Gluten-free bread. Oh, gluten-free bread. How I love you. And how you make me crazy at times. You're so temperamental. Such attitude. You sometimes turn out beautifully (like the Gluten-Free English Muffin Bread…my oh gorgeous!) and other times you're just flop. Yes, I'd say that we definitely have a love-hate relationship.
Gluten-free bread is something I've tried to tackle many, many times. I've shared some of my successes on the blog before (hello Gluten-Free Cinnamon Swirl Bread and Pumpkin Quinoa Bread), but there are also lots of failures that I haven't shared. I've tried to make gluten-free bread with no eggs: crumbly. I tried to make a banana oatmeal bread: didn't cook through. I hate to even think about how many ingredients I've wasted over the years.
But that's the price you pay when you can't eat gluten and you love bread. So when I finally nail the perfect sandwich bread, I just HAVE to share it. Enter my newest obsession: high protein quinoa bread!
My dilemma this time around was that I wanted a gluten-free bread that was lower in starch that my normal recipes, but also higher in protein. After a little research, it turns out, protein actually helps give gluten-free bread some of its structure, so we were in luck.
Really, it makes sense if you think about it. Gluten is a protein itself and is found in “regular” flour and forms when flour and water are combined. It turns into this stretchy, elastic thing that helps us make things like pasta, kneadable bread dough, and pizza dough that you can flip over your head. Basically, gluten helps give structure to dough, especially in yeast breads, as they rely heavily on the formation of gluten.
So taking that knowledge and switching to gluten-free flour, where there is none of this protein is available, adding more protein to your flour blend makes sense. I would even venture to say the more proteins you can add to your bread dough, often times the better. Or at least you'll have a better structure to your yeast breads.
Quinoa, as I'm sure you already know from my “What is Quinoa” page, is full of protein. So the flour, made from grinding whole quinoa seeds, is also high in protein. In fact, it's one of the highest protein gluten-free flours.
Another flour that's also high in protein is chickpea (or garbanzo bean) flour, which is made from, yes you guessed it, chickpeas! So with a combination of the two flours, you've got a high-protein mixture on your hands. Perfect for baking a wonderful loaf gluten-free quinoa bread, right?
Now, before we get to the recipe, I just want to warn you of something. I made this recipe using a scale to weigh my flours. Typically I share my baking recipes using cup measurements, but for this bread recipe I wanted to be very exact with my ratios.
And because it's so good, I wanted to get it in your hands as quickly as possible. I haven't tested it with cup measurements yet, but when I do, I'll be sure to come back to this post and update it.
Luckily, if you don't already have a baking scale in your kitchen, you can pick up one on Amazon fairly inexpensively. If you're looking for a baking scale, here is the one I use.
I also based this recipe off a percentage model. I wanted to create a recipe that was roughly 65% whole grain flours and 35% starch. Here's a little diagram of my flour breakdown for this quinoa bread recipe:
And I will say, this is my new favorite bread recipe. It has a nice whole grain flavor, a perfect crumb and it toasts up beautifully. You could use it for sandwiches in your kiddos lunch boxes, you could have avocado toast for breakfast or you could make french toast next weekend. It's incredibly versatile, and is full of whole-grain goodies!
ps: I highly recommend you invest in a kitchen scale, especially if you're a baker, it will help you be more accurate with your recipes, and will help guarantee results (especially with those temperamental gluten-free flours). Again, here is the one I recommend: http://amzn.to/1cFJRTh
High Protein Quinoa Bread
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 cups water, about 90 degrees
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 4 oz chickpea / garbanzo bean flour
- 4 oz toasted quinoa flour
- 3.5 oz sorghum flour
- 5.5 oz potato starch
- 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons almond oil (or other light flavored oil)
- 2 tablespoons raw white quinoa (optional)
- 2 tablespoons raw sunflower seeds (optional)
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds (optional)
Instructions
- Whisk honey into warm water and add yeast. Let stand for 5 – 8 minutes until yeast has bloomed and is puffy.
- Meanwhile, whisk together dry ingredients and add to the bowl of a stand mixer. In a small bowl, beat together eggs and oil.
- With the mixer running on low speed, add yeast mixture and let incorporate for a few seconds. Add eggs and almond oil, and mix for 2 minutes. Turn mixer to medium speed, and mix for another minute, adding raw quinoa, sunflower seeds, and poppy seeds if using.
