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!
What People Are Saying about THIS Vegan Keto Bread Recipe
Since posting this recipe, the great reviews have been rolling in! Thanks to everyone who’s tried the recipe and extra thanks to everyone who’s shared their experience.
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.
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).
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 throw it out if you detect that.
I avoid this possibility by buying whole flax seeds. They are less delicate when kept intact and can be stored in the pantry. Before using, I always give them a sniff to double-check they haven’t gone off. Then grind them as needed. Always be careful not to let them overheat, and store leftovers in the fridge. This way, the oil inside stays fresh.
Also, these days I sift the ground flax seeds in a wire mesh sieve before adding them to the recipe. I find the crumb comes out nicer that way.
Can I substitute with chia seeds?
I have tested this recipe using chia seeds as a substitution for the flax seeds. Unfortunately, chia seeds don’t have the same moisture-retaining effect in this recipe after being baked. The loaf comes out looking good but tasting much drier and “choky.”
However, if you absolutely cannot source golden flax seeds, you may find it acceptable to use chia. Test it out and see if it’s acceptable to you. You might just feel it’s fine as long as you add a nice spread to your sandwich and include crunchy, water-rich vegetables to offset the dryness.
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.
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’ll 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.
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. In the same vein, some people claim that inulin can be used to activate yeast. However, I have tried it and it doesn’t work the same in my experience.
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.
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
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 why 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
Gluten-Free Vegan Keto Sandwich Rolls
Printable Recipe for Vegan Keto Sandwich Bread Loaf
Vegan Keto Sandwich Bread Loaf
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.
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) *sift for better texture*
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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!
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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!
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.
Hi Mary, I like your recipe and have all the ingredients but I’m not clear what size loaf pan used. I have 8″×4″, 9″×5″.
Please advise.
Thanks
Raj.
I’m using a 5″x10″ pan. But whatever you have will work too
Can I freeze the bread?
Yes!
Nice Thank you I did it yes, I ask 1 question why dont you put butter in the ingredients?
Hi Risa,
Butter was never part of the original recipe development and I never found a need for any additional fat in this recipe. Fat is generally used to keep bread soft and moist but this recipe is soft and moist without it.
Best,
Mary
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
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
If you’re really opposed to the sugar, inulin can be used, instead. It’s a non-soluble fiber derived mostly from chicory root. As far as I know it’s the only thing that can be used to feed yeast that is indigestible to humans. It’s not a 1:1 substitution. I’m not sure exactly how much you’d need, but a similar recipe I’ve used has 50g and adds it with the dry ingredients.
Can I replace wheat bran for Oat fiber?
No, sorry. They are not similar enough. Wheat bran is high carb.
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.
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?
Would brown milled flax seeds be a problem with this bread? I didn’t have the flax meal from the recipe.
Brown flax should work but will give a stronger flax flavor compared with using golden flax seeds.
I’m trying to lower my carbs not eliminate them what do you think about adding 250 grams of Rye starter to this recipe to vary The Taste and texture
Hi Paul,
I think you should try it and report back. lol sorry I don’t have real advice. Maybe just start with less water and see how you go from there.
Cheers,
Mary
I used brown flax in my first loaf because I didn’t have golden. I got something a bit more like a rye bread. It was delicious.
I did it yes 🙂💪
I did it yes 🙂💪, I ask a question why dont put butter to your ingredients?
Can I replace the oat fiber by psyllium fiber?
no
Can I substitute flaxseed meal for something else????
Not to my knowledge.
What about replacing it with psyllium husk powder?
Hola , hice la receta se leudo re bien , el tema es que cuando ingreso al horno se bajó , no entiendo el por qué
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
Can you try this recipe in a bread maker?
Sorry I don’t have one to try.
You can knead the dough, but not leave it there to rise as there is not enough sugar for the yeast to rise twice.
Do you know what the dimensions are on your bread pan?
The bread looks fabulous, and I’m excited to try it.
Thanks! It’s a 1-1/2 pound loaf pan measuring 10 by 5 by 3-Inch
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!!
I’m so happy to hear that you’re loving this recipe! Thanks for the comment!
Cheers,
Mary
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?
