9 Dave's Killer Bread Varieties, Ranked
Dave's Killer Bread is the rockstar of the grocery store bread world. Founded by Dave Dahl – not to be confused with the similarly sounding rock legend Dave Grohl – the company came from a family of bakers dating back to 1955. In 2005, Dave's Killer Bread got its start after Dahl finished his prison sentence and wanted out of life. Dahl's brother Glenn became involved in the family business. Glenn's son Shobi and his brother Dave joined the family business full-time. Dave threw himself into product innovation to launch Dave's Killer Bread.
Each Dave's Killer Bread loaf is organic and packed with a unique flavor. Not only are these loaves tasty and good for you, but the company pays its success forward. Knowing firsthand the benefits of a second chance, the company is a Second Chance Employer, offering jobs to those with criminal backgrounds who may otherwise find it hard to get employment.
Most of the loaves come in large 27-ounce packages, as well as smaller, thin-sliced 20.5-ounce loaves. While the company makes a whole line of products, there are nine flavors of bread adorned with its guitar-playing logo. Now, with Dave's Killer Bread being available nationally, we thought it was time to put the loaves to the test with a battle of the bread!
9. Powerseed
Powerseed brings all the seedy goodness of hearty bread with almost no sugar. Per slice, there is only one gram of sugar, compared to five grams in the 21 Whole Grains and Seeds. To make it healthier, it has five grams of protein and four grams of fiber. The Powerseed starts with whole wheat flour and has flax seed, sunflower seed, brown sesame, pumpkin seeds, black sesame seeds, ground flax, and rolled oats. Instead of being sweetened with sugar, it is sweetened with juice from apples, pears, and peaches. All of this creates a hearty filling loaf.
However, this loaf lacks flavor. We laud Dave's Killer Bread for making grocery store bread without cane sugar. Many grocery store bread relies too much on sugar. The problem is sugar acts as a flavor enhancer, similar to salt, so without it, the loaf tastes bland. Sadly, it also tastes dryer than other loaves — likely due to its lack of sugar and nothing to substitute for moisture.
8. White Bread Done Right
Dave's Killer Bread takes on the task of crafting a simple white grocery store bread that isn't boring with its White Bread Done Right loaf. The company used a combination of flours, including wheat, whole wheat, barley, rye, spelt, millet, quinoa, and potato. This creates an interesting bread but one we are not sure we can consider white. It seems the people at Dave's Killer Breads cannot keep themselves from adding all sorts of flour and grains. While there is nothing on top of the bread, some might be surprised to find cracked whole wheat in the bread, too.
In the context of Dave's Killer Bread, this is to be expected. However, it pitches itself as a "soft and smooth artisan-style loaf." But the addition of the cracked wheat makes it not smooth. Additionally, the color is quite dark. We know they used bleached flour, but including rye and whole wheat flour seems to have given the loaf a darker hue than is expected from white bread. To top it all off, the loaf is a little boring. While it's tastier than Powerseed, it doesn't seem to fit the needs of being a seedy, grainy, richly textured bread or a soft, plain white bread.
7. Righteous Rye
Righteous Rye is a newer loaf in the Dave's Killer Bread line-up. This rye bread starts with a base of wheat flour and rye flour. Next comes the seed and grain mix, which includes flax, quinoa, and poppy seeds. While the bread contains the telltale rye swirl, it is not a traditional rye. Instead, Dave's added in grains and seeds for an extra punch of flavor, texture, and nutrients.
The company is mostly successful with its rye loaf. If you're a fan of other Dave's Killer Breads, you will almost certainly like this one. Dave's Killer Bread recommends using it for BLTs, grilled cheese, or ruben sandwiches. We agree these are the best uses of the bread, but keep in mind that this loaf will not give you that classic rye texture. Still, the rye flavor is present but not overpowering and its seeds add a pleasant texture. Ultimately, the rye isn't as strong as we would have hoped. The mix seems to rely more on the seeds than a strong rye flavor. Yet, it is tastier than the previous breads listed here.
6. 21 Whole Grains and Seeds
The 21 Whole Grains And Seeds loaf contains a lot of whole grains and seeds. The bread is made with a base of whole wheat flour with added whole flax seed, ground flax seed, sunflower seeds, brown sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, triticale, pumpkin seeds, barley, oats, rye, blue cornmeal, yellow cornmeal, millet, spelt, brown rice, amaranth, khorasan wheat, sorghum, buckwheat, quinoa, and poppyseeds. That's a lot to pack successfully into one bread. But Dave's Killer Bread did it!
