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.
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.
This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission.
Serving Ideas: Top / Serve This Great Gluten-Free Flax Bread with:
- Homemade Nut or Seed Butter (and jam if you like)
- Savory 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 Easy Marinara Sauce. Great for dipping!
- Nothing! Just eat it plain! I can barely keep my son out of it so this 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 like Ener-G Egg Replacer. See my Homemade Powdered Egg Replacer. For a low-carb option use a flax, chia, or gelatin egg)
- 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!
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.
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 option use a flax, chia, 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 10×15 pan. To use 2 9×13 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 9×13 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!
Focaccia Flax Bread Recipe (gluten and yeast-free with grain-free and vegan options)
Ingredients
- 2 cups organic flax seed meal
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1-2 Tbsps xylitol (optional)
- 5 beaten eggs
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup organic coconut oil (melted - other healthy fats may be substituted)
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease pans (coconut oil works great!). See below for pan selection information.
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Mix dry ingredients well -- a whisk works well.
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Add wets to dries and combine well. If using eggs, make sure there aren't obvious strings of egg in the batter.
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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.)
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Spoon batter into pan and spread out.
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Bake for about 20 minutes, until it springs back when you touch the top and/or is visibly browned.
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Cool and cut into whatever size slices you want.
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
Juliet says
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!
Adrienne says
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!
Amber says
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.
Adrienne says
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/
Lily says
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!
Adrienne says
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!
Marguerite says
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.
Adrienne says
I hope you like it! I think I have linked to Sweetleaf in places. I like them as well!
Tievoli says
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!
Adrienne says
So glad you like it! It’s a big fave in our house as well!!
Barrie says
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?
Adrienne says
I do it all the time. The sweetener is very light and it’s great either way. Enjoy!