Healthy Gluten-Free Seed Bread! No gluten, yeast or refined sugars and no kneading. It's packed with healthy seeds, oats, and nuts, has amazing texture, and is really delicious!
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You're going to love this filling, healthy, nutritious, and whole grain, one-bowl easy Gluten-Free Seed Bread. Every slice is loaded with fibre, protein, and healthy fats and the flavours and textures are amazing!
Ingredients
Here is what you need to make this gluten-free seed bread, along with some ingredients notes (for full details see the printable recipe card):
- Rolled oats (sometimes called old fashioned oats) - Use certified gluten-free oats if necessary.
- Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, & pecans - These add substance, texture, flavour, heartiness, and healthy fats. Use raw seeds and nuts and not salted or roasted. You can use any combination of nuts and seeds, and if you need the loaf to be nut-free replace the nuts with more sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds of choice.
- Ground flaxseed and whole chia seeds - To help bind all of the ingredients together. I love to use ground golden flax because it has the best flavour.
- Baking powder - This isn't a fluffy bread and it doesn't really rise much, but the baking powder does help with the texture.
- Maple syrup - This helps balance the flavours. You only need a little, so don't worry about the bread turning out sweet. You can use brown sugar or coconut sugar instead.
- Avocado or olive oil - These tasty fats add moisture and more healthy fats to the bread helping to keep it fresh for longer. I've included instructions on making this bread oil-free if that's more your style.
- Dairy-free milk - Any milk such as oat milk, almond milk, soy milk, or cashew milk. Just make sure it's unsweetened and unflavoured.
You will also need a 8.5 x 4.5 inch or a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
How To Make Gluten-Free Seed Bread
Can't wait to make it? Here's a quick rundown of how it's done (see the recipe card for the full and detailed version):
1 - Grease and line a loaf pan with parchment paper making sure there's some excess coming over each end. This will act as a handle to easily remove the bread once it's baked.
2 - Add half the oats to a food processor or blender and blend until they turn into a flour-like consistency. This step is really important. Don't just throw all of the oats in whole.
3 - Mix the dry ingredients together then add the wet to form a thick dough.
4 - Press into the pan, then let rest while the oven preheats.
5 - Place the pan on the middle rack in your oven and bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Success Tip
For the best results I recommend using a digital scale to weigh your ingredients for this recipe. Cups are not an accurate way to measure and it's very important for the ratios of this recipe to be correct or your bread could crumble when sliced.
Here is a closer look at the inside:
Serving Suggestions
Treat this seed bread as you would a regular slice of bread and slather on vegan butter or almond butter, make open-faced sandwiches, avocado toast, enjoy it with hummus and sliced tomato, vegan scrambled eggs, vegetable pate, jam, or serve it on the side of hearty soups like vegan potato soup.
Variations
Sweeten it up with a dash of cinnamon for some warmth and add some dried fruit like raisins, sultanas, cranberries or chopped dates in place of some of the nuts or seeds. Hazelnuts and almonds would also make a great substitute for the walnuts and pecans.
Tips For Storing
Keep the fully cooled bread in an airtight container or wrap tightly in plastic wrap or foil. Store at room temperature for 5 days or for a few days longer in the fridge.
To freeze, wrap the entire loaf or individual slices thoroughly. It can be safely frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight or leave it on your kitchen counter for a couple of hours.
Recipe FAQs
No problem! Instead of using all rolled oats, use 1 ¼ cup of store-bought oat flour and 1 ¼ cup of rolled oats. That way you can skip the blending of the oats. If you aren't gluten-free, you can use spelt flour instead of the oat flour if that's more convenient.
Yes. The nuts can be replaced with more seeds. You can even add some dried fruit for a sweeter bread. Just make sure the total amount of fruit and seeds is roughly the same.
Simply omit the oil completely to mak this gluten-free bread oil-free. I accidentally did that last time I made it and it was fine. The texture isn't quite as good and it doesn't colour as much when baking, but the difference is quite negligible.