- Line a loaf pan (I recommend this one)with parchment paper and pour dough inside. Place in a warm, draft-free space in your house and let rise for 30 – 45 minutes until loaf has doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. When dough has risen, bake on the center rack for 40 – 50 minutes until loaf is browned and sounds hollow when you tap on it.
- Remove bread from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. Store extra bread in freezer (wrap in tinfoil and place in a sealable plastic bag.
by Alyssa
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size | |
| Amount Per Serving | As Served |
| Calories 2581kcal Calories from fat 637 | |
| % Daily Value | |
| Total Fat 71g | 109% |
| Saturated Fat 9g | 45% |
| Transfat 0g | |
| Cholesterol 558mg | 186% |
| Sodium 2526mg | 105% |
| Carbohydrate 401g | 134% |
| Dietary Fiber 30g | 120% |
| Sugars 47g | |
| Protein 74g | |
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:
| Calories | 2000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Fat | Less than | 65g |
| Sat Fat | Less than | 25g |
| Cholesterol | Less than | 300mg |
| Sodium | Less than | 2,400mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 300g | |
| Dietary Fiber | 25g | |
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Alyssa is the quinoa-obsessed girl behind Simply Quinoa. She's passionate about helping you find health, happiness and balance with wholesome recipes and lifestyle tips.
It sounds great! But I don’t have a stand up mixer can I use my processor??
I’m not sure about the food processor, I never tried to make bread that way. I do think it would work though since this is a gluten-free dough and it’s more “liquidy” than typical bread flour. I’d say give it a whirl, but it definitely won’t need as much mixing time as it does in the mixer. Let me know how it works, Yolanda. I’d love to hear!! xo Alyssa
oooh this bread looks so great! I totally agree with wanting a higher protein GF bread!
Hi Alyssa:
Thank you for your wonderful recipes and the time you invest to produce them. Unfortunately because of a systemic candida overgrowth I cannot take yeast, or honey, for example. I am wondering if I could substitute Xylitol or Stevia as sweeteners, but I have no idea what to substitute for the yeast in the bread recipes. Perhaps you can give me some guidance? Thank you again.
Hi Elizabeth – the only reason I use honey in this recipe is to feed the yeast. I have yet to make this yeast free, so I can’t say if it will work, but if you choose to try and make this with no yeast, I don’t think you’ll need any sweetener. I’d also try two teaspoons of baking powder to help give the bread some lift, but again, I haven’t tried yet, so I’m not sure if it’s going to work.
xo Alyssa
I’ve used baking powder and baking soda combo, 1 teaspoon of each, in similar recipes. And I just skip sugar or any sweetener all together. I also sometimes use mineral water in lieu of other liquids in recipes. I don’t know if this woud work here, but I just though I’d share. 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing!
I would’nt have any idea of where I would find chick pea flour. Or the other flours as far as That goes. I am new to the getting healthy life style so am not eating any kind of bread at all and missing it terribly
Many of them you can find at natural grocers like Whole Foods, Sprouts, Trader Joes, etc. If you don’t have one locally, you can always purchase them online 🙂
You can make these flours if you have a good food processor or even a really good coffee grinder (probably a new one if you’re going to do it regularly). I’ve found posts and links on pinterest with the best ways to prepare each of the flours, and basically all you’re doing is making sure that they are rinsed, then fully and completely dry (or else they stick to the processor, no matter how long it takes!) and ground up.
If you’re going to use it right away, done! If you’re doing it for later use, it’s recommended to bake in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 10-15 minutes, and store in a sealed jar in the fridge up to 2-3 months tops. Easy way to save money if you already have a food food processor and beans, quinoa etc in the house!
Makes a big difference. I feel way less guilty indulging 🙂
Thank you so much for the recipe. Now I’m hungry lol. I wish you had done the cup measurements, though, as I detest weighing gf flours (flies around & I make a horrible mess!) & no room on my counter to leave a scale. I will, however, bite the bullet & try this, because it looks so yummy! Thanks again
Hi Lynne – I was fearing the same thing with a kitchen scale, but the one in this post is tiny and could easily be put away. I keep mine with all my flours in the pantry. Weighing flours shouldn’t be too challenging, simply put a bowl on the scale, zero it out and then measure with big spoonfuls (at least that’s how I do it!). I’ll be sure to update the recipe when I make it with the cup measurements 🙂
Do you know about how much protein is in each serving of the bread?
