This easy to make gluten free vegan millet bread is made with a base of millet, arrowroot, and plenty of seeds. It’s a great GF multigrain loaf for everyday.
Photography by Sophie MacKenzie.
It’s so tricky to find a really good gluten-free vegan bread – especially one that’s high in fibre, with plenty of whole grains. Our version is packed with a variety of seeds, plus whole grain millet and quinoa flour.
These heartier flours balance out the textural dream team of gluten free breads, arrowroot and tapioca. Those very starchy flours, or powders, are what give the bread a texture that’s very similar to a normal white flour loaf, but on their own they’re a bit blah. Millet and quinoa add a delicious toasty flavour.
This makes a good toast bread, but it’s also great for sandwiches, grilled cheese, and any way you’d use another loaf of bread. It’s a much bread-ier gluten free bread than the full seed/psyllium husk versions and a good everyday bread for those who may be starting to cut gluten out of their diets for whatever reason.
💖Why You’ll Love This Recipe
✔️ It’s easy to mix, with no kneading required.
✔️ It freezes really well in individual slices, perfect for toast.
✔️ It has the texture of a perfect GF loaf and all the flavour of a seed bread. Win-win.
📋Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Seeds: the seeds can be switched up a bit if you’d like, apart from the ground flax and chia. Try pumpkin in place of the sunflower seeds, or use more flax in place of sesame, or try adding a bit of hemp – this can be altered within reason.
- Active dry yeast: Sophie has a great gluten-free sourdough millet bread recipe. We also haven’t tested with instant yeast and don’t recommend using it in this recipe.
- Flour: we don’t recommend making any other changes to the recipe, especially to the flour and starches used. You can buy small amounts at stores like Bulk Barn if you don’t want to commit to full bags.
Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.
👩🍳Method
STEP 1: Toast the seeds in a skillet and set aside.
STEP 2: Make the chia egg and set aside to thicken.
STEP 3: Activate the yeast with the sugar and water, then add the oil.
STEP 4: Mix the flours into the yeast mixture, then stir in the toasted seeds.
STEP 5: Transfer to a lined bread tin and top with reserved seeds.
STEP 6: Bake for about 1 hour 45 minutes, until golden. Cool fully before slicing.
💡Top Tips
1. Check your yeast. If the yeast mixture doesn’t bubble up after ten minutes, you probably need to buy new yeast.
2. Don’t worry about over mixing. While you don’t want to take it too far, there’s not really a concern with over-mixing like there is with gluten dough.
3. Toast those seeds. The extra flavour boost is well worth it!
📝Recipe Notes
- There are a lot of different flours and seeds involved in this loaf. If you often bake gluten-free, you probably have most of them in your pantry already – if not, then we recommend buying them from a bulk food store.
- This bread can be stored at room temperature in a bread bag, and it freezes really well. You can slice ultra-thin for toast (our favourite) and then freeze for individual slices as you need them. Just pop them straight into the toaster.
- The dough is a bit wetter than other gluten bread doughs, almost like a cross between a batter and a dough, so keep that in mind when mixing. The ground flax will help it to come together while baking.
- The slightly higher amount of sugar isn’t a typo – we think it’s a good counterpoint to the flavourful, toasty flours. If you prefer, you can reduce it to a teaspoon, but don’t leave it out entirely.
- It’s important to cool the bread fully before slicing, or it won’t slice properly.
❓Recipe FAQ
Dried yeast is best kept in the refrigerator for the longest shelf life. A pantry or, even worse, above the stove, are both too warm and it won’t last as long.
It depends. Whole grains are great no matter whether they contain gluten or not. This bread is relatively high in protein and fibre without containing much sugar.
A longer cooking time and plenty of flavour boosters. This takes almost double the time to cook versus a gluten bread, and it uses flavourful seeds and flour types to make sure it has the best possible taste and texture.
