I eat not only gluten- and dairy free, but also have to keep track of my carb intake on a low carb, low glycemic diet, so my GF bread had to be whole grain. I googled and worked my way through tons of recipes, but to reach a pleasant texture, almost all of them worked with ingredients like white rice or tapioca flour and different starches that are high in carbs and low in digestive fibers, so potentially high glycemic ingredients. To make up for the binding properties of gluten the majority of gluten free bread recipes use starches or additives like xantham or guar gum. Starches are bad for my carb intake, and these gums – well, these are natural ingredients, my only problem is that they are difficult to buy, and people already dealing with food allergies/intolerances may easily develop an intolerance towards them… So I wished to avoid them and make this bread suitable for my vegan friends, as well.
I had to find something to keep my bread dough together without eggs or gluten. I was baking my own bread for years but new to baking gluten-free. Still, I found my miracle ingredient, psyllium husk pretty quickly. Psyllium husk is water soluble fibre that forms a jelly-like mixture when added to water: it works like some sort of magic glue to keep it all together. 🙂
I wished to use as much whole grain flour as possible, so I chose to combine brown rice, buckwheat, corn and millet flours. I buy corn and rice flours but millet and buckwheat I grind myself in a small coffe mill – it’s difficult (and expensive) to buy these gluten-free, so I save some worry and money this way.
I chose these ingredients because: buckwheat contains some total protein and adds a nutty flavor to my bread, brown rice contains some fiber but makes the dough too dry if I use too much, millet contains some important trace minerals and corn flour has more fiber than I expected (5-6g/100g). I just had to work my way to find the perfect ratio of these flours and psyllium husk for the best taste and texture.
This bread tastes just like an old fashioned, home-baked whole grain loaf of bread. Once my father who lives on a very traditional (and boring) menu was visiting while I baked our bread and said that it really smells just like “good old days” and he even liked it, too!
See that texture? Whole grain, gluten free and still lots of tiny bubbles… 🙂
Ingredients for a 30 cm/11 inch rectangular baking pan (makes approx. 1150g bread):
590 ml or 2 1/2 cups of lukewarm water
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoons of olive oil
5 level tablespoons of psyllium husk
5 level tablespoons of flaxmeal/ground flaxseeds**
210g or 1 1/2 cups of millet flour
90g or 1/2 cup corn flour
90g 1/2 + 1/4 cups of buckwheat flour
170g or 1 1/2 cups of brown rice flour
1 teaspoon salt
Please remember that I do not use measurements in grams and not cups to annoy you but to make my recipes precise and reproducible. Trust me, it is worth investing in a kitchen scale: The Gluten Free Girl and The Gluten Free Vegan Girl also agree.
* This amount of yeast might be a little too much if you don’t like its flavor: you can use half of this quantity and wait a little more for the dough to rise.
** If you can’t have flax, you can substitute with chia seeds or another 3 level tablespoons of psyllium husk.
Let’s bake some bread:
- Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the lukewarm water.
- Grind millet and buckwheat, if necessary.
- Mix flours and salt in a big mixing bowl.
- Add olive oil, flaxmeal and psyllium husk to the liquid mixture. Don’t let the psyllium husk wait over a minute with the liquids or the mixture might turn to a jelly. 🙂
- While continuously mixing, pour liquid mixture to solids and mix well.
- Cover with a clean cloth and set the dough aside to rise until it’s size doubles. This might take 30-50 minutes, depending on the kitchen’s temperature.
- Cover the baking pan with a parchment sheet, fill with the dough and set aside to rest another 20 minutes. Put a small bowl of water in the oven and preheat to 190 C / 375 F degrees with convection.
- Bake the bread for 50 minutes and let it cool completely before slicing the first bite! (If you slice it hot, the bread may be “jelly-like”.)
So, let’s talk about numbers. This recipe yields 1150g bread, with 406g carbs total (without the sugar, but yeast fungi ate that anyway… 😉 ). So, that makes 35g CH/100g carbs in this wholegrain, absolutely fibre rich and low glycemic bread. One 0.5 cm / 0.2 inch thick slice contains approx. 10g CH/slice, which is appropriate for a lowcarb, low glycemic diet.
This loaf of bread was passed around the table at Gluten Free Friday.
Maybe I don't have to reinvent the wheel!
That's exactly what I've been looking for. I don't miss light fluffy (starchy) white bread, I miss my (light enough, but not fluffy) flavorful home baked 100% whole wheat bread…
But I'm new enough to the GF world that I hadn't yet quite gotten up the courage to try it, since *everything* kept assuring me that I *needed* the starch. I didn't really believe it, but wasn't yet sure how to work around it. (Though I was leaning pretty much towards the flours you use, so…)
Thank you!
My pleasure! About reinventing the wheel – I know how you feel… 😉
Any suggestions for a corn flour substitution? Thanks, looks good.
You can just omit corn and use more of the other flours in proportinal quantities. I hope you try this bread, it smells wonderful!
It looks great!
Thanks, it's a really hearty bread, I'm sure you'd love it. 🙂
Oh my goodness. I just made this exact to the recipe. Amazing… Can I freeze it, do you think?
I'm sooo happy you like it! It should be freezable, at least one of my friends always keeps some in the freezer. Did you do your measurements in cups or grams?
I'm usually a gram person, but I did it using cup measurements. Just because its more fun to scoop.,,,, Best to freeze pre-sliced? x
Thanks for your feedback! And yes, definitely pre-sliced.
Could I substitute white rice flour for the brown rice flour without getting poor results? – Briana
Yes, absolutely. I prefer brown rice flour to add more fibers but I'm sure that white rice flour would also work.
