- 2 days ago
Pastry chef Umber Ahmad joins Epicurious to taste-test every bakery item at Lidl, grading everything from croissants, donuts, and pretzels to danishes, sourdough, focaccia, cookies, and more. Which pastries are incredible bargains, and which should stay on the shelf? Find out which Lidl bakery items are actually worth buying as Umber puts the grocery chain's most popular baked goods to the test.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:02Lidl is a German-based grocery store chain that is popping up in neighborhoods all over the United
00:06States. They keep their prices low with their minimalist, no-frill stores and by centrally
00:11producing baked goods that are finished locally. They're getting a ton of hype about their pastry
00:16items. People say they love them and they're insanely cheap. But am I gonna love them? We're
00:22gonna find out today. I'm a professional pastry chef and I have baked everything under the sun.
00:26I went to Lidl and got almost their entire pastry case. Let's see what Lidl can do.
00:34This is Lidl's butter croissant and it is only 50 cents. One of the things that we look for in
00:40pastry is something called bien cuit, which is a French term for well-baked. Traditional French
00:45pastries go a little bit darker because you want to get that sort of like delicious baked,
00:49almost toasty flavor to it. This doesn't look that dark, but it's also not the most blonde
00:54thing I've ever seen. What I look for in a good croissant is that I want a flaky exterior. You
00:58almost want it to shatter when you touch it. You kind of squish it a little bit. You should hear
01:03that more sort of crunchy sound. There isn't a ton of crunchy sound in this. And then when I open
01:07it,
01:07what I'm looking for is something called honeycombing. There isn't a ton of honeycombing in it.
01:12It's almost as though it's a little bit raw inside, so it's kind of undercooked. You shouldn't be able
01:18to do this, like pull out pieces of raw dough. Okay. It kind of tastes like buttery toast. It's not
01:24that
01:24kind of croissant complexity. That being said, it's 50 cents where a croissant from a bakery would be
01:30anywhere from four to five or six dollars. Even at 50 cents, I give this a C. This is Lidl's
01:37jelly donut.
01:38It sells for 99 cents. Just by appearance alone, it looks really nice. It's fluffy. It looks like it's
01:45been fried pretty evenly on all sides. And you can see the little like, boop, boop. They've got
01:49two injections of jelly. Hopefully that means it's got a good amount of filling. I'm a total
01:54filling girl. I want there to be a lot of filling, so I hope. Okay. There's no filling. There's literally
02:02no filling. I'm gonna break it the other way. Let's see. Oh, there we go. Okay. If I were to
02:08divide
02:09this donut into four quadrants to have filling, so that's not great. Okay. It tastes like the kind
02:19of peanut butter and jelly jelly that you would get as a kid. Well, you're not sure if it's raspberry
02:22or strawberry, but it's like red, so it's red jelly. The donut itself is well cooked inside. There's no raw
02:29parts, and the taste is okay. But if I want a jelly donut, I want that first word jelly to
02:35be in the donut,
02:35and this really doesn't do that. So for that alone, this gets a D. This is Lidl's German pretzel
02:42for 99 cents. One of the fan favorites. I'm a huge pretzel fan. Mmm, this is really good. I'm used
02:50to
02:50pretzels that have salt on them, but if we put some salt on here, this could be a good vessel
02:54for cheese,
02:55mustard. It's really good, and it tastes like a pretzel. This is so close to being our first A,
03:01if it had salt on it, but because of that, B. This is Lidl's chocolate donut. It sells for 99
03:08cents.
03:0999 cents feels like a good price for a donut, I think. The size looks good, and the amount of
03:14chocolate on top looks really nice. They don't seem like they're skimping or being very cheap with that.
03:17A donut is all in the flavor. I kind of don't care what it looks like as long as it
03:21tastes amazing
03:22and not super oily, so fingers crossed. This donut is pretty light, which is nice. It's got a nice
03:28texture inside. Mmm, it's actually really good. I'm kind of surprised that I would say that. It
03:34hasn't taken on a lot of oil, which is really nice, and the flavor of the chocolate kind of reminds
03:39you
03:40of donuts that you ate as a kid, so for that alone, I give this donut a B. This is
03:45a chocolate croissant,
03:46or pain au chocolat, and it's 99 cents, which again is really on the inexpensive side for a laminated
03:52pastry with chocolate in it. At first glance, not that excited. The top of a croissant or a pain au
03:58chocolat
03:58should be kind of shiny. It should have just this really beautiful reflective texture, and this one
04:04doesn't really have that. It's kind of flat, and I want to see, again, that crunchy exterior. I want it
04:10to kind of shatter, and then it wants to open into this beautiful soft pastry. This is kind of all
04:15soft
04:15pastry. There's no shatter. I'm pulling pretty hard, and okay, that's not a great sign for a croissant.
