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 (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
Jackie
Hi Ela!!!
Thanks for this recipe.
After lots of failures with baking bread I found your recipe.!!!
I even bought the bread machine because I absolutely need to do my own bread, for health issues I cannot eat gluten, dairies, corn and lots of other things, so your recipe is perfect for me.
When I took it out of the oven it was a bit humid when I cut it so I decided to put it back in the oven!!!! It came out a bit better after 19 minutes, but I think I needed to knead a bit more.
I followed your exact recipe, but I think next time I will change chickpea fir quinoa as it has a strong flavor.
I would like to add cinnamon, how much would you suggest? I will also add nuts. You think it could be ok?
Thanks a lot!!!
Ah! I weighed all ingredients and the psyllium (90) grams was much more than 3 tbsp. Is that ok?
Thanks ????
Greetings from Italy!!!
Ela
Hi Jackie, I am so glad it was a success! You made a mistake for the psyllium though. It’s just 30 grams in total (3 tablespoons psyllium = 30 grams. 🙂
I would add 1/2 to 1 tbsp of cinnamon and yes, you can definitely add nuts of choice. Hope this helps. 🙂
NB
Tried this recipe today.
Tres bien! Magnifique!!
The best gluten free vegan bread I have baked – good flavour, moist, fluffy…..
Thank you for the recipe. Much appreciated.
May you be blessed with many more great recipe ideas.
Ela
Thank you so much for your lovely feedback, I appreciate it. 🙂
Carlotta Bellucci
Hi!
Just made the gluten free bread, loved the flavor. But it didn’t rise as yours, and it’s very moist especially at the bottom. I wonder why this might be. Any advise for the next one?
Thank you!!
Ela
Hi! I would suggest kneading it longer and bake 5-10 minutes longer. 🙂
Michele
Hi, I had the same issue as Carlotta. I gave the bread an extra 10 minutes and it was still doughy at the bottom and didn’t rise much. I wonder if I had the temperature too low? You say bake at 180°C but I have a fan oven so I normally drop the temp by 20° to compensate for this so the bread was baked at 160°. Is the 180° for a fan oven or a standard one? Bread still tasted nice. Was my first attempt today! Will definitely be trying it again! Thank you for the recipe.
Ela
Hi Michele, I would say try 180 C next time. I have a gas oven. 🙂
Michele Mulligan
I put the oven at 180°C and it came out so much better! Also I swapped out the buckwheat for 100g oat flour and it worked fine. So great to have such a nice bread recipe. Thanks so much!
Ela
Yay, that’s awesome, Michele! Happy it worked. Thanks for reporting back. 🙂
Helen
I am pleased to report that the texture of this gluten free vegan bread was better than all the gluten free vegan breads I’ve ever attempted. Anyone who has attempted to make gluten free vegan bread knows that it seems like nothing short of.magic will get the texture right. I did use a scale to measure out the flours. While as noted, it is not exactly like a glutenous bread, this texture seems hearty enough to stand up to making a sandwich! I like hearty breads because I like to be able to pile my sandwiches up when I do make them. So far, I’ve only had some with my homemade vegan cheese toasted, but I will attempt a sandwich filled with a veggie burger and/or lots of veggies. Thank you for sharing your magic recipe!
Ela
You are very welcome, Helen! I am so glad you like it. 🙂
Dawn
Wow, this is amazing! Warm out the oven with peanut butter! I was worried my psyllium husk and rice didn’t grind into a fine enough powder but it turned out perfectly! I think my oven is extra hot, so I took it out a little early. It rose really well and hasn’t sunk at all. Delicious! Thank you.
Ela
I am so glad it turned out amazing! Thanks for your feedback, Dawn. 🙂
Mary
Hello,
I haven’t tried the recipe yet but am wondering how it would fare with spelt flour in place of chick pea. I happen to have 25 lbs of it and am now really limited in what breads I can make because of a newly discovered yeast allergy. Any thoughts?
