8 Breads To Buy At Sam's Club And 2 To Avoid

Steven Luna/Mashed

Stocking up on bread at Sam's Club presents a respectable selection of bakery-style creations. You can always find sliced sandwich bread among the shelves, but it's the store's bakery section where things get seriously enticing. Not to be outdone by Costco's warehouse version of a bakery section, Sam's keeps its shoppers satisfied with Member's Mark loaves, rolls, and specialty bakes that rival a neighborhood bakery, minus the incredible aroma.

The best discovery I made while sampling these 10 different breads from among the best and worst Sam's Club bakery items is not that they all hold up incredibly well, which they do, or that they're properly priced for the budget shopper, which they are. It was that the ingredients are all relatively favorable compared to mass manufactured sandwich breads; I found very few selections contained questionable chemical additives like thickeners or preservatives. The company does a great job reproducing small bakery formulations that feel fresher and more wholesome.

However, as with any product line, there are still more preferable purchases to be made, and you should know which are in the "yes" column and which are a resounding "no." If you've never taken Sam's Club bakery breads for a spin, here's a primer on how tasty and workable each option is.

Steven Luna/Mashed

I had my fingers crossed that Sam's Club could do wonderful things with blueberry bagels. I wish I had better news to report. Anyone who loves a mildly sweet, lightly blueberry flavored bagel will enjoy these immensely; anyone who expects a bigger wallop of blueberry essence and a stronger presence of actual blueberries (or whatever stands in for actual berries in a bagel like this) is bound to be a little disappointed. The freshness is there to be sure, but you really have to hunt for a blueberry-ness that should be much more present.

For just about $4, you get six Member's Mark bagels that can easily turn into 12 if you pace yourself — not a bad deal for fresh bread. Toasted and slathered with almond butter, they'd make a decent breakfast or lunch snack without crossing the line into pastry territory. But if you wanted a basic bagel to dress up with your own spreads, you could just as easily buy the plain bagels instead.

Steven Luna/Mashed

Picking up a two-pack of Member's Mark baguettes for under $5 is a no-brainer when cruising through Sam's Club, even if you aren't in the market for two loaves. There's just no passing up this kind of artisan bread, but only if it rises to the occasion — whatever that occasion might be. I would easily plow through one entire baguette on my own as a snack with an olive oil and herb dip, the way fancy restaurants serve bread. Since I had several other types of bread to taste, however, I settled for a few slices and an olive oil drizzle.

There is an authentic toughness to the outer shell of these long, skinny loaves that works just as well in its fresh state as it would for a collection of toasted rounds. The flavor is earthy and neutral, serving as an ideal base for bruschetta bites or a foundation for tapenade or cream cheese-based spreads.

Because the loaves are much thinner than the usual grocery store baguette, it would be difficult to use them for garlic bread slices, but that shouldn't stop anyone from trying if they get the impulse. The fact that Sam's provides a pair offers you plenty of room for experimentation. And since you shouldn't throw out a stale baguette, you can always turn the leftovers into bread crumbs if it happens to get too dry.

Steven Luna/Mashed

Cinnamon raisin bagels from Sam's Club Member's Mark label are another sweet possibility that let you feel like you're eating something far more sugary and decadent. Of the bagels I tried, these are by far the best, offering sufficient sweet cinnamon flavor and enough raisins to enjoy their presence without feeling bombarded.

The fact that these bagels are super-sized means that you can break them in half and save a portion for future use. It's a slick move like that will make your money go twice as far, and it's already going further than it would if you hit up an actual bakery or a grocery store for fresh bagels. Why not get an even bigger bargain for your cinnamon raisin pleasure?

One thing to watch for when you shop: I picked up my cinnamon raising bagels without checking the "best by" date on the label. It turns out I had just three days left before they were due to start losing their freshness. While those dates are suggestions, you might double-check to get a bag that gives you the most time on the clock. Plan on freezing what you don't use for future enjoyment.