Yes! Here’s the recipe made into rolls. You can shape them how you like.
Can we olace another seed instead of flaxseed to make it a little whiter?
Because the flaxseed makes it dark.
Have made this three times so far and another in the oven proofing as I write this.
I like the bread but want to up the flavor if I can. To that end, I wonder if adding a little butter powder, maybe 20grams would make a noticeable difference, or if the addition would affect the rise or the final texture of the bread.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Try adding nutritional yeast 1-2 tbs
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.
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
My experience: I used Mary’s metric measurements with oat fibre bought from Konrad Nutrition in the UK. I had a little trouble getting it to rise as much as Mary’s but I fixed this by giving the yeast a bit longer to activate, and proofing in the oven at 50C until it expanded (about 90 minutes). But the results were basically the same as Mary’s.
Is there a substitute for the vital wheat gluten? I have a gluten sensitivity.
no sorry but you may want to check out my gluten-free sandwich rolls recipe: https://www.marystestkitchen.com/vegan-keto-gluten-free-sandwich-rolls/
Hi Mary. Since there are no eggs in this recipe is there a need to keep the bread refrigerated? Thanks.
Hello Mary! Thank you so much fir the recipe. I have a loaf in the oven right now that looks and smells beautiful. My question is whether or not there is a concrete indicator of done-ness we can look for. Like maybe a certain internal temperature or sound when knocking on loaf, etc. Thanks in advance!
It will be very much the same as when you check regular bread. Sounds hollow when knocked on the bottom. I didn’t check the internal temperature but I think it will be the same.
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!
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
Thank goodness for this recipe! Before going “keto”, I was known for my home baked breads & rolls. Honestly, I’ve tried so many keto bread recipes & to me they have all been nothing short of horrible! I’ve used this recipe for buns & it’s always great! Today I’m making it as a loaf. There’s no doubt… it will be perfect!
Hi Mary,can I bake this loaf bread using my airfryer?
Perhaps. I haven’t tested it though so I don’t have a time/temperature recommendation for you.
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).
Perhaps! I haven’t been able to try it with potato fiber so I can’t really say.
-Mary
I have tried it with bamboo fiber and it came out perfect. Maybe potato fiber will be ok too!
Thanks so much for sharing, Zacharo!
-Mary
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?
I have raplaced the oat fiber with the bamboo fiber because I couldn’t find oat fiber. I have used exactly the same measuremnents of the bamboo fiber and the rest of the ingredients according to the recipe. I have done this bread 5-6 times so far and it turns out perfect! 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing your experience using bamboo fiber, Zacharo!
-Mary
Hello Zacharo,
Did you use the same amount of bamboo fiber as oat fiber?
Thanks!
The best ketobread I ever had. I’m on my second portion now. Thanks.
keep on experimenting good bread (without almond, cauliflower and eggs)
I’m so happy to hear that, Nevin!
-Mary
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
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
I’ve made this bread a few times and it’s really close to being awesome. The issue I’m having is either the final product having a gritty feel. It all tastes fine and raises up. It just when eating it there is a grittyness to the chew at the end of a bite.
Any idea what might be happening?
Perhaps your golden flax is not ground fine enough. Lately, I’ve been sifting my freshly ground flax. The bread texture has been a lot nicer when I do that. Give it a try 🙂
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
Thanks for sharing your tips, Bill!
-Mary
Have you experimented with a tangzhong (aka a water roux) in and of your bread recipes? I’ve been craving that super fluffy japanese milk bread and I was wondering if one could use that technique with this recipe to increase the fluffiness even more.
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for your comment! I have not tried it for my keto bread recipes, if that’s what you meant. Tangzhong works by advantage of the gelling properties of cooked starch. In a keto bread, we avoid starch as much as possible so I don’t see it working in the same manner. However, it is an interesting quality to try to replicate in another way. Perhaps someday… 🙂
Cheers,
Mary
Best vegan low carb bread I’ve ever made and so easy! Recipe worked perfectly. Good for toast and sandwiches. My new go-to bread recipe. Thank you so much!
