Gluten-Free Buckwheat Bread

Slices of buckwheat bread on a cutting board.

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Buckwheat Bread is the gluten-free bread recipe you've been looking for and now you can make it in your home! It's way better than anything store-bought and it's essentially made from just one ingredient.

Course Baked Goods, Bread

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free

Prep Time 2 10

Cook Time 45

Fermentation 8

Total Time 1

Servings slices

Calories 96kcal

Author Caitlin Self, MS, CNS, LDN

Ingredients

2 ¼ cups buckwheat groats (raw, untoasted, hull removed) 16 oz or 460 g (plus water for soaking)
1 ¼ cups fresh water (this is SEPARATE from the soaking water)
1 ½ teaspoon fine salt
¼ cup ground flax
1 tablespoon white or red miso optional
1-2 teaspoons whole flax seeds optional

Instructions

Prepare the dough:

Place buckwheat groats in a large glass bowl; fill with fresh water, enough to cover the buckwheat by about 2 inches.
Loosely cover with a cloth towel. Let this soak in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
Drain buckwheat through a mesh strainer for 1 minute. DO NOT RINSE.
Add drained buckwheat, 1¼ cups fresh water, and salt to a blender. Blend until mostly smooth. Add the ground flax and blend until combined, just 10 seconds or so. (Optional: if using the miso, add this here. See note.)
Pour the batter into a large glass bowl, and cover with a clean kitchen cloth.
Let the batter stand in a cool dark place for about 8 hours or up to 24 hours in order to undergo some light fermentation. I find this results in a better texture.

When ready to bake:

Preheat the oven to 425ºF (215ºC). Line a 9x5-inch (22.5x 12.5 cm) loaf pan with parchment paper; pour in batter. Smooth out the top if needed, then evenly sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons whole flax seeds on top. (This is optional!)
Bake in the preheated oven for 45-55 minutes until browned and completely firm/set at the center. A fully cooked loaf of bread typically registers between 195 and 210°F. If you enter a metal thermometer, it might not come out completely clean because of the nature of this bread. When it is cool enough to touch, remove from the pan using the parchment paper and let cool completely on a rack if you have one. Once cool, slice into about 16 slices.

Notes

MISO: After posting this recipe, I learned more about short fermentation with starters. Adding miso to the batter before the fermentation stage can a) help ensure that the bacteria that grows is favorable to the human microbiome and b) make the resulting bread have a more sourdough-like taste and texture. If you do not like sourdough, then you may not prefer the fermentation flavor you get when adding miso. (Note: any miso paste works here - soy, chickpea, red, white, etc.) Miso is not included in the nutrition label.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. If you’d like to freeze this, you can freeze it whole, but I prefer to slice it first and freeze the slices in an even layer for 1 hour before stacking them in a bag or container. This helps prevent them from freezing together so you can just pull out one or two slices at a time.

Usually I soak the buckwheat groats in the morning on day 1 (on a Friday or Saturday), blend them into dough before bed, and then bake it in the morning on day 2.

The texture of this bread is best when toasted. Like most gluten-free breads (especially those with whole food ingredients), without the gluten to provide a springy texture, the bread can be a bit crumbly.

I love this bread toasted with butter and a little flakey salt. We do occasionally use it in a sandwich, of course, but the texture is best when toasted.

The salt is necessary for flavor, but the ground flax can be skipped. I like it for extra fiber, but I’ve made this bread plenty of times without the flax.

I am almost always to cut this into 16 beautiful slices, but occasionally I only get 14 slices so just keep that in mind!

Nutrition