Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Brazilian Toast

     At first glance, readers may be particularly underwhelmed by this post topic.  Since, to most people, "toast" just means a slice of bread that's been heated for like 30 seconds.  Well, don't fret.  There's a little more to it than that.
     Also, I was a little confused when I beheld the packages of the products I'll be discussing.  They were clearly stamped, "Made in Brazil," yet the brand name was Bauducco, which certainly sounds Italian. There's a reasonable explanation for this.  Carlo Bauducco, a denizen of Turin, Italy, traveled to and settled in Brazil in 1948, along with his wife and son.  Four years later, in 1952, they opened their first pastry shop, in a predominantly Italian neighborhood in Sao Paulo.  Their original staple was called panettone, which is basically like a tall, leavened fruit cake.  The company was a success, growing in size and influence.  By 1965 it perfected a type of packaging that protected the freshness and moisture of their products.  By 1978 Bauducco products were exported for the first time, to the U.S.  (Currently this has increased to over 50 countries.)  According to their website, Bauducco is now one of the largest baked goods manufacturers in Brazil, and the largest producer of panettones in the world.  Aside from panettones (and toast, obviously), other Bauducco wares include cookies/biscuits, cakes, mini cakes, and chocolates.
    The toasts I sampled were very reminiscent of the zweiback I just posted about recently (April 13, 2019), as well as the Finnish crispbreads (November 3, 2018).  The production details weren't provided, but I can only assume that these pieces of toast were twice baked as well--once to make the bread, and then a second time to become toast.  And surely some of the ingredients must have some additional preserving qualities as well, to aid the twice baked process.  Alternate flavors of the Bauducco toasts include a low fat one, and a multi grain kind.  The official company website was fairly direct and businesslike.  It consists mainly of the company history, recipes, ordering/availability information, and product lists.  I do have to say, though, that it was somehow refreshingly different to see a company which includes the words, "All products contain gluten."
   
1) Bauducco toast, original flavor: Slices were about 2.5 inches (about 7 cm.) square, with crust, and a light yellowish color.  Looked and tasted like pieces of dried bread, fairly crunchy and hard.  Plain they were kind of dull and boring.  With mayonnaise-based sauce on them they were a bit better, but still not great.  And with a tomato-based sauce they were also pretty average.

2) Bauducco toast, whole wheat flavor:  Slices were the same size, color, and shape of Original kind.  And the taste was about the same, too.  Better with sauces on them, but still "meh" at best.

     Therefore, I wasn't an especially big fan of these.  They're not bad, but not very interesting.  As far as dried, twice baked-type bread products go I think zwieback and Finnish crispbreads are better.  If nothing else, though, these Bauducco toast slices should keep impressively, so they might be a more cosmopolitan choice for the larders of doomsday preppers.