Hi Nancy –
I’m not sure exactly, but I believe it’s between 4 or 5 grams per slice 🙂
xo Alyssa
Do you know how to make it yeast free? Other than the yeast, it sounds great! Thanks
Hi Deb – I haven’t tried to make this yeast free yet, sorry!
Hi Alyssa,
I wonder why you toast the quinoa flour before using it in the recipe.
Keep up the good work!
Ingrid
Hi Ingrid, toasting the quinoa flour gives it a softer more nutty flavor. Untreated, quinoa flour can sometimes taste a little grassy, so to offset that flavor I recommend toasting it. You can absolutely make this bread with untoasted quinoa flour, it just might have a stronger flavor. Hope that helps! xo Alyssa
thanks!
Thanks for the recipe. Can it be made in a bread machine? Anyone tried it?
very timely for me to see this recipe. Even though my wife and I do not have a gluten problem, we are trying to eat healthier. Part of that is taking the gluten out, of at least, part of our diet. I will definitely give this a try.
This is an awesome bread recipe, and just what I need right now. Thanks for this.
Could this recipe be used in a bread machine? My mother-in-law has one I can borrow. I like the thought of being able to put the ingredients in when I go to bed and wake up in the morning to freshly baked bread.
Well, I finally tried this recipe in my bread machine- my old reliable Regal machine that I’ve used since 1997. Initially, I followed the recipe, yet used tapioca starch instead of Potato starch (1:1 per suggestion of other postings). I am pleased to report that my bread came out quite tasty- a compact, high protein taste treat. I must say that I made some modifications when my machine started kneading, mainly because the dough had more of a “batter” consistency, vs the usual “dough-like” consistency I am familiar seeing when using my machine. As such, I sprinkled in a bit of Oat Bran, Flaxseed meal and about 1 tsp extra Xanthan gum, since I really wanted everything to stick together and rise successfully. In reference to using a bread machine on delayed setting, my book suggests NOT doing so if EGGS are used (which may spoil). Hope others will also post their results using bread machines… When done, I cut the loaf in half- one part for now, one for freezer/ later enjoyment. I weighed each portion… 18+ oz (max on my scale- not digital). I am very happy with results; please let me know what the “typical” consistency of the dough is when made by hand. Thanks for the great site!
Thanks for letting us know how it turned out for you! Have you made gluten-free dough in your bread machine before? I will say, I’m kind of surprised it work with adding the extra ingredients, but I’m glad to hear that it did! Gluten-free dough is very batter like and not like traditional wheat-based doughs. I’m guessing that if you tried it again without those additions you’d have an ever moister, fluffier dough 🙂 Anyway, I’m thrilled you enjoyed it and thank you for sharing! xoxo
Hi Alyssa, can you give me a substitute to use for the potato flour. For example any kind of nut, seed or bean flour. And please let me know the amount to use to sub it for. Thank you for your help. Yvonne
Hi Yvonne, you can use arrowroot or tapioca starch in place of the potato starch. Just sub out 1:1 and it should be fine!
Quinoa bread and chicpea, really wonderful BUT…..have you any with no yeast or egg?
I have sensivity to them, have issues with fats, salt andcsugar…sigh…….yes, it does make things harder, still have to be within gf range too.
I know you have some tucked up your sleeve or in the deep recesses of that recipe box so….
At the moment, I don’t have a good sandwich bread that is yeast or egg free. I’ll let you know when I come up with something though!!
This sounds yummy! I have two boys who have multiple allergies including gluten, eggs and cow’s milk. Can you supplement the eggs in this recipe with success? Thank you
Jodie
I’ve had a few other people ask for egg substitutes and honestly, I haven’t tried it yet so I can’t be sure. My best guess would be to try an egg replacer before going down the flax/chia gel route. I’d worry those would cause the bread to be too dense and gummy.
Hi, I wondered whether you have an alternative flour for use instead of sorghum? I find it quite difficult to buy in the UK, and when you do find it, it’s quite expensive. Thanks in advance!
Hi Katie, I think you could try using brown rice flour, but the texture might change slightly. I’d also recommend millet as an alternative. If you can’t find millet flour, it’s really easy to make. Just grind up whole millet in a high-powered blender or spice grinder, sift through a fine mesh strainer and you’ve got flour 🙂 Let me know how it works out for you!!
