietitians, plus our spouses and kids, have been enjoying Wildgrain’s local bakery boxes.
Pros and Cons of Wildgrain
In this Wildgrain box review, we compiled our experiences into a quick glance of pros and cons. Overall, it’s been a great experience, and we all plan to continue using it.
Pros | Cons |
Very delicious, high-quality sourdough and other bakery goods made from clean ingredients | Pay a higher price for quality baked goods delivered right to your door |
Bake just what you need — one loaf, or even just one cookie — at a time! | After baking, products should be eaten within a day or two |
It’s so easy! Products arrive frozen and bake in just 20-25 minutes | |
Convenient delivery service (pause or stop any time) and edit what’s in your box for each delivery | |
All of their high-quality ingredients are non-GMO | |
Using Wildgrain makes us feel good about spending our money — products are made in small bakeries around the country, rather than corporate food production companies, and they donate meals to a Boston food bank for each new member who signs up | |
Gluten-free and vegan boxes are now available | All gluten-free products are produced in a dedicated gluten-free facility |
More pros: New members get free croissants in every box, plus $10 off their first Wildgrain box. And shipping is always free.
Another cool feature about this Boston-based company: For every new member who signs up, Wildgrain donates four meals to The Greater Boston Food Bank. So far, they have donated more than 285,000 meals.
Taste and Consistency
These products are so delicious. They consistently result in high-quality bread that has the crusty exterior, warm tender interior, and perfectly tangy sourdough flavor.
In fact, we go so far as to say the taste of Wildgrain’s products is phenomenal – it’s the kind of bread that is so good that it makes you pause and be present in the sensory moment. You really can’t beat the experience of pulling a warm freshly baked loaf of sourdough out of your oven, especially when all you had to do was pull it out of the freezer!
Our Dietitians’ Favorite Wildgrain Products
Dietitian Jessie loves the Slow-Fermented Olive Oil Ciabatta Bread (feeds her family of five for several meals), the Sourdough Sesame Seed Loaf, and the Plain Sourdough Loaf (tastes like it was made right at home).
“I needed to bring something to a holiday potluck but was running short on time. I baked two loaves of Wildgrain bread and made a quick batch of our Honey Butter. Everyone raved about it and asked if I spent hours in the kitchen making homemade bread. I was almost embarrassed to say that all I did was pull it out of the freezer and bake it for 25 minutes!” Jessie, RD
Dietitian Stacie’s favorites are the Cranberry Pecan Sourdough Loaf (so good with our chicken salads), Parmesan Herb Biscuits, and the Pie Bites, which she says are the perfect handheld pie to serve to guests.
“My husband and I had friends over for a last minute dinner get together and didn’t have a lot of time to prepare a meal and we were limited by what we had on hand. Thankfully I had some Wildgrain in my freezer. The Parmesan Herb Biscuits stole the show! It didn’t even matter what else was served. Everyone LOVED the biscuits.” – Stacie, RD
Dietitian Jessica loves the Rosemary-Garlic Sourdough Loaf, the 3-Cheese Sourdough for making sandwiches, and the Sourdough Rolls (she likes to bake just one at a time to add to lunches).
“For my daughter’s 13th birthday slumber party, my husband was in charge of dinner and forgot to buy garlic bread. Wildgrain saved the day! I pulled out a loaf of sourdough, baked it, then sliced it while still warm and spread each piece with butter, garlic powder, and salt.” – Jessica, RD
Our Wildgrain Baking & Serving Tips
Here are some helpful tips we’ve discovered since we’ve been Wildgrain members for more than two years:
- We find that it’s helpful to allow the baked loaves, rolls, croissants, and English muffins to sit on a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before we slice into them.
- We bake the croissants a little longer than the package directions — until they are just a bit dark on the bottoms and tops. This way, they tend to be flakier and hold up better after being cooled and sliced, especially if we’re using them to make breakfast sandwiches.
- For the Chocolate Chip Cookies, we typically bake them 1-2 minutes longer than the package says. We love that you can just pull out a few (or even just one!) of the frozen cookie dough “pucks” to bake and serve warm. You don’t have to bake them all at once — just the portion that you need.
