This is the best homemade gluten-free vegan bread recipe which is egg-free, dairy-free, yeast-free, and nutritious! This German bread is actually healthy since it contains psyllium husk powder. It’s crispy on the outside and soft on the inside!
Homemade Gluten-Free Vegan Bread
I cannot tell you how many times I tried making the perfect gluten-free vegan bread… Actually, I lost count how many times I ended up throwing the towel because it’s damn hard to create good gluten-free bread without eggs.
But since I can be quite stubborn (haha) I actually never gave up and continued with the recipe testing…
Psyllium Husk Powder
One day, I started experimenting with gluten-free pizza crust that contains psyllium husk powder. The recipe turned out so good, that I got intrigued.
To make a long story short, I made an online search about homemade gluten-free vegan bread + psyllium husk and found a couple of different recipes that were using huge amounts of psyllium husk powder in their bread recipes.
One recipe was from a German blogger, and she inspired me to give psyllium husk a try. I tweaked her recipe and used a different flour blend and the bread turned out amazing!
I was shocked by how great it turned out, especially since the bread is wheat-free (and therefore gluten-free), and egg-free (vegan)! It did rise, even though it doesn’t contain yeast and it actually looked like German bread from a bakery.
Conclusion: Psyllium husk powder is a godsend for gluten-free vegan baked goods. It’s also very healthy, especially for our gut! So please do yourself and favor and buy it or order it online. It’s cheap and absolutely amazing!
How To Make Gluten-Free Bread?
Check the video in the post to see how I made this amazing bread.
Step 1: Make the psyllium husk gel first. Mix the psyllium husk powder and water in a bowl. Try to be quick, because it gels instantly, within SECONDS. I always use a whisk, it works the best. Set aside and measure the dry bread ingredients in the meantime!
Step 2: It’s time to measure/weigh all dry ingredients and add them to a big bowl. You can also preheat your oven to 390 °F (ca. 200 °C) now.
Step 3: Mix it all together: Add the psyllium gel to the big bowl and mix all ingredients with a hand mixer (use the dough hooks). You can also knead the dough with your hands or use a Kitchen Aid. It will take about 5-10 minutes until the dough comes together.
Step 4: Shape the dough and bake the bread in the oven for about 55-60 minutes. That’s it!
Add Seeds Of Choice
I love adding pumpkin seeds but you can also use sunflower seeds, sesame seeds or nuts of choice (e.g. hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, almonds, etc).
The Ingredients
You can find all the ingredients with measurements below in the recipe card! Please also check the recipe notes below where I list different substitutes.
My favorite flour combo is this:
- Buckwheat flour
- Rice Flour
- Chickpea Flour
- Tapioca Flour
Recipe Notes & Substitutes
- Some readers replaced the buckwheat flour with oat flour or sorghum flour (or a combo) and the bread still turned out amazing.
- Rice flour works great in this bread recipe, but feel free to experiment with lentil flour, teff flour, sorghum flour, or quinoa flour.
- You can use arrowroot flour instead of tapioca flour/starch. Cornstarch or potato starch will most likely work as well.
- Chickpea flour is the same as garbanzo bean flour. It adds plant-based protein and I love adding it to bread. Some readers had success using oat flour instead.
- Psyllium husk powder is the most important ingredient in this recipe and cannot be subbed by any other ingredient. Make sure to use psyllium husk POWDER. If you have psyllium husk (not the powder), you can blend it in a blender or electric spice/coffee grinder until it’s a fine powder.
Can I Freeze Gluten-Free Bread?
You can definitely freeze this gluten-free bread! Slice it and wrap all individual slices in wax paper or parchment paper. Put in zip lock bags and freeze for up to 3 months. Let thaw at room temperature and then toast the bread once you want to serve it.