Steven Luna/Mashed

The most creative of the Sam's Club breads, the rosemary sea salt boule is the closest the warehouse bakery comes to a traditional loaf. It's made crusty and Mediterranean-style with the inclusion of fragrant rosemary, pointing shoppers in a savory rather than a sweet direction. You won't be using this for French toast, unless the idea of pairing maple and rosemary sounds like your kind of breakfast.

This may be the most boutique-style bread in the Sam's Club Artisan collection. It's supremely dense and difficult to cut, which also makes it difficult to chew — and in this instance, those are both very good things. This is the kind of bread you tear into pieces to soak up the remaining Alfredo sauce or marinara at the end of your pasta meal. The rosemary is just detectable enough to know it's there, with a little sea salt sprinkle on top for a burst of brightness. But there's plenty of blank bread canvas in each potential slice to do whatever you see fit.

Since this is a boule-shaped bread, it's a great choice for hollowing out to make cold spinach artichoke dip served in a bread bowl for any special occasion. If you choose to serve the bread in slices, just know they'll be extra wide and may need to be cut in half.

Steven Luna/Mashed

If you're going to pick up a bagel with robust toppings, you might as well get a batch that has all the robust toppings the bakery can muster. The everything bagels from Member's Mark work in all the familiar tidbits: roasted onions, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, caraway seeds, and coarse salt. Every bite promises to be its own smorgasbord, with a unique concentration of elements lending a slightly varied flavor every time. Or at least that's how a proper everything bagel is supposed to work. My hope was that Sam's had read the brief and new how to live up to the program.

Unfortunately, the chain is a little stingy with the distribution of the toppings. It feels like whoever made my batch held back too much, resulting in what tasted closer to a garlic or onion bagel. Even some bonus sesame seeds would have added an extra dimension of taste. This isn't to say it's not a good bagel, but it may not live up to the peak everything bagel experiences you've had in the past. It certainly didn't live up to mine.

Steven Luna/Mashed

The homey comfort of dinner rolls works best when someone else makes them for you. The Sam's Club bakery accommodates this concept with a generous bag of 24 buttery, yeasty rolls that can be served straight out of the bag or heated for a mealtime freshen-up. You'll have enough for the whole family or friend crew to chow down on without having to fire up the oven for a re-do. The convenience alone is worth the price of admission.

These rolls had just the right consistency for tearing into, and a texture that's sure to hold up when dipped in gravy or sauces. The spherical shape made me imagine a new sandwich form: the PB&J bomb, where a wedge of bread is removed from the top and small scoops of peanut butter and jelly are dropped inside. The wedge is replaced and the sandwich is eaten like a filled donut. Is it strange that warehouse bakery bread inspired a fun twist on a classic creation? Maybe. But you shouldn't have to pay a lot for bread this fantastic, and ideas for how to use it should be free. I highly recommend giving this bag a shot, even if you just use it as dinner rolls.

Steven Luna/Mashed

No need to overwhelm your sandwich with more bread than necessary when you have Member's Mark petite hoagie rolls to help even things out. These petite loaves are the perfect size for a kid's lunchbox or a weekend party with the crew.

I loved the shrunken nature of these sandwich rolls, especially given their shape and density. They have every bit as much football-shaped charm as their larger counterparts, allowing you to slice them width-wise for a traditional hoagie- or grinder-style sandwich or cut a wedge out of the top like they used to do at Subway and fill the center with your favorite fixings. Unlike Subway and other sub shops, you get just the right quantity of bread for the occasion rather than having to eat an excessive amount of roll just to finish your sandwich.

These are great options for smaller eaters, where too much bread sometimes equals wasted food. They'll also slice nicely into discs for hors d'oeuvres and crispy garlic toast rounds for parties. Slice them up and bag them in the freezer so they'll be ready when you need them.