Ela
Hi Mary, someone commented that spelt flour didn’t work very well in this recipe. The bread did rise nicely but it was still a bit “wet” inside. Maybe because of the gluten. You could give it a try and just leave it for a bit longer in the oven. 🙂
Wojtek
Brilliant recipe, made it for the first time and it came out as intended.
Thank you Ela
Ela
Awesome! I am so glad you liked it. Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
Suzy
Hello, first of all i’d love to thanks you for the recipe. I really wanna try it, but in my place i have no chances to find or buy online this gluten free buckwheat flour and chikpea flour is also a complicated process. Do u think i can use rice, tapioca and oatmel flour instead?
Thanks in advance.
Ela
Hello Suzy! Some people had success with oat flour instead of buckwheat flour. Instead of chickpea flour, you could also grind up lentils in a high-speed blender and use that. I hope this helps. 🙂
Andi
Hi Ela!
Second time trying to make your bread for my family. My mom wasn’t a big fan of the buckwheat flavour itself so we are trying it with oat this time. Do you think if I added a bit of honey for sweetness it would be alright?
Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks
Ela
Hello Andi! You can add any liquid sweetener if you like. 🙂
Carlotta Bellucci
Goodmorning I want to try to make this amazing recipe, I was wonder how I could use yeast instead of the baking powder, and if whole rice flour can be the substitute of the regular one. As well I was wondering if I could use different kinds of seeds and increase the quantity.
Thank you vey much!
Ela
Hi Carlotta! I never made this bread with yeast, because it works so well without it. Whole rice flour (brown rice flour) should work fine. Yes, you can definitely use other seeds of choice and increase the quantity. 🙂
Cherie
Awesome bread! Was so surprised to see how much it had risen. Excited to try different flavor adds like minced cooked garlic and Italian spice maybe even vegan parmesan cheese. Thanks again for your experimenting and sharing great results.????
Roya tarani
Thanks. That is my favorite. I am vegan.
Ela
That’s awesome! 🙂
Ela
I am so glad you are happy with the bread! Thanks so much for your great feedback Cherie. 🙂
Cathy
I made this for the first time tonight. It was wonderful!! What’s the eat way to freeze it?
Ela
Hi Cathy! I would add the individual slices to freezer bags (add wax paper between the slices) and freeze for up to 3 months. 🙂
Pippa
Hi
Can I make this in a bread maker?
Ela
Probably yes, but I never tried it since I do not have a bread maker. Please report back if you give it a try. 🙂
CarlyB
Hi Pippa,
How did it go in the bread maker? I am keen to give this a crack 🙂
Mo
Amazing recipe. First gluten free bread winner Recipe for me. Lots of failures previously. First time using psyllium husk powder for me too. Trying your pizza base next ????
Ela
That’s awesome! I am so glad you enjoyed the bread. Thanks for your great feedback Mo! 🙂
Nathalie
Made your bread for the first time today… Great texture! I don’t like the taste though…
Any idea where the taste comes from and If I can use another combination so I have a natural bread flavor?
Thanks
Ela
It might be the buckwheat flour or the psyllium husk. Try using a different brand and make sure it’s fresh (I always store it in the fridge). 🙂
Franky
Hi Ela
Thankyou so much for sharing your fantastic recipe. My first try came out golden crusty on the outside and a bit dense and undercooked on the inside. But tastes fantastic. Family loved it. I used coconut flour instead of rice flour & arrow root instead of tapioca. The coconut flour has a lovely sweet taste. Do you know why the coconut flour wouldnt work? I ‘m assuming the bread came out dense because of the coconut flour? Will try tigernut next time and knead for longer. Im thinking my oven wasnt preheated long enough & some deep cuts in the bread would have helped the middle to cook more evenly?
Ela
Hi Franky, I never tried this recipe with coconut flour. It’s a very “tricky” flour and normally cannot be substituted with other flours because it’s so absorbing.
