This Artisan Gluten Free Bread recipe is soft and chewy on the inside with a nice crusty exterior. 100% whole grain and made without starches, eggs, or dairy!
Meet the crowning achievement of my 6+ years of blogging: Artisan Gluten Free Bread.
It is richly browned and crusty on the outside. The interior is soft and fluffy with a great chew. It has a sweet and nutty, whole wheat-like flavor. And when it’s baking, the whole house is filled with the warm smell of fresh yeast.
It’s the perfect compliment for any meal, soup, sandwich, or toast. Ready to top with nut butter or avocado and perfect for sopping up rich sauces.
If you miss baking bread or miss the taste of a good artisan loaf, this one is for you.
Reasons to love this recipe:
- This bread is made with 100% whole grains! It’s the only gluten free loaf I’ve ever found that doesn’t use starches or refined flours.
- It’s also gum free. See ya later xanthan gum!
- It has the taste and texture of regular bread!
- Required only 7 ingredients and minutes of hands on time.
- It’s vegan! No eggs or dairy to be found.
Ingredients you’ll need:
- Sorghum flour
- Brown rice flour
- Oat flour
- Quinoa flour
- Warm water – between 105 and 110 degreed fahrenheit. I like to use this digital thermometer to make sure I get the temperature right.
- Maple syrup or honey – use maple syrup for vegans
- Active dry yeast – I buy it in bulk and store it in my freezer
- Psyllium husks – in their whole form, not powder. They give the bread an incredible texture and chew.
- Chia seeds – ground into a powder in a spice grinder
How do you make gluten free bread?
There are 3 basic steps in this recipe: mix, rise, and bake.
First, mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. I usually mix them together right in my stand mixer.
Then, stir together the warm water, yeast, and honey or maple syrup. Set this aside for 10 minutes. The yeast should get frothy. Stir in the psyllium husks and set aside for another 5. They will thicken and create a gel-like consistancy.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix on medium speed until combined. Shape the dough into a ball, place in an oiled bowl and let rise for 1 hour.
Once risen, kneed the dough, form into a ball again, and place it back into the bowl. Let rise for another 45 minutes.
Gently tip the dough onto a sheet pan and bake for 70 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy!
FAQs:
What are psyllium husks?
Psyllium husks are the husk from the plant Plantago ovata’s seeds. It is a whole food and is most commonly know for it’s use as a fiber supplement. But is also has incredible applications in gluten free baking! When added to water, psyllium becomes a thick gel. So, it takes the place of gluten and helps to bind the bread together, give it elasticity, and chew while preventing it from becoming crumbly.
Can I substitute any ingredients?
Short answer: no.
The flour, water, yeast, and psyllium ratios are set in stone. Each flour in the recipe has a different absorbency rate. Meaning, each flour absorbs more or less water. Substituting one flour for another would break this perfect ratio and result in a loaf that is either dense and hard or gummy and soft.
The one ingredient that you can safely swap is the maple syrup of honey for any other liquid sweetener of your choice.
What if I don’t have a baking stone?
That’s okay! Proceed with the recipe without it. The baking stone sits on the lower rack of the oven. It retains heat and helps to maintain an even oven temperature. Using it does produce a slightly better loaf, but the bread is still delicious without it.
If you’re looking to purchase one, I like this affordable option.
Should I use a scale to measure ingredients?
If you can, YES! This creates the best and most consistent result. However, cup measurements are included if you don’t have a scale.
This is the scale I use. It is super reliable and you can’t beat the price!
What if I don’t have a stand mixer?
If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can still make this recipe. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. When you add in the liquid, stir it together with your hands, kneading as necessary to fully incorporate all the flour into the dough.
More gluten free bread recipes to try:
Artisan Gluten Free Bread
- Cook Time: 180 minutes
- Total Time: 180 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves 1x
- Category: Sides
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Artisan Gluten Free Bread recipe is soft and chewy on the inside with a nice crusty exterior. 100% whole grain and made without starches, eggs, or dairy!
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 125 grams (1 cup) gluten free brown rice flour
- 130 grams (1 cup) gluten free sorghum flour
- 90 grams (1 cup) gluten-free oat flour
- 75 grams (1/2 cup) gluten free quinoa flour
- 6 grams (1 teaspoon) sea salt
Wet ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups warm water, between 105 and 110 degrees
- 10 grams (1 tablespoon) active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup OR honey
- 20 grams (1/4 cup) psyllium husks
- 52 grams (1/3 cup) chia seeds
Instructions
- Place the chia seeds in a spice grinder and grind into a fine powder. Set aside.