That’s amazing to hear, Susan! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Mary – I finally made this today and it is excellent! Will be a gamer changer for me while keto-ing this summer. Thanks so much. I enjoy watching all your efforts! 🙂
I LOVE this for you!!! Thanks for the comment, Erinn!
I can’t seem to get my bread to rise much at all. It doesn’t even double its size. I didn’t have sugar but I did have honey. The yeast reacted nicely to it but that’s the only thing I did differently. The taste is and texture are wonderful.
Hmmm that is odd! I would imagine that honey would work but since haven’t tried it myself, I can’t really say if that’s the problem. Maybe you can try with sugar or maple syrup next time.
The other thing I can recommend is to make sure the proofing is done in a warm spot and to double-check your ingredient amounts (especially the oat fiber and flax; too much can weigh things down). Good luck!
Bill, I had trouble with this the first two times, but improved it by two things: wait longer for the yeast and sugar mix to start bubbling, and proof in the oven at 50C. I think the time for the yeast to get going will depend quite a bit on the amount of surviving yeast, and since we’re depending on the consumption of a small amount of sugar the timing is a bit more critical than if it had all that wheat to eat.
I have made this several times and every loaf was perfect. Many thanks
That’s wonderful! Thanks for sharing, John!
I made the bread twice now with great results. I use date syrup for the sugar and dark flax because that’s what I had but I mix and knead it on the dough setting of my bread machine. I don’t flatten it much. I don’t handle the dough much at all and it rises great. I use a glass loaf dish and bake it in the oven. Thank you for the recipe.
That’s wonderful, Kindall! Thanks for sharing your experience.
Cheers,
Mary
I made this bread by using roughly groud brown linseed/flax. After kneading with a handmixer, Ishaped an oval loaf and put it on a flat baking tray, because I had no bakin pan. I preheatet the oven with 50°C for some minutes and switched it off, but left the 25 W light bulb on, to have some heat (about 40°C) and put in the loaf. The bread rose within one half hour to the fourfold volume. I baked it with 180°C, because my rolls with the same recipe at 400°F / 205°C went too dark. The bread rose even more, so that I had to put the loaf on the lowest drawer. After on half hour the bread was brown enough, so I switched the oven off and left it in for another half hour. After that, the bread was ready to cut, very fluffy and tasty.
I just want to remind that maple syrup contains some water, so that the sugar content is much lower than one heaped teaspoon of sugar. So the yeast will work longer and will produce more gasses, resulting in more volume, which is not bad for those who like it more fluffy.
Great points! Thanks so sharing your experience, Johannes!
Cheers,
Mary
Can I use psyllium husks instead of oat fiber?
Hi, I use blended chia seeds, it works for me.
Hi Mary, love your videos. This is the first time I have made one of your creations. I have tried twice and really struggled to get it to work, it’s edible but not as fluffy. I am having to hand knead. It is not very smooth looking and it struggles to rise. I am going to tweak it as per your comments and keep my fingers crossed. Thanks for experimenting for us. It’s great to have bread now that I am carb cycling.
As someone who is not Keto but appreciates the low carb lifestyle, could I substitute partially the oat fiber for spelt flour or any other flour? The large amounts of fiber seem a bit worrisome to me
Hi Vishaal,
I don’t think so. Oat fiber has such a different quality that I don’t think traditional flours would work as a substitute. If it makes you feel any better, I have this bread fairly regularly and it’s not an issue. Just remember to drink water when having such high fiber dry foods.
Cheers,
Mary
I made this today! I haven’t tasted it yet, but it’s HUGE!! I had (seriously) old yeast in my freezer, so proofed that first. It bubbled and foamed perfectly. Then put it all in my stand mixer and after initially mixing the ingredients, switched to a dough hook for 8 minutes on medium speed. Oiled a silicone bread pan with avocado oil and put in my oven (covered with oiled parchment paper) with the light on for one hour. It.was.already.huge. Baked at 400 degrees for 90 minutes. It is cooling on the rack now and looks like a monster it is so big!! I used ground flax (not golden), as that is what I had. I will tweak this to better “fit” in my loaf pan, but from all visual perspective and aroma…this looks incredible!!
