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Home » Focaccia Flax Bread ~ paleo with vegan option

Focaccia Flax Bread ~ paleo with vegan option

by Adrienne 207 Comments Published December 15, 2010 Updated: May 16, 2020

This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission. Learn more in our disclosure.
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focaccia flax bread on a wooden cutting board with olive oil dipping sauce

This Focaccia Flax Bread Recipe is one of our favorite recipes of all times. It tastes great with sweet or savory filling and freezes well too, plus it's easily adaptable for vegan diets.

This Focaccia Flax Bread Recipe whips up super fast and tastes great with both sweet and savory fillings. Plus it's grain-free too and freezes great! Perfect for dipping or sandwiches!

If you're on either a gluten-free diet or a grain-free, low-carb, or paleo diet and you miss bread, this Flax Bread Recipe is just what you have been waiting for.

It's grain free and even vegan (if need be) to boot and is one of our family's favorites. It's a very forgiving recipe that you won't even need my gluten-free baking tips for :).

And if you haven't heard about how healthy flax is, then read on.

Because this focaccia flax bread recipe is well--just great.

We've been eating flax seeds for years, but mainly in shakes and as a substitute for eggs in baking, but this bread is a great way to get the health benefits of flax into your family.

The Benefits of Flaxseed

Flax is high in:

  • omega-3 essential fatty acids
  • fiber
  • antioxidants

Sounds like a good idea to get you and your family to eat more of this wonderfood, right? Well here's how!

I've shared this Focaccia Flax Bread with a number of folks, and everyone has asked for the recipe. It has a nice deep flavor and pleasing texture. And it's a great bread alternative for those on gluten free diets.

Gluten free folks need to take great care not to load up on refined starches for those do damage to their already compromised digestive systems. Alternatives like this are pleasing both to the palate and also healthy for your body.

If you're not that familiar with flax seeds, there are two varieties--light and dark. The bread in the main photos here above was made with light seeds.

The light ones will (of course :-)) produce a lighter-colored bread, but from what I understand, there is no difference in nutritional value and we haven't found there to be a taste difference either.

The light (golden) flax seeds are more expensive, so save your money (unless, of course, you really need the lighter variety for some reason) and buy the dark variety. The resulting bread will look like what you can see pictured below.

Gluten Free Focaccia Flax Bread on white plate

Serving Ideas:  Top / Serve This Great Gluten-Free Flax Bread with:

  • Homemade Nut or Seed Butter (and jam if you like)
  • Savory Hummus, Pizza Hummus, or Olive Hummus
  • Homemade Egg-Free Mayo with cheese, veggies, shredded carrots, etc. Makes a great sandwich! (that's what is on the sandwich in the main photo)
  • Fried Egg and Cheese
  • This Creamy Roasted Tomato Soup
  • This Easy Marinara Sauce. Great for dipping!
  • Nothing! Just eat it plain! I seriously can barely keep my sons out of this, so plain is how it mainly gets eaten in our home.

What You Will Need for this Flax Bread Recipe

  • Flax Seed Meal
  • Baking Powder
  • Salt (I recommend Real Salt)
  • Healthy Sweetener (optional: sucanat or coconut sugar would be goo options. I use xylitol or stevia extract for a candida-friendly option)
  • Eggs (or equivalent alternative)
  • Water (use filtered water please)
  • Coconut Oil (other healthy fats may be substituted)

Notes on stevia:

You can use other sweeteners for this recipe, but in case you happen to use stevia, here are some tips for its use.

Stevia is super sweet so you only need a tad. I bought these (the links are affiliate links) scoops and use the 2nd smallest as “1 scoop”, or 1/32 of a tsp.

Yes, it’s THAT sweet!

Norpro Mini Measuring Spoons

Hope you love it as much as we do.