- Whisk together all of the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment.
- In a bowl, whisk together the water, yeast, and maple syrup. Let sit for 10 minutes. The mixture should be frothy and smell of warm yeast. (If the mixture is not frothy, the yeast is expired and the bread will not rise. It is best to start over with a new batch of yeast.)
- Whisk in the psyllium husks and chia seed powder, making sure there are no clumps. Allow this mixture to sit for 5 minutes, until thick.
- Add in the wet mixture to the dry. Mix on medium speed until well incorporated and the dough forms a loose ball.
- Remove the dough from the mixer and kneed a few times on an oiled surface. The dough is very sticky, so you might find it helpful to oil your hands, too. Form the dough into a ball by tucking the sides underneath until it is round. Place in an oiled bowl, seam side down.
- Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm, even temperatures place for 45 minutes to an hour. The dough should double in size.
- Once the dough has risen, kneed a few times on an oiled surface. Once again, form the dough into a round ball by tucking the edges underneath. Return to the bowl, this time seam side up. Let rise for 30-45 minutes, or until the dough has doubled in size.
- While the dough is rising, place a baking stone on the lower middle oven rack. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. You want to let the oven preheat during the entire second rise. This ensures that the oven is at an even temperature when baking the loaves.
- After the second rise, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Carefully tip the bread out onto the baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, make a few shallow cuts in the top of the bread. Bake or 70 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the bread cool completely on a wire rack, several hours, before slicing.
- Bread stores well on the counter, wrapped in a towel for 3 days. You can also slice and freeze the bread for up to 3 months. Toast the slices from frozen.
Notes
The oat flour can either be purchased at a health food store or made by grinding gluten-free rolled oats in a blender until a fine flour forms.
If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can still make this recipe. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. When you add in the liquid, stir it together with your hands, kneading as necessary to fully incorporate all the flour into the dough.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 loaf (1/8th total recipe)
- Calories: 250
- Sugar: 5g
- Sodium: 290mg
- Fat: 8g
- Saturated Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 53g
- Fiber: 24g
- Protein: 5g
Keywords: dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, no nightshades, nut-free, soy-free, vegan, vegetarian, oat, sorghum, brown rice, quinoa
This is the absolutely the best gluten free bread I have ever eaten! Thank you for letting me be a taste tester. I am so glad to finally get the recipe so I can bake this for myself.
I am SO thankful that you were my taste tester!
If you ever get to the point that you can tolerate potatoes, then you could use potato water in your bread. The bread will last longer that way. A natural preservative. Good luck!
Thank you, Karen! I’ll have to give that a try :)
Hi, I have tried making this bread several times and each time my dough did not rise (leaving the bread quite dense). I tried following each step quite closely- don’t know what I an doing wrong. Help!
Hi Farzana! I am sorry you are having trouble! The bread definitely isn’t light and airy, it’s more of a dense whole grain loaf but I am happy to help track down what could be causing you the problem! Are you using the same exact flour combination? What type of yeast are you using? Are you baking at a high altitude?
Hi Lauren, thank you for responding, sorry I did not see it and did to reply back. Since August I have been making this bread and it has turned out perfectly. Since last month, I have changed my oven from an electric one to a gas one. Since then, my bread rises beautifully but is hollow inside and gummy and dense in the bottom. I revisited your blog again and you mention a baking stone. What is its role?
Hi Farzana, I am glad that you had success for so long, but am sad to hear otherwise! Bummer! My guess is that your new oven bakes at a warmer temperature than your old oven. A hot oven would make the bread rise faster, but cause the middle to be underdone. Even though you are preheating to the same temperature as you did with your old oven, ovens can vary a surprising amount in actual internal temperature. I would get an oven thermometer like this one, and preheat the oven and then see what the actual internal temperature is. Once you know how much your oven varies from the temperature on the recipe, you can adjust accordingly.
Baking stones can help to regulate the temperature of the oven, and help to give the bread a better bottom crust, but I would bet your problem is the oven temperature. The baking stone wouldn’t vary the results that much, and especially not if you were having success without it before. Let me know how it goes for you!
Stumbled across this while searching for gluten-free, starch free, egg free, baking powder free……wondering if that is possible… bread! This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it.
Hi Ginger, I am so glad you like it :) When I realized that I could eat fresh bread again, I was in seventh heaven. Please let me know how it turns out for you! I have helped a few people perfect the recipe at different altitudes and with different oven temperatures. So if you need any assistance, just give me a holler!
Thanks! I have everything now to make it. (Except the baking stone ). I plan to try it very soon. Does it work on a cookie sheet? Have you tried it in a loaf pan?
