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Vegan Keto Sandwich Bread Loaf

This Vegan Keto Sandwich Bread Loaf recipe is made a lot like traditional sandwich bread and tastes like it too! You’ll love the wonderful toasty aroma, soft and fluffy interior with a thin chewy crust. Unlike other keto bread recipes, there are NO eggs, NO almond flour or cauliflower. While being plant-based, it’s also high in protein, fiber, with less than 2 net carbs per slice.

This amazing fluffy bread recipe also comes in a Pizza Version and individual Bread Rolls.
PREFER GLUTEN-FREE? Click here for my VEGAN KETO GLUTEN-FREE SANDWICH ROLLS.

Video tutorial for Vegan Keto Sandwich Bread Loaf

But WHY vegan keto sandwich bread at all?

Personally, I have to stay keto in order to keep my chronic tendonitis symptoms away completely. Having a diet rich in vegetables and high-quality plant-based protein is best but sometimes, you just gotta have a sandwich! And the keto bread from my local grocery store is so expensive. Which is why this recipe is so useful!

baked vegan keto sandwich bread loaf

Ingredients for Vegan Keto Sandwich Bread Loaf

This low carb bread dough, which is the same one I use to make individual keto rolls, handles and bakes up very similar to traditional bread because the dry ingredients work together to replace the qualities of whole wheat flour. The dough should be elastic; able to stretch, rise, and have a yeasty aroma. It should bake up with a beautiful spring, soft crumb and nice crust. These ingredients allow this keto bread to be all those things.

inside of vegan keto sandwich bread loaf

Oat Fiber

With zero net carbs, this Oat Fiber replaces the starch that would be in traditional flour. It adds volume to the dough as well as a wonderful toasty aroma during baking. However, be careful not to confuse it with Oat Flour which is made with whole oats and is very high in carbs. Oat Fiber is made from the indigestible husks of oats. Another thing to watch out for is the nutrition label. While the Anthony’s brand of Organic Oat Fiber I use is completely made of fiber, some that I’ve seen online are not so please check the label before purchasing.

When measuring the oat fiber, be careful because this ingredient is extremely light. It’s easy to kick up a cloud of dusty oat fiber so please be gentle. Also, for accurate measuring, a scale is best. However, if you are just out of options and you absolutely must measure by volume, use PACKED tablespoons instead of the usual sift, scoop, and level method. It’s the most consistent method that I’ve found (though still, not perfect).

slices of vegan keto bread

Golden Flax Seeds

Flax seeds help this dough retain moisture and adds bulk to the dough without weighing it down and preventing rising (something too much oat fiber can do). I choose Golden Flax Seeds over regular brown flax seeds because they seem to have a milder flavour and give a lighter, nicer appearance to the rolls.

You may find ground golden flax for sale. I haven’t tried that type myself but it should still work for this recipe. Make sure to smell the opened bag before using it in the recipe.  The oil in flax is delicate so you should smell it before using it in a recipe. Rancid flax oil smells fishy so through it out if you detect that.
I avoid this possibility by only buying whole flax seeds. They are less delicate when kept intact and can be stored in the pantry. Then, simply grind them as you require. Always be careful not to let them overheat, and store in the fridge until you need them. This way, the oil inside stays fresh. 

whole golden flax seeds about to be ground

Vital Wheat Gluten

The gluten in wheat flour is what creates structure in bread and allows it to rise and keep its shape. But instead of using the whole wheat that includes so much starch, we can use only the protein part: Vital Wheat Gluten.  However, too much of it will make your dough too tough and chewy plus have an unpleasant doughy flavour. So it’s important to mix in the flax and oat fiber. Also, I like to use Anthony’s brand of Vital Wheat Gluten especially because it has less of that distinct “gluten-y” flavour.

vegan keto sandwich bread being kneaded in a stand mixer

Warm Water

It’s really important that the water is not too hot to start. I usually start with some cold tap water and then slowly add just-boiled hot water while keeping track of the temperature with a thermometer; stirring as I go.  It should be 110°F which is about 43­°C. Don’t make it too hot or it will kill the yeast. If it is on the cooler side, the yeast will just take longer to do its job.

Yeast

You can use any kind of baker’s yeast in this recipe: instant yeast, bread machine yeast, or traditional dry active yeast. They will all work.  But I typically use instant yeast as I can get it in a large package and keep it in my fridge so it will stay fresh for a long time. 

instant yeast in a jar

Sugar

Yes, this KETO recipe contains sugar. But the trick is, you will not be eating the sugar at the end. The yeast will get to it first. Yeast is actually a type of fungi which will consume the sugar and then produce carbon dioxide and ethanol. The carbon dioxide is what causes the bread to rise; filling up tiny pockets within the dough and expanding as it warms during the proofing stage and even more so during baking. The ethanol is a by-product that will evaporate in your hot oven.