Oh good! Brown rice upsets my digestion, so I try to avoid it now.
– Briana
Any suggestions for yeast free? I am allergic.
Thx
Sure. Try mixing a teaspoon of baking soda and a teaspoon of baking powder to the flours and add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the fluids. This should work, some of my readers bake it this way.
I may love you. Just saying.
I'm new to the gluten free world. In fact, no dairy, no potatoes, no gluten, hmmm… I'm missing one of them. I'll be trying this out this next week. Found you on Pinterest. Thank you for this! Mega kudos!
So happy you like my recipe!
Comments like yours make my day.
Happy baking!
I am looking forward to trying this but I don't have a convection oven, does that matter?
Thanks!
Try raising the temperature by 10 degrees and baking for 10 more minutes. I'd be so happy to see your feedback!
I've been looking for a gluten-free bread to include on my Blood Type A recipes Pinterest board that did not call for the gums so common in the stores and recipes. As cannot have the gums, so when I read "psyllium husk" I was intrigued and delighted to share it with my followers.
So happy to hear that! I also had a hard time finding/creating a recipe without gums or starches. I'm happy you like my rceipe. 🙂
Wonderful recipe that I intend to try but have two questions: Millet flour is known to disrupt thyroid function, is there a substitute for it – and secondly – you note using an 11 inch rectangular pan, but what is the width; is it a standard bread pan of 4.5 inches or smaller?
Many thanks for a low glyceimic GF bread option. Hope is on the horizon!
This recipe is quite forgiving when it comes to flour composition: you may sub whole grain GF flours you like. I'd recommend sorghum instead of millet.
It is a standard bread pan: 4.5 inches wide.
So happy you like my recipe! 🙂
Can I substitute chia for the psyllium husk?
You’ll get a more moist bread, and chia gives an earth-like flavor and color, but yes, it can work. (I haven’t tried it in this recipe.)
Nora dear thanks for the recipe.
A clarification. Does corn flour refer to corn meal i.e. Corn ground into flour or packaged cornflour?
Yes! 🙂 Thank you for taking time to try my recipe. 🙂
Can this recipe be shaped into buns?
Give the dough some time to rest and you’ll be able to shape buns. 🙂 Enjoy!
I have one other question…..I am confused about the yeast. One packet of yeast is 8g and is sold in a package of 3 packets totalling 24g. How much yeast do I use?
Sorry Nora…..I just realized that there is such a thing as FRESH yeast. Did not know that! I googled it and I read that I could use the dry active in place of the fresh but divide the measurement by 3. I will try this recipe with 2 dry active packets of yeast. Wish me luck! (FYI….I am a bread maker virgin..can you tell?)
What can I swap out for the buckwheat flour?
Please advise
Thanks so much!!
Try sorghum or tigernuts flours! 🙂
I agree with you that using millet flour makes the tastiest bread. Thank you with this remarkable recipe starches and gums free!
I’m so glad glad you liked my recipe. 🙂
Your recipe looks great, and I look forward to trying it. However, my apartment is itself a convection oven in summer, and I’d like to use my breadmaker to keep the place as cool as possible. Have you tried this in a breadmaker, or do you know anyone who has?
Some of my readers have made this using a breadmaker, so you should be fine.
Hello.your recipe for GF bread sounds great.next week planning to make .i just need to know instead of fresh yeast can I use instant yeast and how many tsp ? Would appreciate if you reply thanks Vandana
Hi,tried to look this up for you. I think you should try 2 tsp of dry yeast.
My. Read always smaller slices and dense. Can’t have the yeast so I out bicarbonate in. Don’t need to eat much to be full!
This recipe looks good. Is this ground psyllium or whole? Thank you,
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Whole. It’s an old favorite. 🙂 Good luck!
OMG It looks AMAZING! Can’t wait to try it. Many thanks! ✨
This sounds delicious!! I have a metal 9x5x2.75 loaf pan. How would I need to alter the recipe to work in that?
I’m sorry I can’t tell as you didn’t give me exact metrics…
Your bread recipe looks delicious. Is there a reason you listed a 1/4 cup + 1/2 cup of buckwheat flour instead of
3/4 cup? I thought it was listed that way because you add them separately but the instructions say to mix the flours. I just don’t want to make any mistakes. Thank you!
There is not. I wrote 3/4 originally, but someone wrote tome that thereis no 3/4 cup, so I should clarify… 😀 I hope you tried the bread recipe, it is delicious. 🙂
Hi, your loaf of bread looks wonderful. I prepared it yesterday and I follow all of the instructions. I love fresh yeast, but the flavour of the yeast was too strong. I don’t know if did some wrong but it was too dense and there were no air bubbles in it. I might try with less yeast and proofing it longer, or perhaps try dry yeast instead. I thinly sliced toasted it more than normal but it is still too strong. I am willing to try with a modification.
Is the mixing of the dough by hand or with an electric mixer? Thank you.
Your yeast might be different from mine – try using 1/2-1/4 the original amount. I use an electric mixer.
I’ve made your bread recipe twice now and I’m getting the same result. My bread looks nothing like yours. Mine is grey looking. It tastes delicious but it’s also very dense and heavy. I’ve checked the recipe twice. I have the exact ingredients and have followed the directions exactly. My yeast is fresh and the second time I even added a 1/2 tsp more but my bread didn’t rise anymore. Do you have any suggestions? I’d hate to give up on it since it tastes so good.
You should let the psyllium husk soak in water for a couple of minutes, and it needs to be husk, not milled psyllium powder. I’m sorry I don’t have any more ideas about what could have gone wrong other than your ingredients being different from mine due to us living really far from each other. I really hope it works out for you, I’ve been baking this bread for 10+ years…