One more thing. If you need more information on stevia--like what it is and how to measure it, read this post here.

focaccia flax bread on wood cutting board with olive oil dipping sauce

Recipe Notes for Flax Bread

  • Sweeteners: Although xylitol is a good candida-friendly option for sweetener, stevia extract is as well. If using stevia, use 1 scoop. If candida is not an issue, organic sucanat or organic coconut sugar would be good options.
  • Egg Options: You can use an egg substitute like Ener-G Egg Replacer for the eggs. See my Homemade Powdered Egg Replacer for a make-your-own option. For a low-carb egg substitute use a flax egg, chia egg, or gelatin egg.
  • If you are able to eat eggs but are still not a big fan, using all five might be a bit much for you. You can try using 3-4 and substituting an egg alternative for the remaining eggs.
  • Flax Meal Info: 4 cups of flax seeds yield about 6 - 6 1/2 cups flax meal.  If you have extra after grinding, just store it in the fridge or freezer for adding to smoothies, etc.
  • THM: For those on the Trim Healthy Mama plan, this recipe fits in as an "S."
  • Paleo: Use the homemade version of baking powder linked to in the recipe card to make this recipe Paleo.
  • Whole30: Use my homemade baking powder, do not use powdered egg replacer as an egg substitute, and omit the xylitol to make this recipe friendly for Whole30.
  • Pan sizes and conversion info: One recipe will fit well in a 10x15 pan. To use 2 9x13 pans, make 1 1/2 recipes.
    3 recipes covers 2 large circular baking stones.
  • Baking in Bulk: If you really want to bake in bulk, make 4 1/2 recipes for 2 large size pizza stones and 2 9x13 pans (this is what I always do since we eat it up so quickly!)

Here are the measurements for 4 1/2 batches:

9 cups flax meal
4 1/2 T baking powder
22 eggs, or equivalent
4 1/2 tsp salt
4 1/2 T sweetener (using the lower measurement)
2 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 cups coconut oil

  • Baking Stones: The baking stones really make clean up easy and there is no greasing necessary. No need to grease and clean up is a snap!
This Focaccia Flax Bread Recipe whips up super fast and tastes great with both sweet and savory fillings. Plus it's grain-free too and freezes great! Perfect for dipping or sandwiches!

Focaccia Flax Bread Recipe (gluten and yeast-free with grain-free and vegan options)

This Gluten-Free Flax Bread Recipe is one of our favorites. It's a great kid-friendly paleo bread recipe. Tastes great with sweet or savory toppings and freezes well.
4.41 from 5 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Appetizer, Breads, Snack
Cuisine: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Keto, Low-Carb, Paleo, THM, Vegan, whole30
Keyword: flax bread
Servings: 12
Calories: 222kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flax seed meal
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1-2 Tbsps xylitol (optional--See Recipe Notes for alternatives))
  • 5 beaten eggs (see Recipe Notes for alternatives)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted - other healthy fats may be substituted)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease pans (coconut oil works great!). See below for pan selection information.
  • Mix dry ingredients well -- a whisk works well.
  • Add wets to dries and combine well. If using eggs, make sure there aren't obvious strings of egg in the batter.
  • Let batter set for 2 to 3 minutes to thicken up some (leave it too long and it gets past the point where it's easy to spread.)
  • Spoon batter into pan and spread out.
  • Bake for about 20 minutes, until it springs back when you touch the top and/or is visibly browned.
  • Cool and cut into whatever size slices you want.

Nutrition

Calories: 222kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 68mg | Sodium: 229mg | Potassium: 343mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 99IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 122mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @wholenewmom or tag #wholenewmom!
3.4.3177

Note also that this post is one of the first ones that I put on my blog. I realize now that this recipe is on numerous sites around the internet--some with variations and some without. I do not recall where this Flax Bread Recipe came from, but obviously there are a lot of people who love it as much as we do!

How about you?
What would you serve this bread with?

