This Gluten-Free Vegan Bread is nothing like other gluten-free breads I've tried: it's soft and bendy, crusty on the outside and pillowy on the inside! It's not dry or crumbly, hard or spongy or overly chewy. It's super easy to make, no-knead, yeast-free, oil-free, nut-free and contains no added sugar. There's no kneading required, no proving time needed, it's made in one bowl and requires just 15 minutes of prep time before baking! It's also filling and nutritious, and high in protein and fibre. It slices well and is perfect for toast and sandwiches!
Ingredients
- Chickpea flour – also known as gram flour, it's made ground up chickpeas. It's cheap, nutritious, protein-rich and seriously versatile. It gives the bread a subtle nutty flavour (but doesn't taste overwhelmingly of chickpeas, don't worry!) and creates a perfectly chewy texture.
- Rice flour – balances out the slightly heavier chickpea flour and keeps the bread light and fluffy.
- Tapioca flour – helps to bind the mixture together without gluten or eggs, and stops the bread from being dry or crumbly.
- Baking powder - acts as a raising agent instead of yeast.
- Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) - another raising agent.
- Apple cider vinegar - its acidity reacts with the alkali bicarbonate of soda to make a bubbly batter which keeps the bread soft. You can replace it with lemon juice.
- Water.
Yes - if you don't want to use chickpea flour, you can find similar recipes I've posted using different flours instead. You might want to check out my rice flour bread recipe, buckwheat flour bread recipe or almond flour bread recipe. Or browse the whole bread recipes collection!
Yes - if you don't have rice flour you can substitute it with an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend and leave out the tapioca.
I have also tried replacing the rice flour with buckwheat flour, and while the recipe worked, the texture was much heavier and it had a stronger flavour. I would definitely recommend rice flour over buckwheat flour for this reason!
Yes - as long as you replace the rice flour with all-purpose gluten-free flour blend.
No! The purpose of the tapioca is to bind it together so you don't need to add xanthan gum too. If you don't have tapioca, I wouldn't recommend replacing it with xanthan gum either - just use an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend in place of the rice flour.
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
- Transfer the batter into a one-pound loaf tin.
Tip: Line the tin with greased baking paper to make the bread easier to remove after.
- Bake in the oven for around 50 minutes.
- Transfer the loaf to a cooling rack to cool down on completely before packing away to store because otherwise the steam from the warm bread will get trapped and you'll end up with soggy bread, which nobody wants!
- It also needs to be left to cool completely before slicing.
Tips for making this recipe
- Make sure to use the right amount of baking powder – 4 teaspoons! This may seem like a lot, but you need to use this amount to ensure the bread turns out light and fluffy.
- The apple cider vinegar is crucial as its acidity reacts with the alkali bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) to create a bubbly batter and fluffy bread.
- The batter might look more runny than you expect, but a lot of liquid is needed as chickpea flour absorbs a lot of moisture.
- Make sure that you line your one-pound loaf tin with baking paper and that you grease the baking paper with a little oil, to make sure the bread can be removed easily from the tin.
- You'll know when the bread is done when an inserted skewer comes out dry - it will probably have a few crumbs stuck to it, but if it comes out wet then the bread isn't done.
- If you've kept your bread in the oven for the right amount of time and it's still not done in the centre and the outside is becoming hard/burnt, then I would recommend covering it with a piece of baking paper to prevent the outside from becoming burnt, and continuing to bake it until an inserted skewer comes out dry.
Ingredients you can add to the dough
- Mixed seeds.
- Dried fruit such as dried cranberries, raisins, chopped dates etc.
- You can make it more savoury by adding grated garlic, chopped olives or sun-dried tomatoes!
How long does it keep for?
This Gluten-Free Vegan Bread keeps well covered in the fridge for a good few days. If not eaten on the day it's made, it's best toasted before eating.
Can you freeze it?
If you're freezing it, you can just slice it up and put the whole thing in the freezer. Then when you want to eat it you can just pop the slices of bread in the toaster straight from frozen.
Serving suggestions
This bread is so delicious on its own topped with some coconut oil or nut butter and fruity jam, but it's also perfect for sandwiches. Here are some of my favourites:
- Vegan Grilled Cheese.
- White Bean "Tuna" Salad Sandwich.
- Chickpea Curry Salad Sandwich.
- Chickpea Mayonnaise Salad Sandwich.
- Hummus Toasted Sandwich.