Oh Ginger! I’m sorry I didn’t see this comment until now. I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe and had success. Almost too much success 😉
Cheers,
Mary
Thanks a lot for this recipe, will bake again this weekend! Just out of curiosity – could I reduce the grounded flax seed a bit? I found the taste a liltte dominant (even so I need to work more with spices in general. 🙂 )
Have you tried using golden flax? They are not as strong tasting as brown. While you *might* get away with using a bit less flax, the amount was arrived at after months of testing. Too little flax makes a dry sawdusty bread.
Yes I use golden flax seed. I’ll try out more spices, tried a Parmesan-Oregano-version but it didn’t work out this well.
Hello,
I have a Hitachi breadmaking machine. Do you have a recipe for the vegan keto loaf that can be made in a bread machine?
Regards,
Richard Kayler
Edmonton.
I don’t have a bread machine so I haven’t tried. I’ve seen a few comments that say they’ve tried it and it worked for them.
The dough was WAY too tough for a stand mixer, so I had to knead that boi for 30 minutes to get it to a reasonable elasticity. 😭 A lot if work, but good bread though. The flax is an interesting flavor that I could get used to. Plus, this is a great way to get more fiber and protein. Thank you. Gonna make hamburger buns with this next. I’m thinking of trying to do a brioche technique—add butter as I’m kneading. Or trying a low-carb milk instead of water.
Hi Al,
I used my kitchen aid stand mixer for this and many recipes that are very similar. Unfortunately not all stand mixers are going to be as tough though. You *may* try adding a touch more water and letting the dough rest for 15 minutes after mixing the ingredients together. The additional moisture and resting time could make it easier to hand knead. That said, you will want to add a few minutes bake time in that case.
Best,
Al
Far and away the best sandwich bread recipe on the Internet. Made by hand was lovely. The only drawback is it doesn’t really toast. I wondered what is missing to prevent toasting it?
Thanks for the kind comment, David! I’m so glad you’re enjoy the recipe. But I’m not sure what you mean by it doesn’t really toast? I’ve toasted in a toaster, in a pan, and in the air fryer…it toasts like regular brown bread to me.
Made this today and love it! The result was soft and fluffy but did not rise as high as I had hoped. Any tips for that?
I stumbled upon your troubleshooting guide! Next time going to make sure the bowl is hot. Might add a tad more yeast and sugar and spend a few more minutes hand kneading. <3
I’m so glad you found the troubleshooting guide, Armin 🙂 Hope your next loaf makes all your keto fluffy bread dreams come true!
Cheers,
Mary
This is now my go-to vegan keto bread.
It always works perfectly.
For those who are having problems kneading, I divide my dough into half and give each half five minutes. Then, I recombine and knead manually for another few minutes. It never fails.
One variant is greasing the pan and then sprinkling seeds before inserting the unleavened dough. Lots of other variants in flavour are possible of course (olive bread comes to mind)
Thank you once again for your hard work in developing and perfecting this.
That’s great to hear, Mark! You’re very welcome for the recipe. Thanks for sharing your tips on kneading this keto bread dough by hand too 🙂
Cheers,
Mary
I have made this bread three times, carefully weighing the ingredients, using oat fiber, not flour, but my dough is SO tough and rubbery, almost hard! It probably doubles in size while proofing, but the bread is not soft and tender at all…very chewy. Any suggestions for getting a soft, fluffy loaf?
Hi Lisa,
I’m very confused as to how you are getting a tough and rubbery texture out of the recipe. During the development of this recipe, I changed the ratios, tried different ingredients, tested shorter bake times with higher temps and vice versa. Nothing I did made a rubbery loaf though! Unless you skipped an ingredient by accident…Because you said that you carefully weighed the ingredients, I really can’t guess why yours is not working out. Maybe if you can tell me about the ingredients you are using, the brands/varieties?
Hope we can figure it out together!