- We like to make a simple glaze to drizzle over the Pie Bites.
Cost and Value
The cost of Wildgrain boxes ranges from $69 to $109 for 6 items, depending on the types of products you choose. While this is definitely more than buying similar items at a bakery or making them from scratch, we found the value of the boxes to be very much worth it in terms of how much time we saved and the quality!
Wildgrain box options used to come in two options: a mixed box and a bakery box. However, that recently changed, and the company now offers four box options. When you start your membership, you select from one of these four box types:
- Bread, Pastas, and Pastries
- get either 6 or 12 items in every box, depending on your plan
- select from a large variety of loaves of sourdough bread and slow-fermented breads and rolls, fresh handmade pastas like fettuccine and tonnarelli, and pastries like chocolate chunk cookies, Belgian waffles, and Parmesan herb biscuits
- get free croissants in every box for the lifetime of your membership
- For gluten-free boxes, you’ll receive gluten-free chocolate chip cookies
- For vegan boxes, you’ll receive vegan croissants
- add on seasonal items, such as pie bites, brioche rolls, and brownies
- price per item is $14-$16, depending on box size
- Pastries and Desserts
- get either 6 or 12 items in every box, depending on your plan
- build your box from pastries and seasonal desserts, such as sweet and savory biscuit options, cookies, waffles, and croissants
- get free croissants in every box for the lifetime of your membership
- add on seasonal items, such as macaroons, chocolate avalanche croissants, and lava cakes
- price per item is $14-$18, depending on box size
- Bread and Rolls
- get either 6 or 12 items in every box, depending on your plan
- select from many different options in breads and rolls, such as sourdough loaves, demi baguettes, slow fermented brioche rolls, pretzel buns, and rye loaves
- box type does not include free croissants for life
- price per item is $10-$12, depending on box size
- Vegan Bread and Rolls
- get either 6 or 12 items in every box, depending on your plan
- select from several choices of sourdough breads and rolls, olive oil ciabatta, baguettes, and slow-fermented breads, croissants and plant-based desserts
- only get presented with vegan options
- has filters to include/exclude products with honey
- box type includes free vegan croissants for life
- price per item is $10-$12, depending on box size
- Gluten-Free Bread
- get either 6 or 12 items in every box, depending on your plan
- select from gluten-free seeded sourdough bread, brioche rolls, pasta and pastries
- items are produced in a dedicated gluten-free facility
- box type includes free gluten-free chocolate chip cookies
You have easy control over the delivery frequency by originally selecting if you want a box every 2, 4, 6, or 8 weeks. From there, you can delay deliveries by 1-2 weeks or choose to have them shipped on a custom date of your choosing. We’ve found that this flexibility is great for those weeks that we have traveling conflicts or our freezers are too full.
What Is Wildgrain?
Wildgrain is a subscription box service that delivers frozen bakery products, like sourdough bread loaves, rolls, fresh hand-cut pastas, and artisanal pastries, right to your front door. The subscription service is flexible — you can stop or pause at any time and customize the items you’d like in each box.
Keep the frozen items in your freezer for days, weeks, and months — right up until you want to bake them. The frozen sourdough loaves bake in just 20 minutes.
Our team of three registered dietitians has been customers of Wildgrain for two years now and we love the high quality and convenience of having these frozen breads and pastries on hand.
What You Get in a Wildgrain Box
In every box, you get to select either 6 items (that’s the size we get) or 12 items, which is great for bigger families. Then, depending on your box type, you can select from a variety of high-quality parbaked bread loaves, rolls, muffins, pasta, pastries, and artisan bakery desserts. You can customize your box every month or just take the monthly items that Wildgrain selects for you.
The products that Wildgrain offers change every month, and there are seasonal offerings, such as pecan pumpkin cinnamon rolls (only available in the fall) and strawberry rhubarb turnovers (only available in the summer).
The products all arrive frozen in a cardboard box with a soft liner, cardboard dividers, and dry ice. Store everything in your freezer and bake them whenever you want to. Every product bakes directly from frozen (no thawing required) within 25 minutes or less. We find that the products still maintain their quality even after being frozen for as long as 4 months.