Similar recipes
- Gluten-Free Vegan Seeded Buckwheat Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Irish Soda Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Wraps
- Gluten-Free Vegan Rice Flour Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Bagels
- Gluten-Free Vegan Almond Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Oat Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Cornbread
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make this recipe
Gluten-Free Vegan Bread
Ingredients
- 150 g (1 ¼ cups) chickpea (gram) flour
- 150 g (1 ¼ cups) rice flour
- 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (to taste)
- 310 ml (1 ⅓ cup) water
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the chickpea flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl and mix well.
- Add the water and vinegar and mix again.
- Transfer the mixture to a loaf tin (I used a one-pound loaf tin) lined with greased baking paper.
- Bake in the oven for around 50 minutes, until risen and an inserted skewer comes out dry - it will probably have a few crumbs stuck to it, but if it comes out wet then the bread isn't done.
- Leave to cool on a wire rack before putting away to store.
- Keeps well in the fridge for up to a few days.
Video
Notes
- The batter might look more runny than you expect, but a lot of liquid is needed as chickpea flour absorbs a lot of moisture.
- Make sure that you line your one-pound loaf tin with baking paper and that you grease the baking paper with a little oil, to make sure the bread can be removed easily from the tin.
- If you’ve kept your bread in the oven for the right amount of time and it’s still not done in the centre and the outside is becoming hard/burnt, then I would recommend covering it with a piece of baking paper to prevent the outside from becoming burnt, and and continuing to bake it until an inserted skewer comes out dry - it will probably have a few crumbs stuck to it, but if it comes out wet then the bread isn't done.
- Make sure to leave the bread to cool down completely on a cooling rack before packing it away to store because otherwise the steam from the warm bread will get trapped and you’ll end up with soggy bread, which nobody wants!
- It keeps well covered in the fridge for a good few days. If not eaten on the day it’s made, it’s best toasted before eating.
- If you’re freezing it, you can just slice it up and put the whole thing in the freezer. Then when you want to eat it you can just pop the slices of bread in the toaster straight from frozen.
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The Clean Veganista
I made this today with only one minor substitution. I used brown rice flour instead of white rice flour because that’s what I had on hand. The taste and texture reminds me of cornbread rather than a white slicing bread, but that’s just my first impression of the small taste I had straight out of the oven...because a corner broke off when I was releasing the parchment paper and I couldn’t let it go to waste, could I? LOL Great recipe! Many thanks for sharing. =^..^=
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so glad you liked it!!
Darryl Dunmore
I have baked this bread three times, and it has come out very dense each time; the slices have very few of the lovely holes the slices in your photos have. So, I scrolled down here to see if there was a way to make a comment, and I read the first comment. Yes, cornbread was exactly my impression of the texture, and I'm using brown rice flour. Could that be the reason that I'm getting the result I'm getting? The recipe doesn't specify white rice flour, so I thought any rice flour would work. I gave the recipe 5 stars because, after all, it is bread, which is something I've been missing, and the texture isn't that much different from the commercially-made gluten-free breads that I've tried.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for your feedback. Yes using brown rice flour will definitely give it a denser texture. I think using white rice flour will give you a better texture. Hope that helps!
Genevieve
I was excited to try, but not sure if I did something wrong. Was it supposed to rise? I kept it in for ~1.5 hours, it didn't burn, but only just cooked through (I think, I'll know more when I cut it).
Also, the batter wasn't even a little runny...
Rhian Williams
Hi - thanks for your feedback. Sorry to hear that! Did you make any substitutions? It doesn't rise as much as traditional breads containing yeast but it should rise a bit!
Lynn
I made this earlier today, using an all purpose, gluten free flour blend instead of the rice flour, leaving the tapioca out, as per your suggestions for substitutions. It was okay. I could definitely taste the chickpea flour, especially when the bread was warm. Chickpea flour is not something that's grown on me yet. This bread almost instantly "dissolves" when dipped in hot soup. It was a bit dry and a bit crumbly. But I'd give it another go and hope for better results 🙂 Right now, this is my only option for a bread that doesn't have anything I don't want in it. Thanks for sharing!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for your feedback. If you don't like the taste of chickpea flour, you'll probably prefer my rice flour bread recipe: https://www.rhiansrecipes.com/rice-bread/ hope that helps!
Anonymous
Texture and sliceability is great!
Flavour is very bitter.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for your feedback. The bitter taste will be because of the baking powder - the taste of baking powders can really vary depending on the brand. I use Dove's Farm which doesn't have a strong flavour at all!