I have made it on a baking sheet with okay results, but it didn’t turn out well in a loaf pan. Happy baking!
This bread looks amazing! I’ve been looking so long for a gluten free bread that has oat flour (I LOVE oat flour) but no starch. Would it be possible to make this in a bread pan for sandwich bread?
Hi Clara, I can’t say I had great success in a loaf pan, but I will sometimes shape the dough into a square log instead of two rounds for sandwich bread! Nothing beats a good sandwich :) Oat flour is absolutely my favorite!
Hello, I am allergic to gluten AND quinoa. Based on your experiments do you think this recipe would still work well without the quinoa flour, and is there one of the others flours you’d recommend bulking up as a substitute?
Hi Ana, Being intolerant to so many things myself, I so wish I had an easy fix for you! I am afraid that the quinoa flour plays a big role in this bread. It is a highly absorbent flour and without it, the moisture level will be thrown off. Have you ever heard of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day? They have come out with a gluten-free version of their book and posted their main bread recipe online. I just double checked that it was free of quinoa flour. It might be worth a try! I have made it many times, and can vouch for how good it is. Here is the link: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2014/11/03/master-recipe-from-gluten-free-abin5
Happy baking!
Laurel
I just mixed up the dough for this bread and I need some clarification about the chia seeds. The recipe states “1/3 cup chia seeds, ground into a powder.” So, I took 1/3 cup chia seeds, ground them into a powder, and added all of it to the recipe. (I didn’t measure, but the powder that resulted was significantly more than 1/3 cup.) When whisked in with the remaining wet ingredients it seized up immediately, and when I then added that to the dry ingredients the result was unmixable. I ended up adding an additional cup of water, and it was still quite stiff. It’s rising now, so I don’t yet know how it will turn out, but I am wondering now if what you meant was “1/3 cup ground chia seed powder” rather than “1/3 cup chia seed, ground to a powder.” That little comma changes the meaning and, obviously, the results. Remember: Punctuation saves lives! (“Let’s eat, Grandma” vs. “Let’s eat Grandma.”) So, please tell me which it is — 1/3 cup ground chia seed powder, or 1/3 cup chia seed, ground to a powder. Thank you!!!
Hi Anna, Yes, the recipe should read: 1/3 cup chia seeds, ground into a powder. You want to measure out 1/3 cup of whole chia seeds and then grind them into a very fine powder with a coffee grinder. This can result in more than 1/3 cup. The mixture should thicken up, and be a gel like consistency, though it should take about 5 minutes to do so. It is a dough that hard to mix, that is why I recommend only using a KitchenAid or other stand (not hand) mixer for this recipe. The thickness of the dough really helps to give the gluten-free bread its structure.
Were your psyllium husks a fine powder or in their whole form? For this recipe, they should be in there whole form and not the powdered variety. This makes a huge difference in the thickness of the mixture. I tested the recipe both ways and powdered psyllium husks do not work. They create a similar problem to what you are describing. I would check your psyllium husk package to see which type you are using.
If all your ingredients are correct, I would recommend you power through with the recipe as written and resist adding in any extra water. It is a thick dough, but that is what gives it structure and allows it to keep its shape while baking. Gluten-free baking is quite touchy and adding in extra ingredients can really throw it off and create an inedible loaf. If you continue to have problems you can always email me at catchingseeds@gmail.com.
I do hope this recipe ends up working out for you! It is one of my favorites. Happy baking! :)
Laurel
Hi Laurel. I’ve been looking for a brown rice and chia recipe, and came across your site. I would like to make this recipe but I don’t do well with sorghum. Do you think the recipe would work well if I eliminated it and used an extra 1/2 cup each of brown rice and oat flour, or a cup and a half of quinoa flour? I realize you may not know, and I am willing to try it regardless. But I thought I would see if you had an opinion on it first. And, I would prefer not to use as much yeast; do you think this would respond well to a slow rise method, such as in a “no knead glutenous bread”, where the bread would rise between 12-24 hours, with only 1/4 tsp of yeast?
Any input would be appreciated. Thank you!!
