Flourless Seed Bread
A dense, sliceable seed and nut loaf with no flour, no yeast and no kneading. Stir it in the tin, let it rest until it holds its shape, then bake it twice. Vegan and gluten-free.
No flour, no yeast, no kneading. Seeds, nuts and oats, stirred in the tin and left to set, then baked into a firm loaf that toasts to a nutty crunch.
Recipe inspiration
Make it on a Sunday night and you have breakfast for the week. It's for the house with one gluten-free eater, one vegan and one person who just wants toast; for the cook with no yeast, no stand mixer and no patience; and for the pantry full of half-bags of seeds. It's ten minutes of stirring and a lot of waiting, and the waiting does the work.
About this dish
Sarah Britton posted "The Life-Changing Loaf of Bread" on her blog My New Roots on 12 February 2013. She'd eaten a loaf "studded with sunflower seeds, chia and almonds" at a friend's place, asked "please tell me this is good for me", and worked out her own. Her recipe has no kneading, then some waiting, and in her word it's "brainless". This version keeps her method and her ratios close.
The glue is psyllium husk, the seed coat of Plantago ovata, a plantain grown mainly in northern India, which dominates world production. Its mucilage binds water into a gel. Wikipedia cites a study where 1.5% psyllium mucilage bound better than 10% starch. Chia helps too: the seeds soak up as much as 12 times their weight in liquid.
The nearest cousin is Danish rugbrød, the dense rye loaf most Danes eat every day, now usually packed with sunflower seeds and linseeds. This loaf is rugbrød with the rye taken out.
What you taste: toasted sunflower seeds, hazelnut, a little oat sweetness, and salt. The crumb is moist and firm, like a seeded rye; the crust, toasted, shatters.
Additions & substitutions
- Gluten-free: use oats labelled gluten-free. Regular oats are often processed alongside wheat.
- Nut-free: pepitas (pumpkin seeds) in place of the nuts, same weight.
- Nuts: almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts, roughly chopped. Toast them first for a deeper flavour.
- Psyllium powder: 3 tbsp in place of 4 tbsp whole husk. Powder is finer and packs denser.
- Sweetener: honey instead of maple syrup if it doesn't need to be vegan.
- Oil: coconut oil, ghee or a mild olive oil.
- Fruit and spice: a handful of chopped dried figs or apricots and 1 tsp caraway or fennel seeds. Caraway makes it taste like rye.
- Seeds: keep the total dry weight the same and swap in sesame, pepitas or more sunflower.
Expert tips
Shopping
- Whole psyllium husk, not capsules. Health food shops and the baking aisle have it, often near the chia seeds.
- Whole flaxseeds (linseeds), not ground. Whole seeds keep their crunch and keep longer in the pantry.
- Raw, unsalted seeds and nuts. Salted ones throw the salt off.
Preparing
- Mix in the tin. Fewer bowls, and you can see the corners are wet.
- Wet, then thick. Right after stirring it looks like porridge. Within a few minutes it stiffens; if it's too stiff to stir before that, add a teaspoon or two of water.
- Wait for the sign, not the clock. Two hours in a warm kitchen, longer in a cold one. Ready means it holds its shape when you pull the paper away from the sides.
- Bake it twice. 20 minutes in the tin sets it; out of the tin and upside down on the rack, the base and sides crisp.
- Cool it completely. The centre keeps cooking as it cools. Cut it warm and it's gummy.
Make ahead, or for a crowd
- Mix it at night, cover the tin with a tea towel, and bake in the morning.
- Keeps 5 days in an airtight container.
- Freeze it sliced, with baking paper between slices, and toast straight from frozen.
- For a crowd: double it in two tins rather than one big one; the middle of a deep loaf stays wet.
Serving suggestions
- Toasted, with smashed avocado, lemon and flaky salt.
- With cheese and figs, or under a soft-boiled egg.
- Beside a bowl of winter vegetable soup.
- Sweet: almond butter and sliced banana.
- More for the morning: Healthy breakfasts.
Flourless Seed Bread
Published 2 Oct 2026 · Updated 3 Oct 2026
Ingredients
- 135 g (1 cup) sunflower seeds
- 90 g (½ cup) whole flaxseeds (linseeds)
- 65 g (½ cup) hazelnuts or almonds, roughly chopped
- 145 g (1½ cups) rolled oats
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 4 tbsp (about 20 g) whole psyllium husk, or 3 tbsp psyllium husk powder
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 3 tbsp melted coconut oil, or light olive oil
- 350 ml (1½ cups) water
Method
- Line a loaf tin, about 21 x 11 cm, with baking paper, leaving an overhang on the long sides to lift it by. A silicone tin needs no lining.
- Stir the sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, nuts, oats, chia, psyllium and salt together in the tin until evenly mixed.
- Whisk the maple syrup, oil and water in a jug. Pour over the dry mix and stir right into the corners until there are no dry pockets. It looks loose at first and thickens within minutes, until the spoon stands up in it.
- Press the top flat with the back of a wet spoon.
- Rest at room temperature for at least 2 hours, or overnight, covered. It's ready when you pull the paper (or silicone) away from the sides and the loaf holds its shape. If it slumps, give it another hour.
- Heat the oven to 175°C (155°C fan).
- Bake in the tin on the middle shelf for 20 minutes. The top dries and turns pale gold.
- Flip. Lift the loaf out, peel off the paper and set it upside down directly on the oven rack. Bake 30 to 40 minutes more, until it's deep golden, smells of toasted seeds and sounds hollow when you tap the base.
- Cool completely on a wire rack, at least 2 hours, before slicing with a serrated knife.
Notes
- Crumbly, falls apart when sliced? It didn't rest long enough, or the psyllium was short. Next time rest overnight. Today, toast slices in a pan: they hold together once crisp.
- Gummy middle? Sliced warm, or underbaked. Put the whole loaf back in the oven, on the rack, for 10 to 15 minutes and cool it completely.
- Too stiff to stir? Psyllium powder is thirstier than husk. Add water a teaspoon at a time.
- Loaf slumped when you flipped it? It needed more resting or the full 20 minutes in the tin. Bake on; the shape won't matter once it's sliced.
- Bitter? Old flaxseed or nuts. Taste them before you bake; seeds go rancid in a warm pantry.
Sources
- "The Life-Changing Loaf of Bread", Sarah Britton, My New Roots, https://www.mynewroots.org/2013/02/the-life-changing-loaf-of-bread/
- "Gluten-free seedaholic bread", The Australian Women's Weekly Food, https://www.womensweeklyfood.com.au/recipe/baking/seed-bread-32887/
- "Psyllium", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psyllium
- "Chia seed", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chia_seed
- "Rugbrød", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugbr%C3%B8d