Other Gluten-Free Bread Recipes
You can serve the bread with stews, soups and all kinds of comfort meals. Make sure to also check out my other vegan and gluten-free bread recipes:
- Gluten-Free Baguette
- Gluten-Free Pita
- Gluten Free Naan
- Gluten Free Buns
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
- Pumpkin Bread
- Moist Vegan Cornbread
- Marbled Banana Bread
Should you give this gluten-free German bread recipe a try, please leave a comment and rating below and don’t forget to tag me in your Instagram or Facebook post with @elavegan and #elavegan because I love to see your remakes! 🙂
Gluten-Free Bread Recipe
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 100 g (3/4 heaped cup) buckwheat flour (see notes)
- 100 g (2/3 cup) white rice flour
- 100 g (1 cup) chickpea flour
- 40 g (5 Tbsp) tapioca flour/starch (see notes)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4-1 tsp sea salt
- 50 g (3/8 cup) pumpkin seeds (optional - see notes)
Psyllium mixture:
- 450 ml (1.8 cup) water
- 30 g (3 Tbsp) psyllium husk powder (see notes)
Instructions
- I recommend using the metric measurements for this recipe (grams/ml). In a bowl, combine the water with the psyllium husk powder and whisk well. It will gel instantly and become thick. Set aside for 20-30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, measure/weigh all the dry ingredients and add them to a large bowl. Preheat the oven to 390 °F (200 °C).
- Add the psyllium gel to the bowl and knead the ingredients with a hand/ stand mixer (use a dough hook). You can also knead the dough with your hands. It will take about 5-10 minutes for the dough to come together.
- If the dough appears too wet, sprinkle it with 1-2 Tbsp tapioca flour. If it feels too dry, add a little water.
- Shape the dough into a round or rectangular loaf and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (I sprinkled the paper with a bit of tapioca flour).
- Bake for 50-60 minutes. Let the bread cool completely, then slice and enjoy. The bread freezes well, for up to 3 months!
Notes
Video Of The Recipe
- Psyllium husk powder is the most important ingredient in this recipe and cannot be substituted by any other ingredient. Make sure to use psyllium husk POWDER. If you have whole psyllium husk (not the powder), you can blend it in a blender or electric spice/coffee grinder until it's a fine powder.
- A few people mentioned a weird smell in the bread (I didn't, and most other people didn't either), however, I received a few helpful comments.
- You can use whole-grain buckwheat flour or regular, both are fine. Some people replaced the buckwheat flour with oat flour or sorghum flour (or a combo) and the bread still turned out amazing.
- Rice flour works great in this bread recipe, but feel free to experiment with lentil flour, teff flour, sorghum flour, or quinoa flour.
- You can use arrowroot flour instead of tapioca flour/starch. Cornstarch or potato starch will most likely work as well.
- Chickpea flour is the same as garbanzo bean flour. It adds plant-based protein and I love adding it to bread. Some readers had success using oat flour instead.
- Please don't compare this bread with wheat bread which contains gluten and yeast or a gluten-free bread which was made with eggs and yeast. It's hard to make a gluten-free, yeast-free, vegan bread, but this is the best recipe I have tried so far, and it turns out amazing every time! Depending on the flour mixture, the bread might end up more fluffy or dense.
- Pumpkin seeds: You can use sunflower seeds instead, however, they will turn green due to a chemical reaction with the baking soda/powder. This is perfectly fine and shouldn't concern you.
