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My best gluten-free, whole grain bread, ever! (vegan recipe)

February 9, 2015 By Nora 51 Comments

When I started eating gluten-free, bread and pasta were my main concerns. I’ve already posted my homemade gluten-free, whole grain pasta recipe so it’s really time I share my bread with you, as well. πŸ™‚
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.

My best gluten-free, whole grain bread, ever! (vegan recipe)

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. πŸ™‚
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.

My best gluten-free, whole grain bread, ever! (vegan recipe)


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… πŸ™‚

My best gluten-free, whole grain bread, ever! (vegan recipe)

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 package of fresh yeast (42g or 50g)*
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:

  1. Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the lukewarm water.
  2. Grind millet and buckwheat, if necessary.
  3. Mix flours and salt in a big mixing bowl.
  4. 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. πŸ™‚
  5. While continuously mixing, pour liquid mixture to solids and mix well.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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”.)
My best gluten-free, whole grain bread, ever! (vegan recipe)

The best is to bake in the evening and slice in the morning. This bread can be kept in the fridge in an airtight container for 4 days without any problems. I usually cut to slices and reheat them in a small sandwich grill, so they taste like freshly baked wholegarin bread. (Who likes fridge-cold bread, anyway?)

So, let’s talk about numbers. This recipe yields 1150g bread, with 406g carbs total (without the sugar, but yeast fungi ate that anyway… πŸ˜‰ ). 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.

My best gluten-free, whole grain bread, ever! (vegan recipe)

This loaf of bread was passed around the table at Gluten Free Friday.

Related posts:

Vegan & gluten-free galettes – buckwheat pancakes, thin & light as air! Potato flatbread #vegan #glutenfree |ingeniouscooking.comLΓ‘ngos – Potato flatbread with garlic cashew sour cream (gluten-free, vegan recipe) Mushroom-cashew pΓ’tΓ© (vegan) Eggless avocado-egg salad (gluten-free, vegan)

Filed Under: dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian Tagged With: bread, breakfast, buckwheat, dinner, Hungarian, millet

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anne says

    April 14, 2015 at 8:45 pm

    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!

    Reply
  2. NΓ³ri @ ingeniouscooking.com says

    April 14, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    My pleasure! About reinventing the wheel – I know how you feel… πŸ˜‰

    Reply
  3. Maria P says

    April 25, 2015 at 9:57 pm

    Any suggestions for a corn flour substitution? Thanks, looks good.

    Reply
  4. NΓ³ri says

    April 25, 2015 at 10:00 pm

    You can just omit corn and use more of the other flours in proportinal quantities. I hope you try this bread, it smells wonderful!

    Reply
  5. Bethany says

    May 2, 2015 at 7:36 am

    It looks great!

    Reply
  6. NΓ³ri says

    May 2, 2015 at 7:40 am

    Thanks, it's a really hearty bread, I'm sure you'd love it. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  7. Rachel says

    June 17, 2015 at 7:55 pm

    Oh my goodness. I just made this exact to the recipe. Amazing… Can I freeze it, do you think?

    Reply
  8. Nora says

    June 17, 2015 at 7:58 pm

    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?

    Reply
  9. Rachel says

    June 18, 2015 at 8:23 am

    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

    Reply
  10. Nora says

    June 18, 2015 at 8:24 am

    Thanks for your feedback! And yes, definitely pre-sliced.

    Reply
  11. Anonymous says

    August 2, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    Could I substitute white rice flour for the brown rice flour without getting poor results? – Briana

    Reply
  12. Nora says

    August 2, 2015 at 10:08 pm

    Yes, absolutely. I prefer brown rice flour to add more fibers but I'm sure that white rice flour would also work.

    Reply
  13. Anonymous says

    August 4, 2015 at 9:55 pm

    Oh good! Brown rice upsets my digestion, so I try to avoid it now.
    – Briana

    Reply
  14. Deb Darcar says

    August 10, 2015 at 10:09 pm

    Any suggestions for yeast free? I am allergic.
    Thx

    Reply
  15. Nora says

    August 10, 2015 at 10:13 pm

    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.

    Reply
  16. Wendy says

    August 20, 2015 at 9:17 pm

    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!

    Reply
  17. Nora says

    August 20, 2015 at 9:18 pm

    So happy you like my recipe!
    Comments like yours make my day.
    Happy baking!

    Reply
  18. Christiana says

    August 31, 2015 at 9:13 pm

    I am looking forward to trying this but I don't have a convection oven, does that matter?
    Thanks!