Source: Web Md

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About Adrienne

Adrienne Urban is the Founder and Owner of Whole New Mom. She has a background in research, journalism, insurance, employee benefits, financial markets, frugal living, and nutrition. Seeking a better life for herself and her family, she uses research and consults with many physicians and other practitioners to find solutions to the variety of issues they have dealt with including life-threatening food allergies and thyroid and adrenal concerns. WholeNewMom.com is the result of her experiences and knowledge gained throughout the process. Posts are reviewed and verified by the Whole New Mom team.

Next Post: Zesty Fat-Free Black Bean Dip - Our Family Favorite »

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    Recipe Rating




     

  1. Kim

    May 05, 2020 at 11:39 pm

    Could I substitute the liquid in this with mashed overripe bananas to make a sort of unconventional banana bread?

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      May 06, 2020 at 12:22 am

      ooh that is an interesting thought! I would LOVE to hear how it turns out. Please do try it!

      Reply
      • Kim

        June 13, 2020 at 6:00 pm

        I haven’t tried that yet, but I have made the recipe above twice now and it takes much longer to get done in my oven for some reason. I’m neither high elevation nor at sea level. I followed the recipe as exactly as I could except I did use less oil than called for. But it still has taken at least 40 minutes to cook both times I’ve made it. The first time I used Ener-G egg replacer and the second time I used chia eggs. I made 1.5 flax bread recipes both times on a 10x15 baking stone, but only used the recommended number of eggs for 1 recipe. Seems that I’m using less liquid than called for so I can’t figure out why it’s taking so long to bake. Still tastes great, don’t get me wrong, I just can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. ?????

        Reply
        • Adrienne

          June 13, 2020 at 11:28 pm

          How much less oil did you use?

          Reply
  2. Verria

    August 26, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    How much is a serving?

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      September 04, 2019 at 12:16 pm

      Hi there! Sorry for the delay--we had a lot going on here. The recipe information has been updated with serving sizes and nutritional information. Hope that helps!

      Reply
    • Adrienne

      September 04, 2019 at 12:16 pm

      Hi there - sorry for the delay--we had a lot going on. The recipe has been updated with serving and nutritional information. Hope that helps!

      Reply
  3. Beth

    June 28, 2019 at 7:32 pm

    Made this again without baking powder. 2 teaspoon sea salt,3 eggs nd grape seed oil. Taste really good . Thank you

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      June 28, 2019 at 8:04 pm

      Great! So glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply
  4. Jessica

    May 28, 2019 at 8:53 am

    5 stars
    Excellent bread. Flavorful, nourishing, and easy to make.

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      May 28, 2019 at 12:24 pm

      Glad to hear it - thank you for coming back to comment!

      Reply
  5. Courtenay

    May 23, 2019 at 2:10 pm

    Absolutely love - I just skip the sweetener and thinks it’s delicious, especially toasted. I’ve made it dozens of times now and I’m grateful to you for the recipe.

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      May 23, 2019 at 2:14 pm

      So glad you like it! I have actually never toasted it. Great idea!

      Reply
  6. Linda

    April 03, 2019 at 9:41 pm

    I can't find the sour dough recipe.

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      April 03, 2019 at 9:42 pm

      Hi there - this is a recipe for sourdough starter--there are a number of sourdough recipes in the post. Please let me know if you don't see them. Thanks for reading!

      Reply
    • Adrienne

      April 03, 2019 at 9:44 pm

      Oops I just realized that you were commenting on the Flax Bread post--I'm confused. Were you expecting a sourdough recipe here? Please let me know!

      Reply
  7. Vivian Guest

    April 01, 2019 at 3:05 pm

    I don’t see nutritional information carbs,fiber etc.

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      September 19, 2019 at 8:54 pm

      Hi there - sorry for the delay. It is all there now :). Hope you like it!

      Reply
  8. Leigh

    March 19, 2019 at 10:17 pm

    Just found this receipt. My 4 year old loves this. Used 3 eggs and some olives. Turned out great. Will try with golden seeds next time. Thank you so much all the way from Australia

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      March 20, 2019 at 9:41 pm

      The olives sound great! You are so welcome! I would LOVE to visit your country some day.