Definitely, knead it longer next time and preheat your oven for about 15 minutes. Also, the deep cuts will help. 🙂
Jenny
Hey Ela,
Do you think it is possible to cook this without an oven?
Ela
Hey Jenny, I don’t think that would work.
Ashley
I love this recipe, thank you so much!
I found it hard to slice it thin enough for my liking the first time I made it (all my knifes and my skilll, NOT the recipe) so I made buns/rolls. EVEN BETTER!
Ela
So happy you love it, Ashley. Buns/rolls sound awesome too! Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
Preeti Rathod
I made this bread yesterday with just replacing chick pea flour to quinoa as it was mentioned in some of the above comments,
But my bread was too heavy & bit dense.
Can we use butch oven method for this bread. Also what could have went wrong, time was 55 min tem was 180 as my oven don’t have 177 .
Ela
Hi, I never tried the “dutch oven method”. Did you knead the dough long enough? Maybe leave it in the oven for a full 60 minutes next time.
Soetkin
I was looking for a yeast free gluten free bread recipe and decided to try this one, as I love how it looks artisanal, crisp & fluffy at the same time, healthy and utterly delicious.????
I wasn’t disappointed. Perfect result straight up at first go. The flavour will take a bit of getting used to when eating on its own, but is not an issue with sweet or savoury toppings. Love it! ????
My flatmate loves it too and has already requested baking this be a regular occurrence!
No more yukky store bought gluten free bread that’s only ok when toasted in this household, that’s for sure! ????
I’ll be spending some time in the kitchen trying your other recipes – healthy ferrero rocher : yes, please!
So glad I discovered you & your wonderful recipes! Keep ‘m coming! ????????
Ela
Aww, thanks for your lovely feedback! I am so glad you love the bread. Enjoy it! 🙂
Chitrupi
Hello Ella!
This recipe really looks like a saviour! I happen to have a lot of buckwheat flour and psyllium husk, both of which I forget even exists in my pantry…
What can I use in place of tapioca flour and chickpea flour for similar results? Also, can I make this bread with a combination of buckwheat and wheat/all-purpose flour?
Looking forward to baking this one soon!
Ela
Hello, you can use lentil flour (ground lentils) instead of chickpea flour. And cornstarch can be used instead of tapioca flour. Not sure about wheat flour. 🙂
Kristina
Great recipe I made it for the second time tonight, turn out so good with a great crust. Thank you for this fantastic bread
Ela
Great! I am so happy you love it, Kristina. Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
Tere
I just made it, with some modifications (because in my country is difficult to find all these flours), I used tapioca flour and rice flour, with cornstarch. It is really great, I am in love with this recipe, I want to try adding some extra flavors. It was difficult for me to identify when the bread is ready.
Ela
I am glad it turned out fine! 🙂
Mimijona
So happy I found your recipe! I’ve been gluten free for a few years now, but I never missed bread. My mom on the other hand kept eating bread regardless of antibodies to flours in her blood because she didn’t have GI symptoms. But recently she decided to work on her health again, but she misses bread so much! She really liked this recipe because it was cooked through on the inside while not being too dry. And I love the recipe because it was really quick to make with no yeast as I am trying to find out if it bothers my stomach or not.
I used ground up red lentils instead of chickpea flour, added some kombucha to part of the water and 2 spoons of sunflower butter just because. It came out wonderful!
Ela
That’s awesome! I am so glad it came out great. Adding kombucha and using ground-up red lentils is an incredible idea. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
fumofu
I just made this using buckwheat, lentil and chickpea flour. It was SO good! I also divided the dough into 6 and shaped them into buns that went with sausages tonight. Very yummy! It was a special treat for my grain-free kid and he thoroughly enjoyed them.
Ela
That’s awesome! I am glad you enjoyed the buns. 🙂
Alyssa
Hi ella that bread looks amazing!! I’m just wondering would this recipe work in a bread maker?
Ela
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. ????