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
Equipment
Simple and Delicious Vegan Cookbook by ElaVeganCLICK HERE to order!If you are using Pinterest, feel free to pin the following photo:
Loved this recipe! It was easy to follow, quick to make, and absolutely delicious! It can be so hard to find a wonderful and EASY Gluten Free Vegan bread – this is the perfect one!
That’s so good to hear, Haley! Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
This is THE best gluten-free bread I’ve ever made & definitely beats out store bought & it’s vegan to boot. I was diagnosed with celiac in 2003 & back then it was pretty bleak & complicated making bread. This recipe is very easy & turned out better then store bought gluten-free bread. I used millet flour because I had no buckwheat. I have teff flour & will try that next. I believe I’ve finally found my holy grail bread recipe. Thank you!
You are very welcome, Vallynn! Glad to hear it turned out great with millet flour. 🙂
I substituted 100 g. of teff flour for the white rice flour and it came out beautifully Thank you!
Sounds awesome! 🙂
I just have to make a comment on this bread. It is AMAZING! I am a health coach and have been trying to find the perfect Gluten Free Bread, never mind vegan as well. I have really struggled to find one. And now the added bonus is that this is the perfect gluten free and vegan bread. Thank you so much for the recipe. It is really easy to make and delicious. My husband is now a convert and has never enjoyed any of the breads that I have made before saying that they just don’t taste right. And it toasts well. Big heart felt ‘THANK YOU”.
So happy to hear you both love it! Thanks for your comment, Colleen. 🙂
Hi,
we are chickpea free and oat free. Do you have any suggestions as to what flour I could use instead?
Hi! Quinoa flour would work. 🙂
Thank you for being a life-saver! Making this for the second time and I’m so happy about this bread! 😊
So glad you like the bread, Mor. Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
Hi Ella, this really is the best gluten-free, vegan bread recipe I have found and tried and worked wonderfully, my search is over! Thanks a million. One question: what level of the oven do you bake it on; top middle or bottom?
Thanks again
Furkan
Hi Furkan, I am so glad you like it! I use the middle. 🙂
Hi Ela,
I’ve got all the ingredients and am raring to go, but wanted to ask – what temperature do you bake at for a fan oven? is it 200 or 180 degrees Celsius?
Thank you!
Hi Chris, I would say 180 degrees Celsius. 🙂
Aha very good, thanks for your reply. I was so impatient that I went for it at 180 c for fan oven, and that is definitely right. I think I will swap buckwheat for oat flour as others have done. But for a first attempt I am delighted. If in future you figure out a way to make it even more like the wonderful dark brown German bread, I want to know!
Thank you for being so tenacious and not giving up, and for generously sharing this recipe.
You are very welcome! And yes, I will. 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe! However, I followed the recipe except I didn’t add baking powder, added some apple cider vinegar instead and the bread is still “wet” inside :((((. The dough wasn’t as tough as in the video but I thought I’d give it a try anyway … Should I have added more flour or could it be due to the lack of baking powder?
Hi Tiu, you have to add the baking powder, otherwise, the recipe won’t work.
What do you mean with “wasn’t as tough as in the video”. Was the dough wet/sticky?
If so, did you use psyllium husk powder or whole psyllium?
Hi Michaela,
I am very keen to try again so thank you for your reply.
Instead of baking powder, I used baking soda and added some apple cider vinegar. I thought that is normally used as a substitute for baking powder, is that not so?