04:21Inside, I am really hoping for honeycombing. I want there to be a really beautiful texture,
04:27and this really looks more like bread. What's nice is you get two batons of chocolate, so you're
04:32getting kind of double chocolate, which in most high-end bakeries you're going to see.
04:36This tastes like bread with bitter chocolate, and even if I were looking for a piece of bread,
04:41this wouldn't be it. This gets an F. Plain New York bagel, 79 cents. Very dangerous to call
04:48something New York to a New Yorker who eats bagels all the time. We are going to be very critical
04:53of
04:53this bagel. When you're eating a bagel, you don't want it to just be like bread. You want it to
04:56be
04:56a little chewy. You want to fight with it a little bit. Remember when you're a kid, and you have
05:01to do
05:01one of those sports races or something like that at school, and at the end, everybody gets a bagel in
05:06a little plastic bag? That's what this tastes like. It's not horrible, but it's definitely not the level
05:10of taste or flavor that you're looking for in a New York bagel, but all things considered, it's not
05:15bad. The color is good, the texture is good, and the price is not bad. I would give this a
05:19B. My New
05:20Yorker friends are going to come after me. It's not bad. This is their chocolate chunk cookie. It's
05:25only 89 cents. I love chewy. I don't want it to be crispy. I don't want it to be thin.
05:31Ratio standpoint
05:31looks pretty good in terms of cookie versus chocolate. Wow, that is really sweet. Some people
05:38online say that there's a bit of a chemical taste to this cookie. I could see that. I love chocolate
05:43chip cookies. This probably wouldn't be a cookie that I would go for. I would give this cookie,
05:48because of its sort of chemical taste, a D. Woo! Flying oatmeal raisin cookie for 89 cents. I do not
05:55like raisins. If you're a bad grape, they take all the liquid out of you, they change your name,
06:00and they call you raisin. But that being said, smells really good. Outside is lovely. I love a craggy cookie.
06:06I like it to not be uniform. And there's not that many raisins, which I love. But obviously,
06:13somebody who buys a raisin cookie probably wants more than this in terms of raisins. And I promise
06:17you, I'm going to eat a raisin. This cookie also has a little bit of that same chemical taste as
06:24the
06:24chocolate chip cookie did. I would give this cookie a D, and I think that's kind of being generous.
06:29This is an apple turnover. It retails for 99 cents. This pastry gets a lot of love online. There's a
06:36lot of filling on the inside, which is really nice. So I think you're going to get apple in every
06:41bite,
06:41which I'm pretty excited about. Mmm, this is nice. The apples are still a little crunchy. I love to have
06:47different textures in pastry. It's a little bit different than traditional apple pie. In America,
06:51we use a lot of like cinnamon and nutmeg and clove and all of those sort of spices. And this
06:57doesn't
06:57really have that. This is just really sweet apple. The pastry itself isn't great. It's a little kind of
07:03bready and not as buttery as I would like. Because the apples are a little bit crunchy,
07:07because it seems like a really nice size in terms of value, I would give this a C.
07:12I'm told this is a cinnamon roll for $149. It doesn't look like a cinnamon roll and it makes
07:18me kind of sad. Cinnamon rolls are heaven. They should be pillowy and just bursting with this like
07:24cinnamon color, cinnamon flavor. Maybe it's the American in me, but I love there to be a glaze or a
07:30frosting on top. This does not have any of that. You can see that it just looks really sort of
07:37like
07:37doughy. It's not good. Don't buy it. F. This is Lidl's blueberry muffin and it is $1.59. This looks
07:47like a
07:47great blueberry muffin. It's got a nice size to it. I can smell the blueberries. I can smell a little
07:52bit
07:52of lemon or citrus, which I love with blueberries. It's got a lot of blueberries, which is nice. And
07:58as I tore it open, it smells really fruity. A very good sign. This is very moist. Really good texture.