      Reply
  9. Cat

    January 26, 2019 at 1:05 am

    I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. This happens to varying degrees every time I use flax. First batch, I made half the recipe. Used a gelatin egg (agar agar). Spread it out fairly thin, but it still took an hour to cook, didn't rise. Turned out delicious, but more like a cracker than bread. Second time, made the whole recipe with the same (agar agar) eggs. Spread it out a little less thinly (this time on parchment paper). Didn't rise, didn't cook through, even after an hour - still very wet in the middle. I'm at 30' sea level, so that can't be the problem. I used 2 t cream of tartar and 1 t baking soda, which is a perfect substitute for baking powder. I'm so sad because the flaxseed was expensive, and I wasted 2/3 of it. I really love the nutritional value of this recipe, the low saturated fat content (I used algae oil) and the zero carb load. I want this to work!

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      January 26, 2019 at 1:57 pm

      Hmmm...it didn't rise at all? I'm confused--are you saying that you let it sit to rise? Thanks!

      Reply
      • Cat

        January 26, 2019 at 3:09 pm

        5 stars
        No, I thought it would rise a bit because of the leaveners. Yours looks thicker than my first batch. I didn't either batch sit either time, even to set, because after mixing it, the dough was pretty thick. However, it took some time to spread anyway, so I figured that was enough "sitting." Regardless, after 20 minutes all I got was the very "greasy mess" your friend predicted, even at 30' above sea level. So I tried cooking them longer. Next time, I'll try actual baking powder and see if that makes any difference at all. I don't know what else it could be otherwise. When I prep the agar egg, it's the consistency of actual egg, and binds the ingredients beautifully. But perhaps that ingredient's also a factor? I really need to stay away from saturated fat, hence avoiding eggs. Thanks for your reply, by the way - I know this is a very late conversation after your original post. I did love the cracker that the first batch turned into after an hour!

        Reply
        • Adrienne

          February 11, 2019 at 11:37 pm

          Hi there. My recipe does best for me w/ eggs or the powdered replacer. I haven't tried it w/ agar. With chia eggs, it is more flat. Any success since?

          Reply
          • Cat

            February 11, 2019 at 11:56 pm

            I haven't made a 3rd batch yet. The reason I don't eat eggs is that I'm pescatarian. If I decide to try again, I'll use the same agar egg and either eliminate most of the oil and use actual baking powder (aluminum free) instead of the cream of tartar and baking soda, or go back to what I did with my first batch, which turned into a giant cracker, rather than focaccia of any kind - but I loved it!

            Reply
            • Adrienne

              February 11, 2019 at 11:58 pm

              Could you use this instead? https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/energ-egg-substitute-egg-replacer-without-eggs/ It works great!

              Reply
          • Cat

            February 12, 2019 at 12:03 am

            No, I'm also Keto. The carbs, and starch, in the potato starch alone would kill me dead!

            Reply
            • Adrienne

              February 12, 2019 at 12:04 am

              Gotcha--I have made it w/ arrowroot only I think b/c I have read about health benefits of that but I understand! Hope it works out for you! I like meeting another flexible cook :)!

              Reply
  10. Juliet

    September 20, 2018 at 10:23 pm

    2 stars because I followed the recipe exactly but used vegetable oil instead (only oil I had in the house), same amount, and it was WAYYYY too oily I couldn’t even eat the bread. Will make it again tomorrow using just 1/2 tbs instead of 1/3 cup. Besides that I will stick to recipe. I’m gluten free and liked the flavor of the bread overall, though I will add more salt next time. Love the nutritional content of flaxseed so hoping it turns out alright next time!