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
Kylie
Just wanted to say thanks for this…I just had my first attempt ever at making GF bread (well, any bread actually) and I was SO HAPPY with how it turned out. I have to say I was very skeptical but decided that paying $12 AUD for a loaf of so-so GF bread couldn’t continue. For anyone wondering about flours and subbing etc,, I had a GF flour mix that I’d bought previously from my local health food store – I have no idea what it was (as it was in the bulk bins), but suspect it included buckwheat. I just used 300g of that plus added the 40g of tapioca flour as per the recipe and it turned out fine. For me personally, I don’t love the taste of buckwheat (but the loaf itself turned out brilliantly!) so next time I might experiment with some different flours. Also, I added two tbspns of ACV to the liquid for the psyllium husk powder and no funky smell that others’ had complained of. My loaf didn’t look like it was going to brown up as well as I would’ve like so at around the 40-minute mark, I used a pastry brush to lightly coat with olive oil. If anyone wants to see the finished product, I uploaded some pics to my insta @designrepublik
Thanks again for a great and easy recipe! I’ll definitely be making this regularly 🙂
Ela
Hi Kylie, thanks for your fantastic review! So glad the bread turned out amazing. Just saw it on your IG account – it looks great! 🙂
Karen
Hi, this looks great! I’m looking forward to trying it. I don’t see the quantities, could you point me to where I find the measurements for each ingredient? thank you
Ela
Hi Karen, the measurements are in the recipe card. 🙂
Lucy
I tried couple different recipes for gluten free bread, and they all were not very successful. I am originally from Russia, and bread there is very important, and there are a lot of varieties.
There even a joke: that Russians can eat potato with bread.
When I saw this recipe, I had a doubt: that it won’t be good.
It’s exceeded my expectations.
I didn’t have citric acid, so I added 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar; I decided that it will activate baking soda and baking powder as well. I also added 1 tsp ground coriander seeds and 1 tbsp ground caraway seeds for more flavor (it doesn’t have to be ground, I just like this better for my digestion).
Now this is my one to go bread recipe.
Thanks.
Ela
That’s awesome Lucy! I am so glad you loved this recipe. 🙂
Amy Nelson
I have never commented on a recipe before. But let me say THANK YOU!!! I have been through the gamut of GF breads. I hate paying for them, especially when they taste like cardboard….and then I saw that most contain eggs.. Ive recently been put off eggs and dairy, so I’m not vegan but when it comes to bread I basically am. Ive tried so many alternative flour recipes and they all use expensive flours and the outcome was between repulsive and weaponry. (and I pride myself on being a dang good cook, so this was a real downer.). So I googled “egg and gluten free bread recipe” and yours came up. I figured you had put a nice yeast bread down for the picture cause no way was this going to rise like that, I told myself. I had all these ingredients in my pantry and it was easy to whip up. I miss making artisan bread so I got my jollies from putting flour and poppy seeds on top before I slashed it. I looked in the oven and IT WAS RISING!!!! It came out gloriously beautiful, had a nice crumb, and it makes amazing toast! I am over the moon happy with this. Im looking no further. I can’t wait to add herbs and other flavorings. Cooked as recipe but added about a teaspoon of vinegar.
Ela
Hi Amy, thanks for your wonderful and thorough feedback! I am so glad you love the bread as much as I do. 🙂
Vanessa
Hi Ela,
this recipe will save our life with bread. My girlfriend is a lot impacted by processed food, gluten etc. We both don tolerate buckwheat very well. So, I followed your recipe with oat flour, rice flour, chickpea flour, the 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar (no funny smell), corn starch (Maizena) instead of tapioca, and no baking soda/powder. The oven on 175 (top/bottom heat). I am using a silicone baking mat and a paper on top to protect the baking sheet. Two questions:
1. Should I put top/bottom heating or hot air?
2. The bread turned out well for the top 2/3, but the lower part kept staying raw-ish. Even after 1:20 baking time (finally, we cut slices and baked the slices). Any idea of this issue? It also happens often with pizza… Is it because of this silicone baking mat? Should we turn the bread upside down after a while?
Ela
Hi Vanessa, thanks for your great feedback. You could increase the oven temperature a bit, which will help.
The silicone baking mat can be the issue, as I noticed that muffins baked in a silicone muffin pan take longer to cook than muffins baked in a tin. So definitely give it another try without the silicone mat and slightly increase the oven temperature. 🙂
B. Wood
I was so excited to make this bread with all the great reviews but my bread came out horrible…and I am not new to putting together gluten free mixes for baking.