Yes, the dough was wet and sticky. I used whole psyllium which I ground myself. However, I measured the amount before grinding so that could have been another issue …
Reading these comments, so many people love this bread and I made a right mess out of it! 😩
Hi Tiu, yes, you really have to measure the psyllium after grinding it. Or just go by weight (what I always recommend), then it doesn’t make a difference. 🙂
I’ve just made this wonderful bread and I can’t believe how easy it is and how good it tastes! I kept the flour blend the same as the recipe but I included the psyllium husk powder with the dry ingredients as I had a bad experience with a psyllium gel that didn’t fully combine with the flour blend in another recipe. The result was perfect this time, I can’t wait to experiment with teff and quinoa instead of rice flour too. It’s amazing that this can be baked free-form instead of in a loaf tin giving it a lovely artisan feel. This is going to become my go to regular bread recipe – thank you so much for developing and sharing 🙂
You are very welcome, Leonie. I am glad you like the bread. 🙂
This bread is AMAZING!!!!! My search is over!! Thank you!!! I am making it again today with oat flour because I’m not sure I like the taste of the buckwheat flour but that is not stopping me from eating it!! I have a question though, my bread had a lot of holes in it and I’m not sure what I did. Any suggestions? Thank you!!
Barbara
Hi Barbara, thanks so much for your great feedback. I haven’t figured out yet why there are holes sometimes and sometimes not. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I have a question though, what if I used a ready gluten free baking mix, how much do I use for your recipe in place of all the flour ingredients? The baking mix includes: corn flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, rice flour, white corn flour, yellow corn flour, Arabic gum, sodium bicarbonate and sucrose.
This is my first time using gluten free flour so I appreciate your input 😁
Hi Sue, you can use 340 grams of the mix. I never tried a store-bought flour blend, so not sure how it will turn out. 🙂
Dear Ela,
My first try and it came out great. So easy too! Can I use ground flaxseed instead of psyllium husk? If so, would the water amount stay the same?
Thanks for a great recipe, Diane
Happy to hear that, Diane. 🙂
Ground flaxseed won’t work as they don’t absorb as much water and the bread won’t rise much.
Hi Ela, this is the first GF loaf I’ve made that actually worked! Thank you. If I wanted to make a bigger loaf & double the recipe would you suggest double the baking time? Or what do you think?
Happy to hear, you like the recipe, Deon. I never tried it, but I think I wouldn’t double the baking time. Just check after 60 minutes how the crust looks. 🙂
Wow. I made this recipe substituting oat flour for buckwheat flour and was amazed at how it turned out the first time I ever made it. I’ve tried another recipe 4 times and finally got it to work but it uses yeast and egg white. I was searching for a recipe that does not use eggs and came across this recipe. It turned out beautifully and tastes great and is tender enough to use as a sandwich bread. I love having the pumpkin seeds in it for texture. Wonderful recipe. Thanks and I’ll be sharing this with other GF family members.
So happy you like the recipe, Lisa. Thanks for your feedback! 🙂
Perfect! I am so glad that I have found your website and this recipe. My daughter is on a special diet now where she can not eat gluten and yeast. All the other gluten-free and yeast-free breads I have tried were horrible and she did not want to eat them. Today I made this bread and she is so happy. I had to stop her, otherwise she would have eaten the entire loaf. I substituted the buckwheat flour with oat flour, also, I had only 50 g of white rice flour left, so I took quinoa flour to fill up to 100 g, She can not have baking powder due to a sensitivity to grapes (cream of Tatar), I substituted it with baking Soda and lemon juice. So in total I used 3/4 teaspoon of baking Soda and 2 tsp of lemon juice. The bread rose, is crusty outside and soft inside and looks exactly like on your pictures. Did I mention that it tastes amazing? Thank you so much for this recipe!
That’s wonderful, Alexa! Thanks for your helpful feedback. 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe Ella! As someone who is gluten sensitive, I felt it was made for me 😉 I just tried it. It turned out really good! Definitely better than buying stale, processed bread from the store.
Happy to hear, Sheila. 🙂
what can I use instead of rice flour
You could use quinoa flour or teff flour. Cassava flour might work too.
How do you know if the bread is baked properly?
You will see it when it starts browning. Or just follow the instructions and bake it for about 60 minutes. 🙂
Very tasty! will definitely make this again, thanks for the recipe!
Happy you liked it, Thirza. 🙂