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
Video
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 100 g (¾ heaped cup) buckwheat flour (see notes)
- 100 g (⅔ cup) white rice flour
- 100 g (1 cup) chickpea flour
- 40 g (5 Tbsp) tapioca flour/starch (see notes)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¾-1 tsp sea salt
- 50 g (⅜ cup) pumpkin seeds (optional - see notes)
Psyllium mixture:
- 450 ml (1.8 cups) 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:
I’ve made this recipe several times and it is absolutely delicious! I love the rustic look of the bread, but have trouble shaping it consistently. Would it be possible to bake this bread in a loaf pan? Would any adjustments need to be made? Thank you!!!
Hi! It should be fine to use a loaf pan. 🙂
I put my bread in a loaf pan and as many people comment it’s still sticky when I put it in there. But the Bread comes out Beautifully shaped and absolutely delicious.
I am so glad it turned out amazing, even when put in a loaf pan. 🙂
i tried to see the video but there is no link to it.(non of your videos play for me) Did you posted anywhere else I can try? thank you
Are you using an ad blocker maybe? If yes, that’s why you can’t see the videos. Or do you have a very slow internet connection, so that the video doesn’t load?
This looks amazing, would love to try it. Unfortunately I need to avoid grains – any idea if I could sub any/all of the following flours for the rice/chickpea – cassava, coconut, and/or tigernut?
Thank you
Hello! I wouldn’t use coconut flour. Tigernut flour should work fine, however, I never tried it. Not sure about cassava flour. Maybe a little would work but I wouldn’t add too much of it. Please report back and let us know how it turned out. 🙂
This is great! Thanks!
Hi! Did you ever make this bread with yeast instead of baking powder and soda? What I like about bread is the taste of yeast!
No, I haven’t! You can give it a try and report back. 🙂
The bread turned out really well, but tasted absolutely awful! The Psyllium husk gave it a really nasty after-taste that over-powered all other flavours. Uneatable, I threw the whole lot in the bin. Sorry…not for me.
Maybe your psyllium husk was bad. I have made the bread so many times and actually never tasted the psyllium husk. The powder itself is pretty much tasteless to me. I hope you’ll find another recipe which you’ll like better. 🙂
I make this bread slice it up and out in freezer for when I want a slice. This week I added raisins and cinnamon and rolled balls into my donut pan made mini bagels so tasty. Amazing recipe thank you
Adding raisins and cinnamon is such a great idea! Thanks a lot for your interesting feedback, Carla. 🙂
I have never had any luck with gluten free baking so I thought that I’d try this recipe. Simply amazing! My loaf of bread looked nothing like your pictures but it was super tasty with a soft crumb. I think that I baked my loaf too long because it seemed to keep rising—I should have checked the temperature instead of relying on my novice eyes. I’m well versed with yeast breads but this recipe has opened up a whole new world of bread baking to me. It’s rather fabulous not having to allow time for the dough to rise. Thank you, Ela, for doing all of the hard work so the rest of us can produce a lovely loaf of bread in a timely fashion!
Your comment made my day, Ida! I am super happy you loved the bread. Thanks for your amazing feedback. ❤️
Dear Ela, Thank you for this bread recipe. I am a dreadful baker and often have to “hide” my baked goods in the bin! I was not hopeful with this recipe but lo and behold, it turned out beautifully and I have eaten half a loaf for dinner. I found the dough very sticky but just piled it up on the baking sheet and was amazed at how it rose in the oven. Can’t thank you enough for mentoring my baking dreams with this recipe. I can’t wait to make another loaf.
Wow, I am very glad it turned out so amazing for you as well. Thanks for your great feedback, Theresa! ❤️
What is the chocolate on the bread slice please? Just melted chocolate? Thanks for your wonderful recipe!
Hi Heather! You can find the recipe here: https://elavegan.com/healthy-vegan-breakfast-ideas-toast-toppings/
Dear Ela
First and foremost I must thank you. My son and I have been eating gluten free as advised by our doctors for a while, but since April all three of us have started following the Dr.McDougall diet, also on doctor’s orders. It is vegan and oil-free, so I had to adjust the way I cook and bake stuff. You have been my saviour! Time and time again you come up with recipes that work and are delicious and enjoyed by the whole family.
BUT… I think I must have done something badly wrong with this recipe, especially when I read all the other comments of how well this worked for them. I substituted the chickpea flour for spelt. I know that is supposed to contain gluten but for some reason my son’s and my body tolerate it very well unlike other gluten. Well, I ended up with one sticky mess which took ages to sort out. I started by adding tapioca flour to dry it out a bit, aiming for a dough that would leave the bowl and my hands clean. When I realised it was going to take a lot of flour, I started adding more of the buckwheat, rice and spelt as well but goodness knows how much or in what ratio. I wondered if I ought to add more baking powder and baking soda, but it really alters the taste if you use too much, so I left it as was.