Who Should Try a Wildgrain Box?
Being members of WIldgrain has been such a great experience for us. Even though we make our own bread from time to time, we find that we can beat the convenience of having ready-to-bake high quality breads and more right in our freezers.
We think Wildgrain is a good option for:
- Anyone who loves having warm fresh-baked bread at meals or special occasions
- People who love the flavor of sourdough bread
- Busy adults and parents who appreciate a shortcut in the kitchen
- People who entertain or attend occasional potlucks and dinner parties
- People looking for gluten-free bread, pasta and pastry made in a dedicated gluten-free facility
Who is Wildgrain NOT a good option for:
- People who enjoy only making their bread from scratch
- Households on a tight food budget
Benefits of Artisanal Breads
Bread often gets a bad rap, but as a team of registered dietitians, we LOVE bread, especially bread made from clean ingredients. Bread contains energizing carbs, which we all need to support all of our bodily functions, including brain fuel and physical activity. So, while we are conscious about the sources of the carbohydrate we eat, we definitely don’t fear carbs.
We tend to opt for carb sources that provide nutrition, fiber, and low sugar and want to help you make healthful choices when it comes to carb sources and recipes. Whether you’re managing a diagnosis of prediabetes, diabetes, or heart disease, or just trying to eat more healthfully (like more fiber and less sugars), then this collection is made for you!
We are especially big fans of sourdough bread because of its unique health benefits created through the process of fermentation.
Unique Health Benefits Of Sourdough
Learn more about four unique health benefits of sourdough bread and why science shows that it’s easier to digest.
Frequently Asked Questions
This subscription box works very similar to other food subscription boxes. You select your items and edit your delivery schedule, as needed. When your next box is about the ship, you get an email from the company letting you know that you have a window of time to swap out any selections in your box for something else. It then ships right to your doorstep within a few days! The products arrive frozen and you store them in your freezer until ready to bake.
Yes! Your box is customizable, meaning you can swap every item for something else until you’ve reached your maximum number. You can also add special member deals to your box for an additional cost.
The products are not USDA Organic certified, however, many of them are made with organic ingredients and they use all non-GMO ingredients. The Wildgrain website’s FAQ explains that Wildgrain tries to use organic ingredients as much as possible, but not all of its ingredients are organic. Because of specific recipes and supply chain issues, they sometimes can’t rely on organic ingredient sources. If an ingredient is organic, it will be listed as such in the ingredients list. You can see the ingredient lists by product on their Nutrition Page.
The majority of the products do contain gluten, however, Wildgrain does offer a new gluten-free option that includes a limited (but growing!) selection of bread, rolls, pasta and pastries.
Wildgrain now offers four box options that each offer a slightly different variety of items:
– Bread, Pasta, and Pastries
– Pastries and Desserts
– Breads and Rolls
– Vegan Bread and Rolls
– Gluten-Free Bread, Pasta, and Pastries
With the first two box options, you get a free package of four frozen croissants in every box. And with every box option, you get either 6 items or 12 items, depending on your plan. You can also add on special items for an additional cost, such as English muffins, sourdough rolls, or their famous warm and chewy chocolate chip cookies
Parbaking means that something has been partially baked and then frozen. Wildgrain uses this baking technique, so the hard part has been taken care of (i.e. getting the product to properly rise) by their skilled bakers. Then, you get to finish baking the product in your home oven. As a result, you can enjoy the delicious smell and taste of freshly baked (not just reheated) bread and pastries at home.
No, they’re not. In order to get the highest quality baked goods to you, Wildgrain has partner bakeries across the United States. Each bakery sources ingredients that are local to them. For example, many of Wildgrain’s partner bakers on the east coast source their flour from King Arthur Baking Company, which is headquartered in Vermont.
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Rachel Kath-Dvorak says
Are all of the products from Wildgrain, including pastries and cookies, made from a sourdough base?
Stacie Hassing says
That is correct!
Debbie says
How do you cancel if you no longer eat bread
Stacie Hassing says
Hi Debbie! You can contact wildgrain to cancel your order at anytime.