In this recipe, you’ll notice I use maple syrup. I only use it because it’s the only sugar I keep at home. But you can use any kind of real sugar, such as white sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, and molasses. Don’t use low or no calorie sweeteners because they would not be good food for the yeast.

Salt

Without very much fermentation, just enough to make it rise once, this bread is fairly bland. Salt is really important for bringing out what little flavor is available. But feel free to skip it if you need to avoid salt for your own reasons. On the other hand, feel free to add spices, herbs and other seasonings to make this sandwich loaf your very own! Just add it last, on top of the dry ingredients so that it doesn’t burn the yeast directly.

Cost of Ingredients

A few people have inquired about the cost of these buns since at first glance, going out to buy a 24 Canadian Dollar bag of Vital Wheat Gluten seems really high! But when I broke down the cost with the amount of ingredients, each loaf of this keto sandwich bread costs me only $5.66. If you slice the loaf into 16 pieces (which would be a fair size), it would cost 71 cents per sandwich (using two slices). See the following table for the breakdown. Note that cost may vary depending on where you live.

table of keto
rolled up vegan keto sandwich bread dough in a bread baking pan

Nutrition Info for Vegan Keto Sandwich Loaf

According to Cronometer, for two slices (1/8th of the total recipe) has:

  • 162.7 calories
  • 7.6g fat
  • 20.2g protein
  • 3.7g net carbs (17.7g total carbohydrates, of which 14g is from fiber, 0.7g from sugar)
  • 1% DV Calcium
  • 12% DV Iron

Nutritional label for vegan keto sandwich rolls generated from Cronometer

vegan keto sandwich bread loaf being baked in the oven 

Troubleshooting Vegan Keto Bread Dough

Since posting this my original keto rolls recipe, many people have reported fantastic results including this video from Random Keto. But I’ve also received a couple comments from people whose shaped loaves did not rise very well. This led me to two reasons this might be happening. If you’ve ruled out the most common bread-making issues, it’s probably due to the following:

Problem 1: Too much oat fiber. It’s such a fine and light powder that oat fiber can be hard to measure. The best way to get accurate results is to use a kitchen scale. But if you must measure by volume, use the “sift, spoon, and level method” for all the ingredients EXCEPT for the oat fiber. I found it impossible to get consistent volume measurements with this standard dry ingredient method. Instead, use packed spoons to measure (similar to how you would measure brown sugar).

Problem 2: Mistakenly letting the dough proof BEFORE shaping. As there is only a small amount of sugar for the yeast to use in this recipe, there is no wiggle room for proofing at the wrong stage. This recipe goes straight from kneading the dough to shaping into buns. If you let the dough rest and rise before that, the yeast will eat up all the sugar and it won’t have any left to do its work after you shape the buns.

More Keto Bread Things

Vegan Keto Pizza Crust
vegan keto pizza slice showing bread texture

Gluten-Free Vegan Keto Sandwich Rolls
gluten-free vegan keto sandwich rolls

Printable Recipe for Vegan Keto Sandwich Bread Loaf

Yield: 16 slices (8 servings)

Vegan Keto Sandwich Bread Loaf

slices of vegan keto bread

This Vegan Keto Sandwich Loaf recipe bakes up like traditional bread and tastes like it too! It has a wonderful toasty aroma, soft and fluffy interior with a thin chewy crust. As a bonus, it’s high in protein and fiber with less than 2 net carbs per slice.

PLEASE measure by weight for best results. I give the volume measurements only as a last resort but it's really easy to get the ratios wrong if you measure by cups/spoons.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Proof Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes

Ingredients

WET

  • 7g instant or traditional dry active yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
  • 7g maple syrup or sugar (1 tsp)
  • 350ml warm water @ 110°F (1 ½ cup)

DRY

  • 125g Ground Golden flax meal (1 cup + 2 tbsp)
  • 175g Vital Wheat Gluten (1 cup + 3 tbsp + 1 ½ tsp)
  • 100g Oat Fiber (8 tbsp + 1 ½ tsp PACKED)
  • 7g salt (1 tsp)

