6 Aldi Specially Selected Breads To Try And 3 To Skip

Aldi is home to a wealth of fantastic foods that you can get at affordable prices. The private label retailer has nearly everything you could need during your weekly shopping trip, ranging from Mexican foods to fresh produce items and everything between or beyond. And, if you've ever been inside an Aldi, you know they have an extensive bakery section that includes a wide range of breads — so wide, in fact, that it can feel overwhelming making a choice of what to add to your cart. While there are several brands of bread, one with significant options is Specially Selected. Which Specially Selected breads should you add to your shopping cart, and which deserve to be left on the shelf?

If you're asking that question, you've come to the right place. I was given the opportunity to take nine Specially Selected breads home to judge ... mostly on taste. Based on my experience, I decided whether you should try or skip that option. This is a task I'm especially well suited for because I have more than 15 years of experience in the food industry and I'm a huge Aldi fan. If you're interested in learning more about my methodology, check the end of this article. Now, ready to discover which breads are a must-add to your next Aldi shopping list? Let's get into it.

I was surprised at how many brioche bread options were available from Specially Selected, since this isn't something I frequently see with other brands. In fact, it's often quite challenging to get this type of bread at my other local grocery stores. While some of the brand's attempts were fantastic, these Specially Selected Brioche Bagels didn't fall into that category.

Brioche is a bread type known for high egg and butter contents, so I expected a mild eggy flavor profile that you wouldn't find in standard American white bread options. However, the eggy flavor profile in these specific brioche bagels was so strong that it completely overwhelmed everything else. Even the starchy bread taste played second fiddle. Plus, these were very dry to the point that they made my mouth feel all dried out. The one positive thing I can say here is that slathering my second half of the bagel in cream cheese seemed to solve most of my issues with it. If I were judging these bagels based on how they tasted with the cream cheese, I might have almost recommended them. As it is, I'm underwhelmed with them plain.

I wouldn't purchase these again because there are other bagels I prefer. And, because I wasn't thrilled with them plain, I can't recommend trying these bagels in any good faith.

French baguettes are such a versatile bread option, and I often find that people don't make the most use of them. I've used this bread for French toast, garlic bread, sandwiches, and so much more. Obviously, slicing it to your desired thickness and dipping it in soups, stews, jams, butters, and more is one of the best ways to enjoy it. Unfortunately, finding a good French baguette that has the perfect texture (and doesn't taste stale), can be challenging. The good news? Specially Selected nailed it.

The texture of this Specially Selected French Baguette was perfect, and deserving of my praise. The exterior is crisp and crunchy without being so hard it's impossible to bite into it (which is an issue I've run into with many other store-bought variations). Inside, the bread was light, soft, and slightly airy when eaten as-is. If you toast the bread like I did with the second half, you're also rewarded with a crisp layer on the top and bottom of each slice, while the innermost core remains soft. Taste-wise, this has a mild, pleasant flavor profile that pairs well with nearly anything — a light starchy profile is accented by nearly imperceptible buttery notes and the faintest salty tones.

I'll definitely be purchasing this again as my new go-to store-bought French baguette. I highly recommend adding it to your next Aldi shopping list.

These Specially Selected Brioche Buns turned out to be the most surprising recommendation on the list. When I first saw them, I thought the opening was weird and wouldn't properly fit a hot dog as intended — basically, the opening makes it so the hot dog sits a little more atop the bun rather than fully inside like traditional options. Plus, the bun seemed wide, so I just wasn't sure how this would go.

Before I get into how amazing these brioche hot dog buns were, it bears mentioning that the "too wide" issue did end up being a problem at first. However, because the buns are so soft, this problem was rectified by gently pinching the sides so that the bread fits better in your mouth. That said, these buns are very soft with strong buttery notes complementing the robust starchy flavor profile. When paired with quality hot dogs, they balance the meat's savoriness.

I recommend grabbing these if you want to upgrade your hot dog experience. My partner told me: These are the only ones I should buy from now on. So that's what I'll be doing.

Full disclosure: I don't dislike ciabatta. I believe that if it's done correctly, it can be one of the best bread options for sandwiches. That said, I've always been picky with the ciabatta I'll eat because some of them veer away from being mild and crisp and straight into being dry and bland. Unfortunately, Specially Selected hasn't made its way onto my short, select list of ciabatta breads done right.

From a strictly aesthetic perspective, these ciabatta rolls were great. They appeared to have the crisp outside and airy, open crumb interior I look for — and this gave me high hopes. Unfortunately, this just felt and tasted like dried out bread, which I'm not a fan of, and there isn't anything else noteworthy to say.

I wouldn't purchase these Specially Selected Ciabatta Rolls again. If I was craving ciabatta, I'd make my own from scratch since I know it'll be exactly what I'm looking for. But, if I was looking for something to eat my sandwiches with, I'd choose a recommended bread from this list.

I had tried this loaf of bread before when I did a ranking of six Aldi breads from worst to best — at that time, this specific bread came in first place. So, I already knew it would make the list of Aldi Specially Selected breads to try. But, I will say it wasn't my favorite bread option on this list. That honor goes to the Specially Selected Chocolate Chip Brioche Loaf, which we'll talk about in the next section. Regardless, this is still the closest thing to homemade Italian bread I've ever found in a store-bought option, and continues to be a regular in my shopping rotation.