I followed the recipe exactly and even weighed, as opposed to measured, my ingredients. The ONLY substitution I made was arrowroot instead of tapioca. It was WAY to wet so I had to add way more flours than I would have thought necessary to get it as it was in the video. Maybe I just ultimately ended up adding to much flour, which I will try again. It was very dense with no bounce like shown. This was my first problem.
Second problem, the flavor was funkily not good…again, I am not new to odd tastes like garbanzo bean flour.
Thoughts? I would try this again but what do I need to change or do?
Ela
Hi B. Sorry to hear it didn’t turn out good. I first thought it could be the arrowroot flour, but now I don’t think so, since many people have used it with success. It never happened to me that the dough was way too wet. Did you use psyllium husk POWDER? Did the gel have the same consistency as the one in my video or was it thinner? Something must have clearly gone wrong since I never heard from other people that it turned out that bad.
B. Wood
NO!! I used whole psyllium husks. I wonder if that was it. I am going to try again and cut the water portion and see if that fixes it. I also think I just made it a bit too dry. I will update you! Thank you!
Ela
Of course, it was. Whole psyllium does not soak up as much liquid as the powder. You could either use more of the whole psyllium or process them in your blender to make a powder. 🙂
Glenice
Following on my previous comment, I would have to say the bread, as toast, tasted beautiful. I just need guidance regarding my method.
Glenice Fisher
I’m in Australia (Brisbane) and tried out this recipe for the first time today.. exactly according to the recipe. For me, the bread turned out doughy at the bottom in the extended middle of the loaf. What am I doing wrong?
Ela
Hi Glenice, I would suggest increasing the oven temperature to 190 degrees Celsius and baking it 10 minutes longer. 🙂
Florence
For someone who is GF, egg and yeast-free, your recipe is a God-send! Resigned after not being able to find GF, egg and yeast-free bread on the shelves, I am so happy now that I’ve found this bread that tastes so good and no one can tell it’s egg and yeast-free. Thank u!!
Ela
That’s good to hear, Florence! So glad you like it. 🙂
Rachel
Hi Ela,
I’m in the US so I’m trying to convert all your ingredients to US measurements before diving in to make it. Did you add 3 tbsp or 30 grams of psyllium husk powder? I’m asking because my measurements show that 3 tbsp equals about 38 grams. 30 and 38 seems like a big difference and I want to be sure to get the proportions right! Thanks!
Ela
Hi Rachel, I used 30 grams (for me that was exactly 3 tablespoons). 🙂
Lisa
Made this bread today and it is amazing! The texture is like no other gluten free bread I have had before. It’s super easy to make and will be a staple for me ????
Ela
Awesome! I am so glad you loved it, Lisa. 🙂
katie
hi! i just bought all the ingredients to make this bread and i can’t wait! i was just wondering if there are any adjustments i should make since i will be baking at elevation. also, do you know if it would work to bake in a glass bowl to keep the round shape? or does it work best just on a flat baking sheet?
Ela
Hi Katie, I quickly googled “High-Altitude Baking” and found this chart:
As regards the glass bowl, I never tried that. I just shape the bread how I want it to be and bake it on a baking sheet. 🙂
Charlie
I find the chickpea flour smells funky . It happens in all the recipes I use it in. This bread is my favourite recipe and I make a few times a week. Thank you again for it.
Ela
You are very welcome, Charlie. 🙂
HH
This is a fantastic recipe. The original formula came out perfectly. I I have tried with sorghum, millet, tiger nut flours cooking 1 hr. 20 min at 350 F, it came out very nice, well cooked, soft and fluffy. Similarly teff, millet, tiger nut flour combination with same cooking time and temperature turned out great.. I will will explore it with sourdough starter.
Ela
Sounds fantastic! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Susana
HH,
When using Tigernut flour, which did you substitute it for? The Rice or the Garbanzo flour?