Instructions

  1. Warm your large mixing bowl by rinsing it with hot water. Drain and dry. Then in the warm bowl, combine warm water with sugar/syrup and let it dissolve. Add the yeast and let it bloom for 5 minutes. It should get foamy and you will see some bubbles during that time if the yeast is alive. DO NOT PROCEED IF THERE IS NO FOAM ACTION.
  2. Add all the dry ingredients one at a time, with the salt going in last. Stir gently until the dough comes together. Then in your stand mixer, knead at speed 3 for eight minutes.
  3. Prepare your bread pan by greasing lightly with oil. Flatten the dough on your work surface (you might use oat fiber to prevent sticking if you feel you need it). Roll the dough up into a log shape and place in the pan with the seam side down. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free location until tripled in size (about 90 minutes).
  4. About 15 minutes before the dough is completely risen, preheat your oven to 400°F. When it is fully preheated, remove the cover from your dough and place on the middle rack. Bake for 40-45 minutes.
  5. Let baked bread sit in the pan for 5 minutes before removing the rack to cool completely. Slice the bread only after it has completely cooled to room temperature.

    Best served toasted!

Did you make this recipe?

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Showing 46 comments
  • Mikela du Plessis
    Reply

    Good day! I am wondering;I don’t have a stand mixer but I do have a kneading attachment for my hand mixer. Could I use it instead?
    Or would a food processor work better?

    Me and my family are big fans of your keto bread rolls!

    • Kate Semple
      Reply

      I started mine in the mixer but found it was too tough for the mixer so I did it by hand. I would think you could knead it 100% by hand with no issues, it’ll just be sticky at first.

  • Gabriella Spadaro
    Reply

    Can I freeze the bread?

    • Mary
      Reply

      Yes!

  • LPB
    Reply

    Two questions, Mary
    In the video you mentioned it could be made without sugar if using instant yeast — is that correct? If so, are there any other changes needed to the recipe?

    Okay technically three questions 😊have you made or do your think I could make wraps/tortillas with this dough? Would love a quick keto vegan wrap!

    Thanks so much

    • Mary
      Reply

      Hi,
      No, you must have misheard me. This recipe requires sugar to be added because the yeast needs something to eat. Instant yeast is merely milled more finely than traditional dry active yeast. But don’t worry about the sugar content because the yeast will eat all the sugar before you can eat it 🙂 Stay tuned for the wrap version of this recipe 🙂
      Cheers,
      Mary

  • Kim
    Reply

    Can I replace wheat bran for Oat fiber?

    • Mary
      Reply

      No, sorry. They are not similar enough. Wheat bran is high carb.

      • Dave
        Reply

        I tried your recipe and it was a lot more dense and bumpy than your dough.it rose a little in the proof process, but didn’t look anything like your version. The dough wasn’t as moist and workable as yours.

        • Mary
          Reply

          Someone else made similar report with a similar version of this recipe. In that case, it turned out they used oatmeal instead of oat fiber. Could that be the case here?

      • Dave
        Reply

        Would brown milled flax seeds be a problem with this bread? I didn’t have the flax meal from the recipe.

        • Mary
          Reply

          Brown flax should work but will give a stronger flax flavor compared with using golden flax seeds.

  • Autumn
    Reply

    Can I substitute flaxseed meal for something else????

    • Mary
      Reply

      Not to my knowledge.

    • Sandra
      Reply

      Hola , hice la receta se leudo re bien , el tema es que cuando ingreso al horno se bajó , no entiendo el por qué

      • Mary
        Reply

        Hi Sandra,
        If I understand you correctly, you made the dough and it rose nicely. But when you put it in the oven, it collapsed. This can happen when dough is over-proofed (risen too much) before baking. Next time, try to bake it as soon as it becomes triple in size or a little earlier than that. I hope that helps!
        Cheers,
        Mary

  • Ferenc
    Reply

    Can you try this recipe in a bread maker?

    • Mary
      Reply

      Sorry I don’t have one to try.

    • Janni
      Reply

      You can knead the dough, but not leave it there to rise as there is not enough sugar for the yeast to rise twice.

  • Donna Socci-Brown
    Reply

    Do you know what the dimensions are on your bread pan?
    The bread looks fabulous, and I’m excited to try it.

    • Mary
      Reply

      Thanks! It’s a 1-1/2 pound loaf pan measuring 10 by 5 by 3-Inch

  • Angela
    Reply

    This is the best bread I’ve ever had. I absolutely love it!! The fact that it’s low carb is just a bonus! Thank you so much for making and sharing this recipe!!

    • Mary
      Reply

      I’m so happy to hear that you’re loving this recipe! Thanks for the comment!
      Cheers,
      Mary

  • Angela
    Reply

    I really need to make some hamburger and hotdog buns for a camping trip I’ve got planned. Have you tried dividing this dough into smaller roll sized portions?

    • Mary
      Reply

      Yes! Here’s the recipe made into rolls. You can shape them how you like.

      • Markos Michalitsis
        Reply

        Can we olace another seed instead of flaxseed to make it a little whiter?
        Because the flaxseed makes it dark.