By itself, this Italian bread offers a moderate starchy flavor profile with mild nutty tones and a faint buttery hue. Texturally, it's soft in the middle with a somewhat crispier crust that holds up well when used in a sandwich, toasted, or smeared with butter. As I purchase this bread somewhat frequently, I can tell you that my favorite way to eat this Italian bread is heavily buttered alongside a tomato-based pasta dish like one-pot spaghetti or an easy pasta skillet.

If you were to try only one recommended bread from this list, I suggest grabbing this one. While it didn't hold up to being my all-time favorite, I do think it's the best option that's also well-suited to daily consumption, whereas my personal top choice is more of an occasional treat type of bread.

If you're looking for a more indulgent bread that will help you satisfy a sweet tooth, this Specially Selected Chocolate Chip Brioche Loaf is exactly what you're looking for. Best of all, it's not so sweet it's overwhelming, but strikes a nice balance instead.

The only negative note I have about this bread is that I would have liked to see more chocolate chips throughout — but this is far from a deal breaker and they're fine as they are. Each bread slice is soft and sweet, with a starchy flavor profile moderately accented with the taste of milk chocolate chips and light buttery tones. It worked well both plain and toasted — however, my personal favorite was to toast the slices and add a thin layer of butter, as I found this pulled the buttery notes in the bread itself more forward.

Grab a bag of this Specially Selected Chocolate Chip Brioche Loaf. Trust me when I say you'll be ready to buy it for a second time after your first bite.

Bistro bread is another one of those breads I enjoy, but I'm super picky with. When done right, this type of bread can have a somewhat creamy taste and an airy but moderately dense texture — these aspects make it one of the best breads for sandwiches, and the slices are often thicker. But, Specially Selected Small Batch Bistro Bread could definitely use more perfecting to make it enjoyable.

My first problem with this bread? It was dense and overly hard despite aesthetics that had me thinking it would be airy. The crust for this type of bread is supposed to be hard, but this one verged into inedible rock territory. Then there was the taste, which was bland with no notable flavor hints. To say I was disappointed here would be an understatement.

Skip this bistro bread. If you're looking for a great sandwich bread at Aldi, choose one of the recommended options on this list instead. If you're looking for bistro bread specifically, you'll unfortunately find yourself out of luck.

To be honest, I wasn't overly familiar with naan bread before this taste test. I'd had it a few times, but not enough to consider myself an expert. What I have had a lot of is pita bread, and to me, naan is quite similar in many aspects. So, I fell back on my vast experience with pita to make my judgments here.

The verdict? This Specially Selected Mini Naan Flatbread was delicious — especially when served with homemade curry or southern-style chili. Texturally, this was chewy, bubbly, and a bit airy like pita. The taste was different, however. While there were the same grilled starchy notes of pita bread, this naan had unique mildly tangy tones throughout, which I found delightful. I also detected faint buttery hints.

Definitely grab yourself some of these mini naan. They're the perfect size for dipping or for creating snack-sized "sandwiches." If you go the later route, I suggest filling with garlic aioli, turkey, bacon, and your favorite sandwich produce, as I found this to be especially delicious.

If you asked me my all-time favorite bread, I would tell you it's sourdough without hesitation. Whenever I get the chance to make my sandwiches or toast with this type of bread, I go for it — and the Specially Selected Small Batch Sourdough Round has definitely proven itself to be a viable option to satisfy these cravings moving forward.

Before I heap praise upon this sourdough bread, I want to mention one small complaint: These slices were pretty thin, so they wouldn't hold up well to larger sandwiches. However, they did stay together just fine for toast and smaller sandwiches. That said, this bread had a great texture that's soft with an airy crumb balanced by a crisper crust. The flavor had a bold pungent sourdough taste that nicely complements the starchy profile. Overall, I think this was an excellent example of what a good sourdough round should be.

If you're a fan of sourdough bread like I am, I highly suggest buying a bag on your next Aldi shopping trip. My favorite way to use it so far is to toast it so I can dip it into creamy potato and bacon soup.

I chose Aldi Specially Selected breads for inclusion in this list based on (A) their availability to me at my local store in Vineland, New Jersey, and (B) whether I should like them in theory. Any bread types or flavors that I knew I wouldn't like were not included, as I didn't believe this would create a fair recommendation due to pre-existing biases. Each bread was judged based primarily on taste. I asked myself, "Would I eat this again?" If the answer was yes, then I recommended the bread for trying, but if the answer was no, I recommended skipping it. Other qualities, like smell, aesthetics, and texture, played smaller roles, but were taken into consideration when something was particularly noteworthy.

More than 15 years of experience in the food industry helped me make these judgements. During this time, I worked extensively as a baker, making and using countless breads. I've also consumed plenty of bread at home, and have written numerous articles for Daily Meal, which helps me make these decisions. This includes similar Aldi-based articles like this one ranking Aldi ground meats, and this one ranking soups found at Aldi. Although personal preference played a role in this ranking, I aimed to be as unbiased about product quality as possible.