Recipe
Gluten-Free Seed Bread
Author:Ingredients
- 2¼ cups (225 grams) rolled or old fashioned oats , divided (certified gluten-free if necessary)
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (84 grams) hulled pumpkin seeds
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (84 grams) hulled sunflower seeds
- 1¼ cups (125 grams) walnuts or pecans , chopped (or replace with more seeds for nut-free)
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (105 grams ) ground flaxseed , it MUST be ground not whole seeds
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon (60 grams) chia seeds
- 1½ teaspoons fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablesoons maple syrup , or brown/coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons avocado or olive oil , (or any other liquid oil). Omit for oil-free.
- 1¼ cup (300 mls) dairy-free milk , unsweetened & unflavoured
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Grease and line an 8.5 x 4.5 inch or a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Take roughly half the oats (eyeballing it is fine - it doesn't have to be exact), and put them in a food processor or blender. Process/blend until flour-like then tip into a large mixing bowl.
- To the mixing bowl with the ground oats, add all of the nuts and seeds, the whole oats, salt and baking powder. Mix to combine.
- Next add the maple syrup, oil and milk to the bowl. Stir it all up really well to form a thick batter, then spoon into the lined loaf pan. It's really important to pack/press it down really well.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F ( 175 °C). Let the loaf rest in the pan while the oven preheats. This step is important and gives the flax and chia time to gel. Don't skip it.
- Once the oven is at temperature bake the loaf on the middle shelf for about 60 minutes, or until a skewer, toothpick or sharp knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. If using a dark/black loaf pan it will cook a little quicker so check from 55 minutes. Don't worry if you see a crack or two. They will only be on the surface and your bread will hold together really well once cool.
- Leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes then gently remove and place on a cooling rack. Carefully remove the parchment paper then leave until completely cool before slicing or storing.
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A says
This bread is so wonderful and very forgiving no matter what seeds and nuts I use (at the correct weight, of course). It is my new favorite dinner -- a slice with almond butter and raisins. Thank you so much for sharing your invention.
By the way, for other oil-free folks, I just sub applesauce or part applesauce and part tahini and it's super.
One question: have you ever played with making it a flatbread? I like things toasted and am wondering about spreading this dough flat on a baking pan. I'm guessing that I should cook at a lower temperature. It's probably a long shot, but I was just wondering if you've ever done that or have advice.
If not, that's ok! The recipe is perfect as is. Thank you again!!!
Melanie McDonald says
So pleased you’re enjoying the recipe!
Making a thin flatbread type version is a great idea. I’ve never tried it but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work. I just looked up some seedy crackers type recipes online, and they all bake at 350 for about 45 mins so you should be able to keep the temp the same. You’ll just need to adjust the time if you don’t want it super crispy like crackers. Good luck!
A says
I actually baked it at 325 for about 50 minutes and it turned out perfectly.
Thank you again!
Melanie McDonald says
Glad it worked out well!
Maria Leon says
I love this bread. No matter what, it comes out delicious. I'm trying to make a bigger slice so I multiplied the ingredients by 0.5 but I haven't found the right oven temperature/ baking length ratio yet. My last one came out over done on the outside and a bit undone in the inside. Also I had to use more "milk" (even after the increase) to get all the ingredients wet enough. It was still delicious after putting the slices in the toaster for a little while.Today I am trying again with a lower temperature and longer time, let's see how it comes out.
Kelly says
I have been looking for a recipe like this ever since having it in Europe! ALSO, now that I am Gluten FREE ... it's amazing to eat bread again :)
Also, after trying the tip about adding the flax and chia seeds to the milk, my bread did not crumble! I also did add maybe 3/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum to the double recipe I made! Thank you!!! I love it !!
A great baker says
It would be helpful if Ingredient list should said ground oats instead of just rolled oats cos people check list when grocery shopping.I made the entire thing then I saw I wasted all the ingredients cos I only had rolled oats on hands
Melanie McDonald says
You don't need ground oats, you need rolled oats. The ingredients list is correct.
Amanda says
I'm excited to try this! Could psyllium husk be used in place of the ground flax? Thanks!
Melanie McDonald says
I've never tried it with psyllium husk.