  • Ferenc Habermann
    Reply

    We baked this bread 3 times now. Using the metric measurements will result in a very dense loaf with almost no rise at all. This is because the excess amount of oat fibre (100 grams). I suggest using only 25-30 grams which is equal to 8 packed tablespoons. I used freshly milled flax seeds, again a cup and 2 tbsp equals to about 100 grams. We used our bread maker and it worked out perfectly. Sifted all dry ingredients together, dissolved the sugar and yeast in warm water. Poured the water in the machine first and then placed the dry ingredients on top. Used a basic program which takes about 3 hours, with proving is around 2 hours. The loaf had a good rise and it is light and fluffy.

    • Mary
      Reply

      I suspect you are not using oat fiber (or at least a very different oat fiber from what I am using) to come up with those measurements. I have made this multiple time measuring by weight several times (and a couple times sticking to volume) and always come out with a fluffy loaf. Even when using too a bit too much oat fiber, it never fails to rise. It never makes a dense loaf. That said, I’m glad you found something that worked for you. Thanks for sharing your experience 🙂
      Cheers,
      Mary

  • Pater
    Reply

    Is there a substitute for the vital wheat gluten? I have a gluten sensitivity.

  • Luke
    Reply

    This is absolutely brilliant, Mary! I made it for the first time today – blended dried rosemary in with the flaxseeds, and it turned out brilliantly. Thanks for all of your work testing and sharing this recipe – it’s going into the archive book of well, loved hand-written recipes. Still absolutely gobsmacked that this fluffy, nutty loaf is low-carb!

    • Mary
      Reply

      I’m so happy to hear that, Luke. Blending in rosemary was a brilliant idea! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experience with me.
      Cheers,
      Mary

  • Jaq
    Reply

    Hi Mary,can I bake this loaf bread using my airfryer?

    • Mary
      Reply

      Perhaps. I haven’t tested it though so I don’t have a time/temperature recommendation for you.

  • Markos Michalitsis
    Reply

    Can we use it with potato fiber instead of oat fiber?
    I have read in another recipe (which was vegetarian that it can also substitute the oat fiber).

    • Mary
      Reply

      Perhaps! I haven’t been able to try it with potato fiber so I can’t really say.
      -Mary

    • Zacharo
      Reply

      I have tried it with bamboo fiber and it came out perfect. Maybe potato fiber will be ok too!

      • Mary
        Reply

        Thanks so much for sharing, Zacharo!
        -Mary

      • Markos Michalitsis
        Reply

        How much bamboo fiber did you add? I know that it takes away a lot of the flavor.
        You placed bamboo instead of oat fiber? You kept the flaxseeds?

  • nevin
    Reply

    The best ketobread I ever had. I’m on my second portion now. Thanks.
    keep on experimenting good bread (without almond, cauliflower and eggs)

    • Mary
      Reply

      I’m so happy to hear that, Nevin!
      -Mary

  • pauline mycock
    Reply

    I have made this twice now and both time my bread is anything but light and fluffy I have weighed out my ingredients put the yeast and maple syrup and water and that froths up but when in its loaf tin for some reason it comes out feeling heavy and more like a house brick but it does not effect the taste

    • Mary
      Reply

      Hi Pauline,
      That sounds frustrating. The first thing I would recommend just double checking your ingredients. Some people have reported that they used oat flour instead of oat fiber not knowing the difference. Second is making sure you don’t let this dough proof in the bowl like you would a regular batch of bread dough. If these things are not your issue, it may just be the temperature in your home. Try letting the dough rise in your baking tin in the oven with the light on (heat off though). I hope that helps!
      -Mary

  • Bill
    Reply

    Thank you for this wonderful recipe. Just to help others who want to make it in a bread machine, I found that sieving helped the texture – the pre milled meal had about 20% which didn’t fit through the sieve, so I ground that down. Also on my bread machine the dough was a bit stiff – adding 10-15g extra water helped.
    A wonderful recipe – I do not process glucose well, and this has allowed me to have sandwiches, toast etc with no adverse effects.
    For UK readers the cost breakdown (May 2023) is below. I use a slicing guide to enable me to do thinner slices, get 15 from a loaf, making an average of 21p a slice. Very good value for such a very low carb bread. And of course it is way more satiating than wheat bread.
    item amt cost £.p
    Maple syrup 5ml 0.10
    Inst yeast 7g 0.07
    Flax 125g 0.63
    VWG 175g 1.00
    Oat fiber 100g 1.27
    Total 3.17

    • Mary
      Reply

      Thanks for sharing your tips, Bill!
      -Mary

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