Steven Luna/Mashed

Not content with stocking basic slider rolls, Sam's Club provides the upgraded brioche-style slider rolls to capture tiny patties or miniature rounds of deli meats and cheeses. Or you can do as I did and just snarf them straight out of the bag with nothing on them. The flavor is so rich you don't need any adornment to get your bread fix. Watch your step, though; they're so soft and inviting, you could easily down half the bag before you realize what's happening.

The buttery flavor and super soft texture of these mini-buns are almost too rich to enjoy; maybe that's why they're made so small. The softness made me think they'd been under-baked, but they certainly looked finished from the outside. It was only when I took a bite of the lower half that I discovered the supreme lightness of the dough. If these buns are truly intended for sliders, they could use a bit of toasting time to make sure they hold up with fillings added.

I'm imagining how great these would be in a French toast casserole, prepared with a cinnamon-egg custard and baked until cake-like. Add a little maple syrup and a sprinkle of powdered sugar and you're looking at a most amazing brunch or breakfast dish.

Steven Luna/Mashed

The ciabatta rule is the crustier, the better, which provides a pretty easy guideline for Sam's Club to follow. Peeking through the cellophane window on the package, it certainly looks like the bakers here have the formula down pat. But looks can be deceiving, especially in the bread world, where design sometimes fools shoppers into buying something that only looks like it lives up to the expectation. So I gave the bag a little squeeze to see if the texture matched the appearance and was duly impressed by the gentle give that lay beneath the substantial crust — good signs for a proper ciabatta.

This is easily one of the best ciabatta rolls I've ever had. I showed up just after opening time, which means I may have gotten them in a fresher state then I would have if I'd shopped later in the day. The generous size makes these perfect for whatever type of sandwich you have in mind, though I tried mine toasted with a little plant butter and it was pretty nearly perfect. The exterior stayed sturdy while the interior got crispy and had enough nooks and crannies to almost qualify it as an English muffin.

If I only had $5 to spend on bread for the week, I'd pick up a package of these and stash them in the deep freeze for a slow roll-out. The breakfast sandwiches they could make would be the stuff of legends.

Steven Luna/Mashed

Is it even possible for a bakery to get a croissant wrong? I can't recall ever trying one and wondering how things went so far off track. Maybe I've just been lucky, but it seems to me that most commercial outlets have the formula down, which is why I expected the croissants at Sam's Club to be perfectly passable, if not thoroughly fantastic.

The chain stocks full-sized and mini cocktail versions of the French favorite; I opted for the smaller size, since those can be finished in a few bites. There was zero disappointment in my sampling, much to my delight. The buttery flavor and chewy layers were perfectly executed, tempting me into snatching one out of the carton before I even made it home. It was exactly as I dreamed it would be ... and yes, I do dream of pinnacle bread moments. I am sure I'm not alone in that.

If you're looking for a highly cost-effective encounter with fresh and tasty croissants that cost just over $5 for a cool 20 rolls, Sam's will hook you up like a boss — a bread boss, one with a smile on their face and plenty of cash left in their pocket. It's one of those secrets of the Sam's Club bakery you'll wish you knew sooner. But hey, at least you know now.

Steven Luna/Mashed

The main criteria for this taste test were, of course, flavor and texture. Sam's Club achieves high-quality finished breads without loading the recipe with wild, unnecessary chemicals to condition the dough or make the bread last longer than it should. I gave each selection a two-bite taste test to make sure they measured up. I also kept an eye on freshness, which I was pleased to say was present in every package I chose. Sam's prints helpful production and best-used-by dates on every level that let you choose the package that works best for you.

I also kept an eye on the quantity of each creation versus the price paid. Since every item is under $8 and some of the packages come in 12 or 24 count, you get plenty of bread for your money. With the bakery on site cranking out new products every day and a thoughtful variety of bread types represented, I was able to determine that Sam's Club creates some of the most economical and well-prepared fresh bread items on the market. It's a great substitute for actual bakeries in communities where pastry stores and bake shops are in short supply.