Hi Anita! Sorry for my delayed response. I was out in the boonies of Montana without an internet connection for Thanksgiving. I think that substituting the sorghum for brown rice and oat flour would work the best. Quinoa flour is a highly absorbent flour and would soak up too much of the liquid and make the bread dense and dry. The recipe does call for a lot of yeast, partially because without it, gluten-free bread is so dense. I have had a few gluten-free bread recipes that use the slow rise method, but I wouldn’t know if it would work with this loaf. I would hate for you to try it and waste all the ingredients if it didn’t work out. I often make bread from the book Gluten Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. They are all slow rise breads and many of the recipes are vegan. Honestly, I make their bread more that I do my own recipe. If you wanted to try their bread without buying the book, I found that they have one recipe for free online! If you do tinker with my recipe, let me know how it turns out! Happy baking :) – Laurel
I can’t rave enough about this bread recipe!!!!!!! It is FANTASTIC!!!! My kids love it too, it has become a daily staple. Thankbyou for your fabulous work!!!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for your kind words, Carol! I am so happy that your family is loving this recipe!
Hi,
I’m allergic to psyllium husk, but I’m really attracted to this recipe. Could I subsitute with flax?
Hi Jojo, I don’t think so. The psyllium husk is essential in getting the bread to hold together and have the correct texture. I also love the book Gluten Free Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day for baking bread. I know their recipes are free of psyllium husk! I would feel better pointing you in the direction of a bread that I know will work for you rather than having you experiment with this loaf and potentially have to scrap the recipe – gluten free flours can be expensive! Happy Baking!
This was absolutely delicious, Laurel! Thank you so much for all your trial and error, and for graciously sharing it! Being a Vegan 8 groupie :) I’m used to measuring everything in grams instead of cups so I wasn’t sure which method you used when making this recipe. I decided to use grams since every flour in your recipe calls for different grams in a cup and it worked out great. I made 2 baguettes and will try circular loaves next time. I sprinkled sesame seeds on top and think you could use sunflower or pine nuts and it would be equally as fabulous. The one thing I wondered is how you easily transfer the loaves from the counter to the hot stone. Even though they’re on parchment they’re heavy and although I had them on a metal pan it was hard sliding the parchment and loaves in a hot oven. I figured you might have a trick I didn’t think of. Thanks again Laurel!!
★★★★★
Hi Colleen! I am so glad you are enjoying the recipe! Since you have a scale, I think grams are the way to go :) I actually use a pizza peel (like this one) to slide it onto the stone. I spread some course grind cornmeal onto the pizza peel so that the bread slides off easily and then place the loaf right on top of the cornmeal. I touch the edge of the peel to the baking stone and give it a good shake to slide it off. It’s definitely the easiest method I have found. And I will definitely be trying the pine nuts! That sounds absolutely delicious!
Can I use this bread to make sandwich and can we fry it to make potato bread roll?
Hi Macro, I am not sure what a potato bread roll is so I can’t say without more information. As far as sandwiches go, yes! It makes delicious sandwiches. The bread is a bit smaller (as with all gluten free bread) so I often like to enjoy the sandwiches open faced. Happy cooking :)
Laurel, I’m very excited to try this recipe, but am living in a country where the flours aren’t available. Can they all be ground in my blender the way the oats can?
Hi Don, Great question! To my knowledge, yes. I haven’t tested this out myself, but as long as the grains are ground down to a fine flour they should work in the recipe. Happy baking!
Thank you, Laurel! I’ll be trying this soon.
Thank you, Laurel, for this wonderful recipe!
I’ve made it twice now, and a success both times. Flavor and texture are both excellent. Both times both loaves vanished in record time, and I cook for a picky eater.
This is one of only two wheat-free bread recipes I’ve been able to find that aren’t at least 30-60% refined starch. Congratulations on your achievement!
One minor problem with my loaves: the boules spread out flatter than yours, so they look like enormous cookies. I found this dough bakes well in 5×9 bread pans, and that makes a more practical shape.
Perhaps next time I’ll use a little less water, or replace some with egg. I’m in the mountains at 5000 ft elevation, so I increased the temp to 400f and still wound up baking for 75-85 minutes.
All the flours were ground in my blender. My only substitution was brown rice for white.
★★★★★
Hi Don, I am so glad to hear you are enjoying this recipe! It tends to vanish quickly around my house, too :)
The bread pan sounds like a great fix! My thought is that possibly the blender ground flours are a bit larger in size than milled flour. Because they have less surface area they might not be absorbing as much liquid. Quinoa flour happens to be especially good at absorbing water, so you could try increasing that a few tablespoons at a time and see if that helps solve the problem.
I also think tinkering around with the water content and addition of egg could be great fixes too :)
Please keep me posted on your progress if you have the chance! I would enjoy hearing how the changes work at elevation.
Thank you again, Laurel!
I increased the quinoa flour to 3/4 c, and my boule looked like yours, higher and less wide. I strongly suspect you’re right about my homemade flour being coarser than yours and imbibing less.