Lo and behold, it still turned out the way it was supposed to. Delicious, just a little dense as most gutenfree breads are. It really worked out well, and I am ready to repeat it, but how on earth do I do that, since I just threw flour in by instinct until it was all dry enough.?
Any ideas what could have gone wrong, and what to do next time? I would rather avoid chickpea flour, if possible. It is harder to find here in Belgium, but also I once baked bread with it and it tasted terrible, so I had to take a solemn vow to stay off the chickpea flour for ever and ever from that day on.
Hi Anneke! Thanks for your sweet compliments, I really appreciate it. I never tried spelt flour because it contains gluten. I recommend some other gluten-free flour alternatives in the recipe notes. Teff flour and lentil flour work great. Sorghum flour and quinoa flour might work as well. Or simply increase the amount of buckwheat flour and rice flour next time. I wouldn’t add spelt flour, as it seems to not work well in this recipe. 🙂
Can this bread be made in a bread maker? Any tips please? Thank you! ??
Marie
Hi Marie, I am pretty sure someone on Instagram sent me a photo of the bread that he/she made in a bread maker. Unfortunately, I don’t remember who it was and that person didn’t leave a comment on my blog. But it looked great, so it seems to work fine. 🙂
Hi Ela, Made it last week but forgot to take a picture. It was delicious!! Going to make it again and again and again…
Very glad you love this recipe, Levana! Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
Do you have conversions from grams to cups. Thanks
Hi Barbara, that’s difficult since this recipe can be made with different flours. Some are lighter than others and if you follow cup measurements, it just won’t be as accurate.
For your reference:
1 cup of buckwheat flour weighs 120 grams
1 cup of rice flour weighs 160 grams
1 cup of chickpea flour weighs 95-100 grams
1 tbsp of tapioca flour weighs 8 grams
Hope this helps!
Thank you ????I’ve been searching for a recipe like this for my whole life! I’ve been gluten intolerant since 1 year old and am now 43, that’s a very long time to go to find your best ever bread recipe. I actually hate all of the shop bought gf bread and have been looking for a good sourdough gf free bread recipe, yours is just like a sourdough without the sourdough element. Had a quick look through your instagram and am now following. Can’t wait to try your black bean meat loaf recipe.
Aww, that’s awesome, Charlie! I am so glad you like the recipe. Happy baking and cooking! 🙂
Just made two loaves for the freezer. Absolutely Love the taste and texture of this bread. It’s the only bread that I make.
I am so glad you love the bread as much as I do! Thanks so much for your great feedback, Henrietta! 🙂
I would love to see a video of you mixing and kneading this bread! I had a hard time knowing what the texture of the dough is supposed to be. I didn’t know how wet or sticky is too sticky. And how do you know when it’s totally baked? Do you check it with a toothpick like other quick breads?
I actually made a video but haven’t had the time to edit it. It takes SO MUCH time to make this and I do everything by myself and already work about 15 hours a day. So please be patient. Edit: The video has been uploaded on November 18th!
I bake it for 60 minutes and that works perfectly fine for me. No toothpick check. 🙂
Hi! Can I replaced psyllium by xanthan gum ?
No, Diana! Please check the recipe notes, where I clearly mentioned it:
“Psyllium husk powder is the most important ingredient in this recipe and cannot be subbed by any other ingredient.“
Hi, I’m wondering if I could use rosemary in place of the seeds?
Well, you can leave out the seeds if you don’t like them. They are optional. If you enjoy rosemary, then add a tiny bit.
Hi Ella, I tried the bread adding one teaspoon of the rosemary. I thoroughly enjoyed it. You might add more if you want a more intense flavor. Thank you so much. I love this recipe.
Thanks for your feedback, Cindy! So glad you love the recipe. 🙂
This bread looks amazing! Love that it’s gluten-free! ???
Thank you, Bianca! It’s my favorite gluten-free bread! 🙂
Ela I have spent about 5 years trying to make gluten free bread that is relatively healthy. I live in a country where gluten free isn’t really recognized so the option to buy something in the shops just doesn’t exist.
Everything I’ve found tastes too nutty, eggy or just feels too wet and cake-like.
Thank God I’ve found you. I made this bread 2 days ago and I’m already onto my second batch!!! It’s been so long since I’ve eaten anything that even remotely tastes AND feels like bread. I’m in heaven.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe.
Yay!! I am so glad you love the bread! I also live in a country with no gluten-free (and vegan) options, therefore I always experiment in my kitchen. 😀
Thank you for your feedback. 🙂