This buckwheat bread is not only soft and delicious, it's also incredibly easy to make! It is perfect for sandwiches, and slices also toast up beautifully for topping with butter and jam...or avocado! You can be gluten-free and still get to enjoy delicious homemade bread!
If you are gluten-free and have been subjecting yourself to dry tasteless gluten-free breads because you miss bread so much...don't torture yourself any more!
I can understand how it might feel like there are no good gluten-free bread options and how it may just seem hopeless.
But I've got a recipe to restore your faith!
This buckwheat bread is soft and delicious, and even better is that it's very easy to make!
How To Make Buckwheat Bread
Ingredients
I like to break down my recipes into the dry ingredients and wet ingredients that then get brought together to make bread magic!
Dry Ingredients: You'll need buckwheat flour, brown rice flour, tapicoa starch, xanthan gum, ground flaxseed, active yeast, and salt. (Check the Recipe Notes below regarding buckwheat flour color.)
Wet Ingredients: You'll need water, oil, eggs, and honey.
You can't get much simpler than that, right?
And putting all those ingredients together to make the bread is just as simple.
*There is no kneading required and it only needs ONE proof. Repeat that a few times to yourself, let it sink in for a moment...and let's get baking!
How To make Buckwheat Bread
Combine all your dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine your wet ingredients and beat with a mixer or whisk until well-combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat well for 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway through.
Scoop the bread batter into a parchment-lined loaf pan, spreading the batter to fill the corners. I like to shape the batter so it's domed in the middle, but it's not necessary.
As an optional step, you can sprinkle whole flax seeds and poppy seeds on top of the batter, just to give the bread a bit of a decorative top. Use dampened fingers or a spoon to gently press the seeds into the bread batter.
Set the loaf pan aside and allow the bread to proof/rise until it is just above the edge of the pan.
As I mentioned above, making this bread or any of my gluten-free bread recipes is so easy because it only has to go through one proof/rise. Traditional wheat bread usually involves allowing the dough to rise, punching it down, shaping it, and allowing it to rise again before baking. But not gluten-free bread! No kneading needed and only one proof before baking! If that isn't easy, I don't know what is!
Bake the bread for 50-60 minutes, until the bread is browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the middle registers least 200F/93C. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes before using the parchment paper to transfer the bread to a cooling rack.
Enjoy "Real" Bread Again!
As tempting as it might be, it's important to let the buckwheat bread cool completely before slicing. If you slice it too soon, it will be too gummy inside and you won't get nice slices of bread!
Once you do make those first slices into the loaf, you are going to love what you see! The bread is SOFT, and the crumb has varying air bubbles, just like REAL bread.
Check out how this bread bends! These photos prove how soft it is! No more stiff dry bread slices that look (and taste) like cardboard!
Sandwiches made with this fresh buckwheat bread are soooo good. Stuff your favorite fillings between two slices and you are going to be in sandwich heaven!
Toasting the Bread
So something I found with gluten-free breads I had purchase in the past was they never seemed to brown in the toaster. It was really weird and, again, not seeing browned toast, no matter how long I toasted the slices, just didn't seem right.
Well, check this out!
Slices of the buckwheat bread toast up beautifully! Slather on some butter and jam, or top it with some avocado!
How Do You Store the Bread?
The bread will taste best the same day you make it. Store any leftover bread in a resealable bag on the counter for a day or in the refrigerator.
Can the Buckwheat Bread Be Frozen?
Yes! If you want to freeze the bread, I would slice the entire loaf first and then store in a resealable freezer bag, squeezing out the excess air.
How Do I Reheat It?
When you want to eat a slice or two, regardless of whether the bread has been on the counter overnight, in the fridge, or in the freezer, pop it into the toaster, or wrap the slice in a slightly damp paper towel and microwave it for 10-20 seconds to warm it through if you want to eat it soft.
Looking for More Gluten-Free Bread Recipes?
This buckwheat bread recipe is one of my most popular! I have spent a lot of time developing and refining gluten-free bread recipes so that the end result don't make you hate being gluten-free. Check out these other bread that are all slightly different but totally soft and delicious!