HH
I didn’t use the rice, garbanzo flours. 100 g sorghum, 100 g millet, 100 g tigernut, 40 g tapioca,
Talianah Breet
Hi Ela . . . I have made this bread four times now completeky mixing up the flours and its been a success every time. Tonight I used flaxseed flour instead of buckwheat and I almost doubled the amount of seeds. Wow. This bread does NOT fail! Your perfect flour to husk mixture is what does it, and I really recoomend swapping out two tablespoons if water with two tablespoons apple cider vinegar. And then get out if the kitchen. The smell was incredible – I couldn’t wait to eat it.
Thank you so much for doing all the hard work. Having had to go gluten free, nightshade free, and vegan completely overnight has been rather difficult, but this recipe is amazing!
Ela
Aww, that makes me so happy! Thanks a lot for your amazing feedback. I am so glad you love the bread. 🙂
Honeylet
I made this recipe today and oh my! It’s the best GF bread I have ever made so far. I actually replaced the rice flour with quinoa flour as that is what I have available and worked just perfectly, The outside was crisp while the inside was soft. I was so excited to mix the physillium husk with the rest of the dried ingredients and only waited for 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes, and at first it was too sticky and thought I wouldn’t be able to form or knead the dough, but I dusted the mixture with tapioca flour and formed well in the end, I have tried my avocado mash and sliced tomato on top as topping and it’s so yummy! Thanks Ela! Love the recipe 🙂
Ela
You are very welcome! I am so glad it turned out perfectly with quinoa flour. 🙂
Thanks for your great feedback!
Paul
Hello – this looks fab and I’ll be trying it today as a replacement for my usual GF I loaf so I can have a yeast free (i.e. faster) option when I need it.
I have a question – would it bake ok shaped into a loaf tin to made it a convenient shape or do you recommend free form only?
Thanks ????
Paul
Ela
Hi Paul, you can definitely bake it in a loaf tin. Maybe people tried it already with success. 🙂
Enjoy!
Blair Kibblewhite
I really love the taste of this bread and have been making loaves for the last 3 months, however every loaf, bar one, has massive holes through the loaf. I persevere only because I want to get this to work. I have tried adjusting flour quantities, water amount, and even the mixing time (I use a Kenwood with dough hook and tried fast and slow speeds), Do you have any other suggestions? Thanks Blair
Ela
Hi Blair, thanks for your feedback. I am so glad you like the taste of this bread. I never had this problem, so I am not sure why this happened. If you bake it in a loaf pan, maybe it would help to tap the pan on the counter to get any air bubbles out. 🙂
Nikki
Best recipe for gluten-free vegan bread that I’ve found! Thank you! The lightness and springy-ness is just fantastic. I have a very picky young son and I just found him tearing chunks off the loaf to eat xx
Ela
That’s awesome, Nikki! I am so glad you both love it. 🙂
Kathy M
I have tried so many vegan gluten-free recipes that were fails, I have to admit that I didn’t have high hopes, but I decided to give this recipe a try, and I’m soooooooo pleased! I couldn’t find buckwheat flour in my area, so I took a chance, based on another review, and substituted 1/2 oatmeal and 1/2 sorghum flour. It is great! I’m doing a happy dance because I do not do well with eggs, dairy or gluten in my diet and this is the first bread that I’ve found. It’s easy to make, although I need to get dough hooks for my mixer. I highly recommend giving this recipe a try. Thank you so much Ela!
Ela
Thanks for your lovely feedback, Kathy! I am so glad you gave this recipe a chance and that the bread turned out amazing. 🙂
Julia
Hi – great recipe, I’m really excited to have found it! Although I might need to find a substitute for chickpea flour as the taste is pretty strong. I used Gram flour – wonder if pure chickpea is more subtle. Anyway! I was just wondering, how do you store the bread?
Ela
That’s awesome, Julia! You can try out different flours, check the comment section, some people tried oat flour, teff flour, etc. with success.
Store wrapped in plastic or foil at room temperature for a few days. 🙂