Before that change, my dough reminded me of the terrible special effects in the classic 1958 “horror” film “The Blob”.
some notes:
1) I mixed everything by hand, using a large spoon. It wasn’t difficult. Perhaps my dough still could stand to be stiffer.
2) I formed the loaves in the metal loaf pan for one, and on a pyrex pie plate for the other, before the second rise. I just used oil on the pans and no parchment paper. I had no trouble with sticking.
3) I used an inverted 12″ cast iron skillet as a baking stone for one loaf. It didn’t seem to make a difference.
I will continue to tinker with this recipe, but as it is it’s the best bread I can eat.
Thanks again, Laurel, for the key to this wonderful bread!
Don
Hi Don! I am so glad to hear the bread is looking better! I love, love the tip to swap out the baking stone for a cast iron skillet. Genius!
I can’t wait to make this. What can I substitute for the oil? I’m interested in a fat free option. Could apple sauce work?
Hi Erica, I think that would be the best swap! I haven’t tested it myself, and gluten free bread is finicky, but I do think it would work with applesauce substituted for the oil :) Let me know how it turns out!
Hi Laurel!
What would modifications be, if any, for baking at 5000 ft elevation? Also, I do not have a Stand Mixer…could I use a Hand Mixer or just my hands… and still have a successful loaf?
Thank you! Looking forward to giving this a go
Hi Mary! Great questions – I have to admit I am not sure as I have never tested this bread at altitude. I would stick with any changes you regularly make when baking. For the mixer, I would go with just your hands! Hand mixers tend to be too weak to tackle this dough – even the best ones, but I have heard from some others who have made this recipe that with a little elbow grease, the loaf turns out great! Happy baking!
Do you think I could replace the dry ingredients with Premium Gold gluten free ancient grains flour–since I just bought a 5 lb bag of it? There is no recipe for baking bread with it. It contains rice flour, quinoa flour, ground flax, buckwheat flour, amaranth flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, and xantham gum. If not, I would like to use your recipe, but I am allergic to sorghum flour. Could I use another flour or combination of flours such as soy, garbanzo, buckwheat, rye instead? Or could I replace just the sorghum flour with the PG flour?
iam
Hi Jill, great question! Substitutes in GF baking can be tricky since each flour has a different role to play in the recipe. I think your best bet would be to replace just the sorghum with the blend. Since you are substituting a smaller amount of the total flours, you’d have a better chance of the bred turning out. Happy baking!
Hi Laurel. I am looking forward to trying this recipe. You mentioned you used a spice grinder to grind the chia seeds. May I inquire as to what brand you use? The items I have viewed on Amazon frequently state they don’t work well for small seeds. Would like to order one I know will be successful!
Hi Sally! Great question. I wish I could link mine, but it is a really old model and is no longer being made. But, here are some that look really similar and have great reviews:
https://amzn.to/3emdZuJ
https://amzn.to/2ZxZfVm
Thanks Laurel! I’ll check these out.
I made the bread and the taste is amazing. It didn’t not rise very much but I’ve already ate about a quarter of one of the baguettes. lol
Would it be OK if next time I use rapid rise and add it to the dry ingredients? The yeast I used was the kind that you suggested and it was definitely not expired.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :-)
Thank you
★★★★★
Hi Flo, sometimes yeast can be tricky! I think the rapid rise would work just fine. You’ll want to “watch” for the bread to double in size with each rise and disregard the timing on the recipe as it was intended for active dry yeast. Let me know how it goes!
I’m looking forward to making this bread, however, no matter how much my daughter and I have tried, we can’t find the temperature to bake the bread in the recipe. Help! Thanks. Wonderful comments from people.
Laurel, I recently sent you an email saying that I could not find the temp. After reading the recipe for the 3rd time I found it. Can I use a blender or a food processor since I don’t have a stand up mixer? Thanks, Susie
Hi Susie, I apologize as I never saw an email hit my inbox. So sorry! I haven’t tried it either way so I can’t vouch for the results. This is a really sticky and “tough” dough, so I worry it would bog down a blender. A food processor would be your best bet.
The temp is added into the directions right when you should start preheating the oven. I worried adding it too early on would result in an oven that was heating all day.
This is a great gluten free vegan bread receipe! . I did a little subbing- almond flour instead of quinoa flour, buckwheat flour instead of oat flour, reduced the honey as found it a little sweet, but such an easy loaf to cut compared to usual gluten free bread and tasted wonderful. Think I have found our daily bread!
★★★★★
Oh- also subbed flax meal for ground chia seeds. – more affordable and similar nutritional profile. (greetings from Australia)
Hi Bronwyn! So glad to hear that you are enjoying the bread :) It’s definitely a favorite in our house!