Kristin says
Greetings from Oregon, USA! I made this last night and It. Is. Delicious! It is a little crumbly, but I probably could have ground the flax seed a bit more. Otherwise, it's amazing - especially with a bit of red raspberry jam. Thank you so much - I look forward to exploring your other recipes!
Melanie McDonald says
So pleased you enjoyed it Kristin!
Jenn says
I made this last night & although it is delicious, it completely crumbled apart. I used the correct ingredients & amounts, I double checked. I am wondering if it was because I used a glass loaf pan w parchment paper instead of metal? I baked for 65 min at 350 & let it cool completely overnight before attempting a slice as well.
Melanie McDonald says
That's a shame. Sorry that happened.
Glass doesn't bake as well as metal pans but it's unlikely to have made too much difference with this recipe. It's more of an issue with cakes and traditional bread recipes.
A few things that could have contributed:
Not packing it hard enough into the pan.
Overbaking it. All ovens are different.
Using a bigger pan. If it's a bigger one the bread won't be as deep and so will cook quicker and become dry if cooked for the length of time stated in the recipe.
Not using the chia seeds or ground flaxseed
Using whole flax instead of ground flaxseeds. It absolutely has to be ground.
Also really essential is the processing of half of the oats. If you don't do that it won't stay together.
Did you weigh the ingredients or use cups? Cups are a really inaccurate way of measuring and it's so easy to end up with too much of something. If that did happen the mixture could have been too dry which could make it crumble.
I hope that something there helps work out what might have happened.
Sarah says
This is an absolute winner! Since we've discovered it we make it every few days! There is one trick that I made since I also had some initial trouble with the crumbliness:
Soak the ground flax in the milk for about 5 minutes to thicken (think flax eggs).
Add the rest of the liquid ingredients to it.
From there mix it into the dry ingredients and do as the recipe suggests: pack it down and let it rest while the oven is heating. Cook 55 minutes and it makes perfect loaf after loaf. Thank you for this gem of a recipe!!
B says
Greetings from Latvia! ?? Thanks so much for this recipe, we loved it and have experimented with different seeds and nuts. It is very crumbly though, was wondering how to make it hold together more... Egg? ??♀️ Then it's not vegan anymore ?
A Virtual Vegan says
As long as you're using the ground flax and the chia seeds in the quantities given and measuring everything correctly it shouldn't be crumbly. The ground flax and chia hold it together really well and it should slice easily. If you have used anything else instead of the chia or ground flax (including whole flax instead of ground) then that will be the reason it's crumbly.
Simon Field says
Finally got around to making this, having had it mind since you drew attention to it a few months ago. It is excellent, especially good with a little lavender honey!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm so pleased you enjoyed it Simon. Thanks for coming back to leave a review!
Jill says
The seeds in this were so yummy I actually put a slice on my bird feeder and the birds loved it too! It was only once slice, we ate the rest! ?
A Virtual Vegan says
I was actually feeding the birds with this when I was testing the recipe because I ended up with way more than we could handle.
I'm really pleased you (and your birds) enjoyed it!
Patricia Giannelia says
Hi;
I haven't tried this yet, but if it is anything like your Pumpkin loaf, I expect awesome. I just wanted to comment on your oil choice - you suggest avocado or olive - is this because of flavour? I use very little oil in my baking and cooking, but when I do, I often use grapeseed oil, as it is virtually flavourless.
A Virtual Vegan says
In this case, it's purely because that's what I always have here and it's just habit to write them in the recipes. I just amended it to say or any other liquid oil of choice. Grapeseed oil will be fine!
I hope you enjoy the recipe when you get a chance to try it!
Belinda says
Amazing recipe. We loved it!
Mar says
Hi Mel the is no gluten free oats in my country. Can i sub for gluten free flour blend or another thing?
Thank you so much.
A Virtual Vegan says
I think a GF flour blend would be ok. Or perhaps almond flour/meal? I'd add some extra seeds, nuts or perhaps quinoa flakes or buckwheat to replace the whole oats that go in there as they are important for texture. Although I am pretty sure this will be ok I should point out that I haven't tested it like this so can't guarantee how it will turn out. This recipe is pretty forgiving though so it should be ok. Hope that helps and good luck!
Mar says
Thank you for the quick answer ?