Dave's Killer Bread managed to make a loaf of bread jam-packed with whole grains and seeds that doesn't taste like cardboard. It is moist and flavorful, drawing on its earthy flavors. Not only that, the bread is soft and elastic. Say goodbye to crumbly whole-grain bread!
Our only complaint about this loaf is that there are some flavors we like even better. This particular loaf is so focused on grains and seeds that the bread got lost a bit. Still, the overall bread is a success — especially if you like a more toothsome and hearty loaf to soak up soup or flavorful sauce.
5. Sprouted Whole Grains
Sprouted Whole Grains bread is usually a hit-or-miss choice to purchase. Thankfully, Dave's Killer Bread's version works! The loaf starts with whole wheat flour, then adds in sprouted wheat and sprouted rye. It also has some rolled oats on top for added texture. This is honestly one of those loaves of bread we would be happy to eat on its own or use as a base for a sandwich.
This loaf only has three grams of sugar per slice, which makes it fairly low in sugar. The moisture and texture of the bread are nearly perfect. Yes, it's soft and spongy, but the sprouted grains add texture. Our main complaint is that this bread only comes in thin-sliced loaves. While this is fine for many uses, if you want to make a substantial sandwich, you may need to use more than two pieces of bread. Additionally, since one of the driving forces of Dave's Killer Bread is the inclusion of nutritious ingredients, it would have been nice to see a bit more going on here.
4. Epic Everything
It was only a matter of time before Dave's Killer Bread took on the everything flavor — especially since they already have a line of bagels that includes an everything flavor. The Epic Everything bread contains chia seeds, flax, black sesame, brown sesame, poppy seed, dried onions, and garlic, and it is epic.
Suffice it to say, crafting seed-heavy bread is totally in Dave's Killer Bread's wheelhouse. But they did it so well! Every flavor works together to create a soft and flavorful loaf that we're happy to eat. This is pitched by Dave's Killer Bread as a breakfast bread, but we would eat it any time of day! Our only complaint is that as breakfast bread, it is only available in small loaves. This is actually even smaller than the thin-sliced bread loaves, weighing in at 18 ounces. It definitely leaves us wanting more, which we guess means they are doing something right.
3. Raisin' the Roof
While cinnamon raisin bread is not the most versatile of bread, Dave's Killer Bread's Raisin the Roof does not have to be versatile to break into the top of our list. This bread raises the bar on all cinnamon raisin bread you can find in the bread aisle.
The first thing you should know is that it is not crusted in cinnamon sugar the way many cinnamon raisin loaves of bread are. Somehow, the company managed to make a healthier cinnamon raisin bread that we would eat every morning. The bread uses a wheat and whole wheat base and adds in raisins, rolled oats, flax, sesame seeds, and sunflower, along with cinnamon sugar bits. The raisins and cinnamon bits are evenly distributed, so you get a bit of each in every bite. Despite not having the same high sugar content as others, you don't miss it. The bread still tastes sweet and will satisfy any craving. This is also one of Dave's Killer Bread's breakfast loaves, so it is also only available in an 18-ounce loaf, but that feels just about right for this bread.
2. Good Seed
It may not have the same quantity of seeds and grains as the 21 Whole Grains And Seeds loaf, but Good Seed uses what it got better to produce a more nuanced bread. Like the others, Good Seed starts with a base of whole wheat flour. In addition, the Good Seed mix contains flax, sunflowers, brown sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, and oats. There is cane sugar in it, but we noticed it is listed after the grain mix, which differs from the 21 Whole Grains and Seeds. This makes sense as, to us, the bread tastes less sweet and more wheaty.
Whereas the grains and seeds can become overpowering in the 21 Whole Grains And Seeds loaf, here the flavor of the bread is present with the seeds. You still get the yummy texture and crunchiness of the seeds. Dave's Killer Bread knew what they were talking about when they named this bread "good."
1. 100% Whole Wheat
100% Whole Wheat is our favorite Dave's Killer Bread loaf and one of our favorite whole wheat bread found at the grocery. This loaf starts with whole wheat flour and includes cracked wheat. Surprisingly, Dave's Killer Bread showed a lot of restraint here and didn't include any additional grains or seeds in the mix. The result is a bread that has a rich wheat taste with a hint of molasses and a pleasant texture. There is still some cracked wheat, which gives it a bit more than standard whole wheat bread, but it is not overloaded. This bread is exactly what it says it is.
The overall texture of this loaf is smooth and elastic, which is not a given for most whole wheat bread. To its credit, there's just a little sweetness to it, too. Each piece has four grams of sugar, which is slightly less than most of the other loaves. Overall this bread is versatile and delicious, outranking the other delicious concoctions on this list.