Mary
Hi Mary,
Thanks for responding. I use Bobs Red Mill in both vital wheat gluten and the golden flax seed meal and NuNaturals Oat Fiber. I use Fleischmann’s Rapid rise instant yeast. I proof the yeast in a teaspoon of sugar and the warm 1.5 cups of water. I knead on level 3 for 8 minutes in my KitchenAid mixer. Each time the dough is like rubber…stiff and difficult to form into a loaf shape. Do you think I need more water? I read that you like Anthony’s brand for gluten and oat fiber. I will be ordering some today. I will keep trying. My husband has insulin resistance and he loves bread…so trying to give him something to keep him on this low carb lifestyle. Thank you so much!
I made my first loaf using the exact recipe today.
Unfortunately I missed the bit about milling the flax seed to a fine flour.(Oops!) However the bloomer I created looks perfect, if a little wobbly, and tastes good.
I will pay more attention and do it right next time!
I meant “nobbly”.
Auto-correct!!!!!
Hello! I love this recipe and the macro nutrients are wonderful. It rises great and bakes wonderfully, but when I take it out of the oven and when it cools it starts to sink and lose its shape. Is there something I am doing wrong or is this to be expected? I am trying to use a Pullman loaf pan for the desired shape.
Hi Michelle,
I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipe. The loaf shouldn’t sink after baking. However, there are a few things that could cause this:
– measurements a bit off (too much liquid to dry ratio, forgot to add salt),
– oven is not quite hot enough or not fully preheated (you might double check with an oven thermometer),
– need to bake a little longer (maybe due to altitude or humidity)
Try tweaking one of these things at a time and you’ll figure out why your loaf is sinking.
Hope that helps!
Mary
P.S. It could be the Pullman! That’s the kind with a lid, right? That would trap humidity and the finished result would be too hydrated. Try to take off the lid maybe halfway through baking. That might help.
I took a chance and substituted the same weight in besan flour (brown chickpea flour) for oat fiber and crossed my fingers. And it turned out wonderful!
I proofed the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and a teaspoon of sugar. The rest of the water I put it in the bowl and sifted the rest of the ingredients on top of it. I did get left with some larger flax shells which I still added tobthe dough. Put the dough hook on medium for 8 mins, scraped ther sides about 2x.
Oiled my hands and turned the dough about 3x, tucked the edges underneath. My tin is finicky so I laid the dough on parchment.
I live in a tripical country, and this baby made a big dome at 30 mins. I was afraid it might spill over. My oven is fan assisted and 30 mins at 400 degrees was enough.
Thank you thank you, Mary!
Not finding, nor particularly liking, oat fibre, I subbed lupin flour. It’s at least as good as the wonderful original recipe and with a similar quantity of carbs
Will it work to use King Arthur keto wheat flour? I am thinking the answer is no. The first ingredient is vital wheat gluten, but then it has a bunch of other stuff like modified wheat starch. I love this bread, but it is hard to get the ingredients!
I haven’t found king arthur keto flour in Canada yet. Hope I can try it one day 🙂
Mary
hi mary.l been getting plenty of wonderful legume fiber since istarted following in your wise ways.l ieally wish iould make a nice fluffy roll with it instead of buying 6or making9 oat fiber. tried your bun recipe, but it did’nt rise much. also too much vital wheat gluten.l too chewey.l love crackers. have some corn flavoring to make great tortilla chips.1 when type period and l it mean cant use the shift on this keyboard. similarly 6 and 9 are parenthesies
hmmm Do you mean the chickpea fiber buns? I wonder why your buns didn’t rise. If it had a chewy texture, I would suspect the ingredient ratio was off.
I’ve just baked a new version using “Hemp Fibre Plus” (47% fibre and 29% protein) from the British Hemp Company. I did this partly because oat fibre is a bit expensive and hard to obtain, and I wanted to see how to do a substitution. I did some simple sums to substitute all the oat fibre with hemp fibre (100g / 0.47 = 213g), and reduce the amount of gluten by the protein this added (213g x 0.29 = 62g), giving 213g hemp fibre plus, 113g gluten, 125 flax seed. Then made the bread as before. It worked! The result is akin to a dark sour rye bread. Some adjustment may improve it further, but I think this shows how you can get a workable starting point with some simple arithmetic.