08:06It's not dry. It's quite nice. Lots of blueberry flavor. Something that would be really nice with
08:10coffee in the morning. I give this a B. Strawberry cream cheese danish, $0.99. It doesn't look very fresh
08:16to me. Pastries really have to be fresh. They have to be vibrant. It should have just this like
08:22really beautiful reflective texture. And this one doesn't really have that. There is a fair amount
08:27of filling in here, which is nice. You want there to be a lot of filling in a Danish. The
08:32sweetness
08:32of the cheese and the fruit should balance nicely with the pastry. That's very sour. Maybe it's the
08:39cream cheese. I don't think cream cheese is sour, though. Is it? This is sour. D. Tomato, olive,
08:46focaccia, $1.99. With the focaccia, my number one fear is that it's going to be dry. You want
08:52it to just be pillowy and delicious and full of complexity and flavor. I'm not going to lie.
08:59These look like capers. I don't think they are olives. It's not great. Those tomatoes are
09:05really sour. The focaccia tastes underbaked and there's no seasoning on here. So there's like
09:11no salt or any kind of flavoring except for the brininess of the capers, which doesn't
09:16really help this focaccia.
09:17I give this an F. Lidl, do better. Lidl has bread. This is their classic baguette and it is $1
09:26.99.
09:27I like to break a baguette open with my hands. I think that kind of gives a sense of the
09:32crustiness
09:33on the outside. But if I do the civilized thing and cut it, it cuts nicely and it gives a
09:39nice
09:40cross-section. This reminds me of Italian bread. You know what I'm talking about? Like
09:46that fatter, softer loaf. This kind of a baguette I would buy for sandwiches and then maybe toast
09:53it. I would maybe use this more as a vessel than I would as a standalone bread. It's not
09:58giving you a lot of flavor or personality. And for that, I give it a D. So I grabbed a
10:04German sourdough loaf. It retails for $4.99, which is the most expensive thing that we're
10:09trying today. The Germans are known for their heartier breads. So my guess is this is probably
10:14going to be one of the standout items. It looks beautiful. It smells like toasted bread. Kind of
10:21how sourdough would smell. I'm just going to break it open. There we go. This sourdough has got a really
10:27beautiful color and texture to the inside. It's very dense, very crusty outside, which is awesome
10:33and I love and it's what you expect. It's kind of what you expect from all their breads. This is
10:39a good
10:39sourdough. It's a little wet. Maybe it's underbaked. I don't know. It's got a good flavor. This is
10:45something I would toast for sure. Maybe use on a sandwich or something, but I'd give it a C.
10:50Okay, that literally felt like football. Walnut bread, $3.99. Having nuts and bread is a very
10:57European phenomenon, so this should hopefully be yummy. It cuts easier than the sourdough. I smell
11:04the walnuts. You can kind of see that it's very, again, wet inside. Not great. I don't really want
11:10wet bread. Tastes like raw dough. It's like they use too much liquid in the dough itself. F.
11:17This is the pastelinata or the egg tart. People on Reddit seem to love it, but will I? This is
11:23a
11:23pastry that exists in a lot of different cultures, most notably in Portuguese culture and in certain
11:29parts of Asia. It is a flaky crust, and inside it's filled with an egg custard. The egg custard
11:36looks a little scrambled, which is the thing that you kind of want to avoid when you're making egg
11:41custards. You want it to be super smooth. There's quite a bit of variation in texture here, probably
11:46because the eggs got a little scrambled. The crust is really soft, and it's uncooked, so that's not
11:51great. This was kind of a mess, and it's possible that was an off day, but for me it's an
11:58F.
12:00This is a cheese twist, and it's $1.19. It says cheese. We looked up the ingredients.
12:05It's in fact Gouda cheese powder. So it was Gouda cheese in a previous life, and now it's
12:12powder. Kind of a red flag. It almost looks like it has egg inside, but that might be the
12:16powder having melted into the dough itself. It doesn't really smell like Gouda. That means
12:22it's no Gouda. No. Mmm, no. That's spray cheese you're talking about. That's spray cheese.
12:30That's what's in here. I'm not even kidding. F. This is a croissant donut for $1.19. In the
12:38tradition of cronut or dosants, this is croissant dough that is shaped like a donut and fried.