More Gluten-Free Recipes
Recipe
Gluten-Free and Vegan Millet Sandwich Bread
Description
Equipment
- Skillet
- 3 Mixing bowls
- 8.5 x 4.5 inches (21.6 x 11.4 cm) loaf pan
- Parchment paper
- Stand mixer
- Whisk
- Wooden spoon
- Wire racks
- Measuring cups and spoons or a digital kitchen scale
Ingredients
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons flax seeds
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 2 cups water, warm, divided (see recipe notes)
- 1 tablespoon cane sugar
- 2 ¾ teaspoons active dry yeast, 1 full package
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup arrowroot flour
- 1 cup millet flour
- ½ cup quinoa flour
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- ⅓ cup ground flax seed
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- In a skillet over medium heat, add the sunflower and stir regularly until they just begin to change colour, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the sesame seeds and continue stirring until both seeds are golden brown, approximately 3 more minutes.
- Transfer the seeds to a mixing bowl with the flax seeds (whole, not ground) and stir to combine. Remove one tablespoon (10 grams) of mixed seeds and set both portions aside to cool. The smaller portion will be used to sprinkle on top of the bread.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and grease and line a 8.5 x 4.5 inches (21.6 x 11.4 cm) loaf pan with a sling of parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, soak the chia seeds in ½ cup (125 grams) water.
- Meanwhile, add remaining 1-½ cups (375 grams) warm water (100-110°F), sugar, and yeast to a medium bowl or large measuring cup and stir to combine. Set aside until frothy, about 10 minutes. Once activated and frothy, add the olive oil.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or large bowl if you’re mixing by hand), add the arrowroot, millet, quinoa, brown rice, and tapioca flours along with the ground flax, and sea salt.
- Turn the mixer on to low speed (or with a whisk or wooden spoon) mix flours together. With the stand mixer running, slowly add in the soaked chia seeds and yeast mixture and mix until well-combined.
- Add the larger portion of cooled seeds and mix until just stirred through.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with remaining seeds.
- Place loaf in the oven and turn the heat down to 350°F. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
- Decrease the temperature to 300°F and bake an additional 25 minutes, or until golden brown and crusty.
- Cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting into it.
Video
Notes
- If this is your first time experimenting with gluten-free baking and you don’t want to invest in all of the flours, we recommend going to a bulk store and buying just what you need for this recipe. This will give you a chance to test the waters and see if you like it.
- We think the sugar provides a nice balance to the flavour-forward flours, but you can cut the sugar down to 1 teaspoon if you prefer.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in November 2014. It has been updated most recently as of September 2022.
Cynthia says
Is it possible to sub out the brown rice flour? I do not have any and would LOVE to make this bread I have everything else!
Kris Osborne says
Hi Cynthia, I have not tried to sub the brown rice flour for anything else, so I can’t guarantee that it will work as well. Though it might be just fine. The only way to know, is to try it! That said, I’m sending along this link which is a good resource on substituting GF flours. That might help you decide which one to use. Cheers!
Cynthia says
thank you!! right after i sent that comment i saw your suggestion about buying from bulk bins. I believe a locally owned natural foods store has arrowroot & brown rice flour so I’m going to drop by today and see. I can’t wait to try this bread!
thank you for the resource on gf subs!!
Lydia says
So, do you let the dough rise after mixing it all up or just pop it immediately in the oven? I’m wondering if the yeast has a chance to do its work.
Kris Osborne says
Hi Lydia, You don’t have to let it rise. There is enough yeast action for it to rise appropriately in the oven.
Lydia says
Thanks, I’m going to give it a try today!
Lydia says
I was dubious about the rising, but it worked and the bread turned out fantastic! I would have taken a picture, but my family devoured it too quickly. Oh, and we are at high altitude (7000 ft), so it’s hard to get good bread at home. Thank you for this recipe!