That’s wonderful to hear, Richard! Thanks for sharing your experience. I’ve had a few people asking for a rye bread version 🙂
Cheers,
Mary
Help please !! I have made the sandwich loaf numerous times with great results, but have just attempted to make it today plus twice yesterday with disastrous results. All the ingredients are the same, the yeast bubbled / bloomed, and the process was as per the instructions. However the dough did not form into one mix these times in the mixer with the dough hook, the end result was lots of bits that I tried to knead together. The bread did not rise and the dough does not look edible. Any ideas please, as I followed the same process as numerous other times when it has been successful and I have no idea what went wrong this time. Thank you.
Hello, I need help please. I have made this great bread successfully numerous times. However the last three times have been a total disaster. In the mixer the dough did not form into one piece, it remained in lots of bits, even using the mixer for longer than usual. The yeast bubbled / bloomed, and all the ingredients were the same as previous successes, and in the correct sequence, but the bread did not rise, and looks inedible. I really don’t want to waste any more ingredients and am missing the bread, but I have no idea what I have done wrong. Any ideas please, thank you.
Hi Sasha,
Sorry to hear about your recent troubles! As you have made this recipe successfully before AND you say all your ingredients are the same, I am at a loss! My only guess is that one of the ingredients you are using now is not quite the same. Did this start when you opened a new fresh package of one of the ingredients?
Are you weighing the ingredients? When the dough splits off into bits, I suspect the ratio of vital wheat gluten is too high. That’s what happens sometimes when I’m making seitan.
Hope one of these ideas can point you in the right direction.
Best,
Mary
Hello, I need help please. I have made this great bread successfully numerous times. However the last three times have been a total disaster. In the mixer the dough did not form into one piece, it remained in lots of bits, even using the mixer for longer than usual. The yeast bubbled / bloomed, and all the ingredients were the same as previous successes, and in the correct sequence, but the bread did not rise, and looks inedible. I really don’t want to waste any more ingredients and am missing the bread, but I have no idea what I have done wrong. Any ideas please, thank you.
Thank you Mary.
Yes I am weighing everything. I did open a new pack of the Vital Wheat Gluten, – the same make as used previously successfully. Perhaps that is the problem. I will buy some more and try again, thank you.
Thank you Mary. The Vital Wheat Gluten was a new pack, although the same make as previously used successfully. I have since purchased a different make of Vital Wheat Gluten, but with the same disastrous results, the dough just does not mix together to form one whole dough, it is just lots of little bits. Such a shame as the first 6 or so times I made this bread it was so successful. Should I perhaps use a smaller quantity of the Vital Wheat Gluten ? Thank you.
Hi Sasha,
Your guess is as good as mine at this point!
Why not try to scale down the recipe to make smaller batches with the ingredients that you have. That’s what I do when I’m testing recipes so that I am not wasting big batches of ingredients.
Perhaps if you hand mix and knead for the first little while, it will help your dough come together?
Have you tried mixing your dry ingredients well before adding to the water and yeast mixture? That might help.
Are you adding oil at any point? Oil can interfere.
I hope you can figure it out. After so many successful loaves…I think think it’s the ingredients and not anything you’re doing wrong.
Mary
Thank you Mary, smaller batches is a good idea. No I am not adding any oil, I have been following the recipe exactly, but I will try mixing all the dry ingredients thoroughly first. Thank you.
Please let me know how it goes!
Sasha, get a third party to watch as you measure the ingredients and put it all together. Sometimes a third party can see things you don’t. Also, try adding more water to the dough while mixing a teaspoon at a time till it comes together. Good luck
Thank you Mary, I am not adding oil. I will try mixing the dry ingredients first, and scaling down and making smaller batches is a good idea. Thank you.
Please let me know how it goes. I am rooting for you, Sasha!
Cheers,
Mary
Thank you for this great recipe! I won’t buy low carb bread at the store anymore! I wanted to ask how do you store the loaf? And for how long can you store it? Thank you!
Hi Ana,
You’re very welcome! You can store it the same way as regular preservative-free bread. I usually slice it up and then keep it in a bread bag or box to keep a few days. If I need to store it longer, I’ll put it in a freezer bag, press out excess air and seal it before freezing. It can last for months that way. Then toast the slices to defrost.
Cheers,
Mary