12:44It's kind of raw inside, so it was fried quickly. A cronut or a croissant donut or dosant typically
12:50will go for anywhere from like $5 to $8 or $9, and that's because it has to be done really
12:55well. This was not done that way. It's part of the reason why it's $1.19.
13:01Don't do it. F.
13:05It's pizza. That's the name of it. It's with peppers and onions. It's $1.79. So this again
13:11flies in the sensibility of any New Yorker, like the bagel. I live in New York. We're very particular
13:17about what we want out of pizza. I think the Germans probably want something else.
13:21It just smells like onions. Kind of almost looks like pita bread. Not really a crust of any kind.
13:27The crust is not really a crust. It's more like kind of a cardboard base. Lidl is good for so
13:32many
13:32things, but if you can find your pizza elsewhere, find your pizza elsewhere. It's not pizza. Sorry,
13:36Lidl. F. Raisin Custard Swirl, $0.99. It's very soft, and in something like this, you want there to be
13:45a
13:46little bit more crunch. Lots of raisins. A little bit of custard. It's just kind of meh. There's
13:52nothing wrong with it, but there's nothing great about it. Pastry should be great. You should put
13:55it in your mouth and be so happy. Like you just want to be alone with it. This isn't making
13:59me happy.
14:00D. Lidl loves a donut. So this is a cinnamon roll donut, and it is $0.99.
14:08The glaze with the fried dough is actually not bad. I don't get a lot of cinnamon flavor in there,
14:14but the dough itself being fried is probably one of the better cooked items that we've had today,
14:20so it's actually not that bad. So if you told me this was just fried dough, I'd give it a
14:24B. But
14:24it's supposed to be a cinnamon roll fried dough? It's a C. Maple pecan pastry, $0.99. So I grew
14:31up in
14:32northern Michigan. We used to tap our own maple trees for maple syrup, so I'm a huge, huge fan of
14:37maple. It has that sort of nostalgic flavor for me. It is super cute. You can see the pecans on
14:44top from the color and the shine. You can see that they used probably an egg wash or they maybe
14:49put
14:49a little bit of nappage or a simple syrup onto it afterwards. Already, you can see that it's flaky.
14:56Some of the flakes are coming off, so that's a really good sign. I want flaky pastry to be flaky
14:59and be your name, you know? And it sounds flaky when I rip it apart, so that's also a really
15:04good sign.
15:05Can you tell I'm totally rooting for this?
15:08Mmm, this is pretty good. The maple flavor's not super strong. I would love it to have more
15:13maple flavor. In all fairness, maple's really expensive, so my guess is this is maple flavoring
15:19of some kind. But overall, it's not bad. At this point, I'd give it a B. Chocolate vanilla twist,
15:26$0.99. And it's a seasonal item. This looks to me like a brioche suisse or a pan suisse, a
15:34pastry that
15:35takes a dough and puts a pastry cream and chocolate chips in. You roll it, you twist it, you kind
15:41of
15:41make it into a shape, and then you bake it. You can see inside all the little baby chocolate chips
15:45and the pastry cream. This is actually one of my favorite pastries in general. It's not that easy
15:50to make because you want to try to maintain the pastry cream in the pastry and not have it all
15:54kind
15:54of bleed into the dough. It's not bad. It's a lot of pastry cream, a lot of chocolate, and the
16:00dough is
16:01okay. It's flaky, it's soft, it's cooked well throughout. I would give this a B. And honestly,
16:07I'm eating more B's today than I thought I would. It's pretty good. Last but not least, another donut.
16:14This is the old-fashioned glazed donut, and it is also $0.99. Let's see.
16:22Do you remember that wet dough situation that we were talking about? Kind of back there with this.
16:27It's very dense, which means it probably didn't rise enough. It wasn't given enough time, and it just
16:32is really tough and doughy inside. The flavor itself has potential to be really good. The execution just
16:39is off, and because of that, gosh, you know, I'm kind of torn between a C and a D, because
16:43the flavor
16:43could be really good. C. Overall, pretty even spread of grades. There were some hits, there were some misses,
16:51but I think for the value, Lidl, I can see why people love you. I might come back for that
16:56pretzel.
16:57If you're obsessed with Lidl pastries, tell us which ones are your favorites. Let us know in the comments.
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