Kris Osborne says
Lydia, I’m so glad your family liked it! Thanks for letting us know. :)
Tracy says
OMG Kris, this bread is AMAZING!! You have no idea how happy I am to have found your blogs and this recipe specifically! Recently diagnosed with many (and some uncommon) food allergies, I thought my beloved sandwich days were long gone! While I have made many creative substitutions thanks to amazing vegan and gluten-free bloggers like yourself, I have been pining for a ‘typical’ sandwich bread that I could eat like I used to. Lo and behold, you have given it to me (happy dance, happy dance!). I made this bread today, and couldn’t be happier with the taste and texture! If I hadn’t made it myself, I would never believe it was gluten free and vegan! Had to substitute out the quinoa flour for another (I used buckwheat) and it turned out perfectly. This will definitely be made frequently in our house as I suspect the first loaf won’t last long! :-)
Shayna says
I have all of these grains in their whole form. Is it possible to grind them all as is in my Vitamix? And did you hear back about the potato starch subbing in for the tapioca? I have tapioca pearls would that also grind into flour?
Kris Osborne says
Hi Shayna,
So sorry about the delay in writing you back. I just got your comment for some reason, but I can see that you wrote us a few weeks ago. I’m not sure if you tried this yet, but I wanted to let you know that I’m not certain if it will work. I grind flours in my vitamix, too. But it’s possible that they might be too coarse. There’s only one way to find out! What’s the worst that could happen? If you decide to try it, please let us know. :)
Anahi says
Hello! it looks great!! I have a question, I live in Mexico, it is not easy to get arrowroot, can I substitute for potato starch?
Stasy Susset says
This rec in the recipe is amazing! I discovered it in the magazine “Go Gluten Free Southern Comfort” and decided I can make this; and I did! Thank you for sharing!
Hilary says
I know this recipe is an older one on the blog, but I’m wondering if you’ve made it measuring the ingredients by weight rather than cups? Loved the flavor but I think measuring by cups I may have had too much arrowroot, the texture was a tad off I think.
Kris Osborne says
Hi Hilary, Sorry for the very late reply. I am just seeing this comment months later. I did not test it by weight, but I’ve made many, many times in the past and it turned out really well each time. I’m sorry that you had trouble with it. I’m going to try going forward to measure recipes by volume and weight.
Rose says
Hello.
What can I use instead of xanthan gum? How critical is it to the final loaf?
Thank you!
Kris Osborne says
Hi Rose, Thanks for checking in. Xanthan gum is often used to provide elasticity and stickiness in GF baking, something that typically comes from gluten. People often use guar gum, psyllium husk, ground chia, or ground flax in a 1:1 ratio. I haven’t tested the recipe with either of these, so I can’t vouch for it 100%. But it should work. If you try one of them, please (please!!) let us know how it turns out! Happy baking! :)
Rose says
Great to know.. I have all of those alternates, so will definitely give it a try and let you know.
Thank you!!
Kris Osborne says
Thanks, Rose! Can’t wait to hear how it turned/turns out.
Rose says
Hello. Took a pandemic to finally get me to try this recipe and so happy I did! Used oat flour instead of quinoa, and cornstarch instead of xanthan gum. Wonderful oven spring with a crisp crust yet tender interior. Dense but not heavy…best gluten free bread I’ve made yet 🤗!
Emilye says
I don’t see xanthan gum in the recipe, has the formula been changed?
Sophie Mackenzie says
We found that the loaf did not need it and it since it is costly, we cut it.
Emilye says
Not sure what I did wrong, but my loaf was a disaster! I followed the instructions as written, the only substitution I made was to use tapioca starch instead of cassava flour. There was a gaping hole under the crust throughout the entire loaf, and what remained of the crumb was dense, sticky and gummy. Any ideas on what happened?
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Emilye, we can’t recommend subbing tapioca starch for cassava, as they do work quite differently. If you try again, please follow the recipe exactly as written, as GF flours don’t tend to substitute well.