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      September 27, 2018 at 5:57 am

      Hello Juliet - I am sorry for the delay in responding to you--I wanted to do some research into your results so I consulted with some allergy-free bakers and here is the response that I got:

      "Because eggs and flax are the only binders - and eggs can need emulsification, I would say there's a good chance she is baking at higher altitude (3000 ft or above). Recipes like this are much more finicky as the rise quicker and separate. The type of oil shouldn't matter mush (it's possible that the saturated fat behaves a smidge differently in baking, but I haven't found this), but I typically reduce the oil and add either more binder or just a touch more liquid. I don't know that I would reduce the leavener though as you don't use a lot. As a heads up, if someone tried to make this at higher altitude with the egg-free option (I read it), they would probably end up with a greasy mess that wouldn't set up. So like people in the mountain states."

      Otherwise they thought perhaps there was an error on your end that you weren't aware of. Can you tell me your thoughts? Thanks for reading!

      Reply
  11. Amber

    April 25, 2018 at 5:58 pm

    I made this yesterday. It had a very strong taste. Because of that I didn’t particularly like it. Could my flax seed have been old enough to cause that. If not what could I add to knock down the huge flax taste? Thank you.
    You have no idea how much I am using your site. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      April 25, 2018 at 6:24 pm

      Yes, old flax tastes icky - please try freshly ground flax that isn't old seeds. Thanks for the kind words! Glad to have you here. I have a new Healthy Living Community on FB that you might want to join :). https://www.facebook.com/groups/171490083677560/

      Reply
  12. Lily

    April 24, 2018 at 8:19 pm

    5 stars
    Well, this recipe just increased my family's quality of life. All joking aside, we've been really tired of our numerous dietary restrictions and this bread made us very happy. I was grateful when I tried your buckwheat galette recipe, but having both at my disposal just brings it to a new level. Thank you from my entire family. Just ate the second batch of bread, which turned out even better than the first, probably because I accidentally added more oil. The first one was also very good. I also had a zeroth try, which went in the garbage, because I dumped all of the ingredients into a blender, expecting to have a hard time mixing the ingredients, and wanting to save some of my energy. Only later I realized that as I dumped the ground flax seeds, the desiccant pack fell into the blender as well. Unfortunately all of those high quality organic ingredients went in the garbage as a result. I am wondering how much flax is healthy for adults and children, not wanting to overdose from this bread, LOL!

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      April 25, 2018 at 1:37 pm

      Hi Lily! So glad you like it as much as we do!

      So flax and health is something that people have a lot of varying opinions on. You would have to do your own research. Maybe I can do a post on it at some point. I think it depends on the person, just as with almost everything! So sorry about the dessicant! We've had that kind of thing happen to us as well!

      Reply
  13. Marguerite

    April 17, 2018 at 5:09 pm

    Thank you I will definitely try this as soon as I get the flax meal. I am curious that I have not seen you mention Sweetleaf Stevia. That is what I have been using for several years.

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      April 21, 2018 at 8:11 pm

      I hope you like it! I think I have linked to Sweetleaf in places. I like them as well!

      Reply
  14. Tievoli

    March 14, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    Thank you so much for this recipe! We battle Candida at my house and bread is our favorite thing- finding an exceptable recipe has been challenging( and expensive ) this is really good- totally satisfies our bread craving! One of the few gluten free recipes that turned out perfect the first time I made it.i went from preheating my oven to almond butter sandwich in an hour!

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      March 14, 2018 at 2:35 pm

      So glad you like it! It's a big fave in our house as well!!

      Reply
  15. Barrie

    March 13, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    I really prefer a bread that is not sweet so assuming that not adding a sweetener will still render me texture and quality without sweetness? Has anyone made this without sweetner?

    Reply
    • Adrienne

      March 13, 2018 at 12:33 pm

      I do it all the time. The sweetener is very light and it's great either way. Enjoy!

      Reply
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Hi there! I'm Adrienne, your Healthy Living Doesn't Have to Be Hard Guide! Here, you'll find basically everything you need to make healthy living doable--healthy & easy flexible recipes, tips for clean beauty and a natural home, essential oils, beginner gardening tips, and more. Learn more about me here.

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