Soft Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread
Soft Homemade Gluten-Free Bread (dairy-free)
Gluten-Free Honey Oat Nut Bread
Now you can be gluten-free and have your bread, too! Happy baking!
~ Lisa.
Watch How To Make It!
Soft and Delicious Buckwheat Bread
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients (volume measurements in Recipe Notes below):
- 175 grams tapioca starch (same as tapioca flour)
- 120 grams buckwheat flour
- 105 grams brown rice flour (white is fine)
- 1 tablespoon xanthan gum
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active yeast (one packet)
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet:
- 1 ¼ cups warm water (about 110 deg F)
- ¼ cup light olive oil
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons honey
Topping (optional):
- ½ teaspoon whole flax seeds
- ½ teaspoon poppy seeds
Instructions
- Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well with a whisk. Set aside.
- Combine all wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat with a mixer until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat with mixer until well combined.
- Scoop bread batter into a parchment lined bread loaf pan and smooth out with a spatula.
- Sprinkle whole flax seeds and poppyseeds on the top of the bread batter, keeping the topping away from the edges.
- Using a dampened spoon, gently press seeds into the bread batter so they stick.
- Place loaf pan in a warm, draft-free area to rise until dough is no more than ½" above the edge of the pan, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven 350 deg F (180 C).
- Let bread rest in the pan about 5-10 minutes before lifting out from the pan.
- Let cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- Volume Measurements:
- 1 ¾ cup + ¾ teaspoon tapioca starch
- 1 cup + 1 ½ tbs buckwheat flour
- ¾ cup + 2 tbs brown rice flour
- Please note that gluten-free recipes work best with weight measurements because they are more precise than volume measurements. Gluten-free baking requires more precision and can be less forgiving than baking with regular all-purpose wheat flour.
- These volume measurements were made from spooning each of the flours into the measuring cups/spoons (so they are not packed) and leveling them off.
- The volume measurements are approximate. Make slight adjustments to the recipe as needed, adding a bit more water or a bit more tapioca starch or brown rice flour to achieve the correct dough consistency.
- Variations in buckwheat flour color: buckwheat flour can be either light in color or have a slightly darkened grayish hue. The light flour is made from hulled buckwheat, the grayish flour is unhulled and has dark flecks from the hull. Using either type for this recipe works.
- You cannot overwork gluten-free bread batter, so do not worry about over-mixing. You should mix the dry with the wet for about a minute to make sure it's well combined.
- The bread will stay fresh in a bag on the counter for a day, or in the fridge for a few days.
- To freeze, slice the bread and store the slices in a resealable freezer bag, squeezing out most of the air.
- To soften the bread, microwave for 10 seconds, either wrapped with a damp paper towel or not.
- Slices brown in the toaster nicely.
This recipe was originally published January 20th, 2019 and republished August 14th, 2022 with new photos and writing.
Moriam
Hi Lisa,
Can I omit the yeast and Xanthum Gum?
Hi Moriam! You might be able to get away with omitting the xanthan gum, but I'm not sure exactly how the texture will turn out. If you omit the yeast, the bread will not rise.
Nosheen
I have a gluten free flour which has xantham gum, tapioca starch and rice flour in it. Can I subsititute that with the total amount of rice flour, tapioca and xantham?
Yes, you can try substituting with the gluten-free flour mix, measuring out the same amount in weight of the dry flours. The 1 tablespoon of xanthan gum in the recipe is approximately 8 grams. Let me know how it turns out, Nosheen!
Alexia
I’ve made this several times and I love this recipe! I just subbed in teff flour instead of buckwheat today and it was delicious
That's awesome, Alexia...I'm so glad you like it! And that's great to know that teff flour works as a substitute for the buckwheat flour. Thanks for your comments!
Liz
I love this recipe! Been struggling to make an actually "good" gluten free bread for months (as versus just passable), and this is the first recipe I've tried that's been amazing! Great rise, a beautiful loaf that's soft inside & crisp outside (I omited the foil because I like my crusts super crisp), and of course so tasty and perfect for sandwiches. Thank you so much 🙂 this will be my new go-to for sure.
This makes me really happy to read, Liz...thanks so much! I'm really glad my bread recipe falls into the "good" GF bread category for you because "passable" doesn't cut it for me either!