    Reply
  19. Nora says

    August 31, 2015 at 9:14 pm

    Try raising the temperature by 10 degrees and baking for 10 more minutes. I'd be so happy to see your feedback!

    Reply
  20. Lauren Lagergren says

    September 4, 2015 at 9:44 pm

    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.

    Reply
  21. Nora says

    September 4, 2015 at 9:47 pm

    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. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  22. Debra says

    January 5, 2016 at 12:23 am

    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!

    Reply
  23. Nora says

    January 5, 2016 at 12:26 am

    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! πŸ™‚

    Reply
  24. Andi says

    August 20, 2016 at 1:30 pm

    Can I substitute chia for the psyllium husk?

    Reply
    • Nora says

      August 21, 2016 at 8:41 pm

      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.)

      Reply
  25. Rohini says

    September 25, 2016 at 5:13 pm

    Nora dear thanks for the recipe.
    A clarification. Does corn flour refer to corn meal i.e. Corn ground into flour or packaged cornflour?

    Reply
    • Nora says

      September 25, 2016 at 9:25 pm

      Yes! πŸ™‚ Thank you for taking time to try my recipe. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  26. Loretta says

    October 24, 2016 at 5:26 pm

    Can this recipe be shaped into buns?

    Reply
    • Nora says

      October 24, 2016 at 8:16 pm

      Give the dough some time to rest and you’ll be able to shape buns. πŸ™‚ Enjoy!

      Reply
  27. Loretta says

    October 30, 2016 at 6:54 pm

    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?

    Reply
    • Loretta says

      November 1, 2016 at 3:41 am

      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?)

      Reply
  28. marley says

    November 20, 2016 at 5:33 pm

    What can I swap out for the buckwheat flour?
    Please advise
    Thanks so much!!

    Reply
    • Nora says

      November 28, 2016 at 1:24 pm

      Try sorghum or tigernuts flours! πŸ™‚

      Reply
  29. Irena says

    February 20, 2017 at 10:53 pm

    I agree with you that using millet flour makes the tastiest bread. Thank you with this remarkable recipe starches and gums free!

    Reply
    • Nora says

      February 24, 2017 at 1:25 pm

      I’m so glad glad you liked my recipe. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  30. Carol Cripps says

    June 27, 2017 at 3:20 am

    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?

    Reply
    • Nora says

      June 27, 2017 at 7:59 am

      Some of my readers have made this using a breadmaker, so you should be fine.

      Reply
  31. Vandana says

    September 12, 2017 at 9:47 am

    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

    Reply
    • Nora says

      September 13, 2017 at 6:05 am

      Hi,tried to look this up for you. I think you should try 2 tsp of dry yeast.

      Reply
  32. Pongodhall says

    November 21, 2017 at 2:39 pm

    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!

    Reply
  33. Teri says

    June 10, 2020 at 2:47 am

    This recipe looks good. Is this ground psyllium or whole? Thank you,
    Teri recently posted…No churn vegan mint ice creamMy Profile

    Reply
    • Nora says

      June 10, 2020 at 12:16 pm

      Whole. It’s an old favorite. πŸ™‚ Good luck!

      Reply
  34. Nitza says

    December 24, 2020 at 5:47 pm

    OMG It looks AMAZING! Can’t wait to try it. Many thanks! ✨

    Reply
  35. Brittany Stevens says

    August 8, 2022 at 6:55 pm

    This sounds delicious!! I have a metal 9x5x2.75 loaf pan. How would I need to alter the recipe to work in that?

    Reply
    • Nora says

      September 9, 2022 at 7:02 am

      I’m sorry I can’t tell as you didn’t give me exact metrics…

      Reply
  36. Nancy says

    November 27, 2022 at 8:08 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Nora says

      November 29, 2022 at 9:21 am

      There is not. I wrote 3/4 originally, but someone wrote tome that thereis no 3/4 cup, so I should clarify… πŸ˜€ I hope you tried the bread recipe, it is delicious. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  37. Siena says

    December 3, 2022 at 10:05 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Nora says

      December 5, 2022 at 8:42 am

      Your yeast might be different from mine – try using 1/2-1/4 the original amount. I use an electric mixer.

      Reply
  38. Nancy Candy says

    December 9, 2022 at 9:30 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Nora says

      December 13, 2022 at 1:55 pm

      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…

      Reply

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I'm Nora: creative foodie, ex-PCOS patient, mom of a little baby girl, scientist, coffee lover, avid traveller to name a few things that come to mind. More about me...

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