Bakingsam
Your recipe was flawless! I never weigh my ingredients but I have a scale now so I did this time and all I can say is WOW. It’s amazing. Perfect texture, taste and rise!
Thanks so much! And congratulations on stepping over to the other side and weighing ingredients! 😉
Daniela
Thank you for sharing this recipe, I can finally have sandwiches again!
I'm so glad!! Thanks for your comment, Daniela!
Niru
Is there something I can use instead of xantham gum?
I have read that cornstarch, psyllium husk, ground chia seeds, ground flax seeds, and gelatin are all viable non-gum options for xanthan gum. I have not tried any of these substitutions myself, though. You could also try omitting the xanthan gum completely, but I do not know how that will affect the overall texture. Thanks for your question!
melissa
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! it came out perfect! the texture is beautiful! just have to add a abit of salt to flavour the bread but apart from that-i've been eating it everyday. Ive been trying to look for a simple buckwheat bread that is easy to do and glad i found your site. Btw, i didnt had enuf tapioca flour so i used potato starch *about 60 grams and it still came out perfect.
Yes, potato starch is a fine substitute if you don't have tapioca starch/flour on-hand...thanks for sharing your fix! I'm so glad you liked it!
Lisa
The best GF bread recipe I’ve encountered. Thank you!
Wow! Thanks for the comment, Lisa! I'm so glad you liked it!
May
Hi Lisa, I very much would like to try this out. Looks so scrumptious One query: can I omit the 1Tbsp ground flaxseed ? Thanks
Yes, you can omit the flaxseed, May. I hope you like the bread!
May Wong
Hi Lisa, thanks for your reply. I couldn’t wait till your reply and tried it out without flax seed and ground ones. It tastes like normal bread, yum. Just love it.
The only problem I had was the bread sank in the oven while baking. I let it rise for approximately 45 mins, which had risen a bit over the top of the pan. When I touched it, is very airy inside. Not springing back. Since I am new in gluten free baking, I read about checking if it’s ready while proving, to me this seemed over-proved.
1) What had I done wrong?
2) what size pan do you use?
Thanks
Ps I am going to try your soft sandwich bread today 🤤
Thanks for reporting back, May! Gluten-free bread dough is not the same as regular wheat dough, so it will not spring back when you push on it. It will be very airy and cloud-like and isn't meant to be touched or handled again after it proofs. My pan is 11.5x4x3, which works out to the same volume as a standard 9x5x3 loaf pan. A bit of sinking is common when baking these gluten-free breads and is nothing to worry about. How quickly the bread rises can also depend on how warm it is where you are allowing it to proof. You can also reduce the yeast to 1 1/2 tsp, allowing for a slower rise which may add more to the bread's structure. Even then, though, you may still encounter a small amount of sinking upon baking, which is okay. You can also bake without the foil first and if you see it getting too brown, you can then drape the foil on top. I hope all that makes sense, and I hope you like the sandwich bread!
May Wong
Thanks Lisa for the clear explanation. Yes, the weather in HK is so hot now, it rises quickly. I will definitely try it again. Take care.
Ploh
Thank you for this wonderfully easy recipe! It’s the best gluten-free bread I’ve ever had! I subbed in cornstarch 1:2 for tapioca starch as you mentioned in another review response and it worked out great.! Spongy moist loaf of bread! So excited to find your recipe, we are going to start baking our own instead of buying bread now. 🙂
I am so glad you liked it, Ploh! There's nothing like being able to make your own bread at home. Thanks for the comment!
Brian
I tried this recipe using a kitchen scale by the grams, somethings not right...i just measured out 120 grams of buckwheat flour that I ground from buckwheat groats, when it settled it was only 3/4 of a cup, not the 1 cup + 1&1/2 tbls you showed as a 120 gram equivalent. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks for your comment, Brian. Just in case I made an error, I just re-measured the volume for 120g of buckwheat flour and came up with 1 cup and 2 tbs, which is quite close to what I have written above. It could be that your flour was either too compacted? When I spooned the flour into the measuring cup and spoons, the flour was quite loose and not pressed down at all. Either way, going by the weight measurement is the best way to make this recipe and if you've got 120g of the buckwheat flour, I would just go with that. Let me know how it works out.