Do you have any advice for someone who has a yeast digestion issue (as well as gluten)? I want to make this bread, and I have had mild success in the past with baking soda and vinegar breads verses using yeast. I didn’t know if you had any advice on exact substitutions for this recipe. Never hurts to ask right? ^_^
Honestly, I haven’t done much experimenting with non-yeasted sandwich bread. I think you probably could test that, but I’m really not sure if it would work or not. Sorry!
You could use this recipe minus the yeast to make flat bread which doesn’t need to rise. From the consistency of the mix from my first effort, I would get it would be excellent for pancakes or waffles
Do you think this could be made with only quinoa flour? My daughter has food allergies & that is the only “flour” we have at the moment!
You know, I’m not sure. I think it could work, but I think the texture would be a little different. I say go for it 🙂 Let me know how it turns out! I’m planning to turn this into a cinnamon-raisin variety soon!
THIS WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
I was nervous because I don’t have a kitchen scale but when the recipe called for 4 oz I used 1/2 cup, for 3.5 oz I used 7 tablespoons and for 5.5 oz I used 11 tablespoons.
It came out perfect!
I’m thrilled to hear that it worked out for you!! And I’m glad the measurements weren’t too bad 🙂 I’m going to use this recipe to make a cinnamon raison bread soon!
Hi there,
Do you have a replacement for chickpea flour? The taste is just so awful and bitter
Hi Kathy, I don’t have replacements for this recipe yet. I used to agree with you, but truthfully you can’t taste it in this recipe. I think the toasted quinoa flour overpowers it and it actually tastes quite pleasant 🙂
Try amaranth or chia seed. You can just grind the seeds in a coffee grinder. I used both of them and the bread turned out great!
Thanks for sharing Sonja! What were you proportions if you don’t mind me asking? You were able to make it vegan? Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Did you toast tthe quinoa flour? I saw a comment somewhere else that said that neutralises the chickpea flavour
I follow the Genotype Diet so I switched out the Chickpea and Sorghum for Amaranth and Chia Seed. IT IS FANTASTIC. I want to shout from the rooftops! Nice and springy, firm, not crumbly and a nice crust. I love your Naan bread,too. Thank you!!!!
You just made my day!! Thanks for coming back to let us know how it turned out for you 🙂 Ps, just responded to your other comment and would love to know your proportions!
I substituted amaranth for the chickpea….4oz. And the chia seed for sorghum at 3.5. I didn’t include the seeds. I will next time. I can’t tell you how inspired your site and this recipe have made me. I have already shared this with several of my friends who have issues like me…who need to be grain free. Most don’t know quinoa is a pseudo grain. It acts like a grain but it’s from a broadleaf plant akin to spinach. Anyway… Thank you soooo very much!
Hi Alyssa – came across your blog and you have a new friend/follower in me! I am a LOVER of quinoa! I started incorporating it into my diet over a year ago and it’s now a staple. I have it almost daily. I love making my own recipes up with it but they’re usually just salads! I know I’ll find a lot more inspiration here! xoxo
I just started a clean eating blog over at LaurendaMarie.com – I would love if you give it a peek. I’m new to the blogging world and am trying to find some friends 😉
Gorgeous photos by the way. Food photography is not easy!
Laurenda
LaurendaMarie.com
Thanks for stopping by Laurenda! I appreciate the kind words and love “meeting” other quinoa fans. As you can imagine, I too eat it almost daily 🙂
So…. I tried making this bread today and it didn’t rise at all! Being in the northeast, there is no warm place in my house, so I turn the oven on to warm (which is 170 deg F), then turned it off and put the dough in to rise. It didn’t really rise and then I turned the oven back on and up to 375 to bake for 40 minutes. The loaf came out very very dense! (Tasty, but dense!). I didn’t make any ingredient substitutions and weighed out my flour. Any thoughts about what went wrong? I’m wondering if the warming function was too warm and started to bake the bread instead of helping rising?
If you have rising issues, it is probably yeast related… How fresh was the yeast you used? I use Fleischmann’s RapidRise fast acting yeast, it’s a live product and so does expire, especially if not stored in a fridge. Did you use warm water to help the yeast start metabolizing the sugar – you should get a strong foamy layer on the surface of the water if its doing its job. I also let the bread rise for at least an hour. With traditional bread you have to knead the bread to help it to grow. The consistency of this bread makes kneading tricky, but it can be done. I take the mix out of the bowl, and sprinkle with more quinoa flour, this allows you to manipulate the dough mix more easily. I also line my surface with more flour which i use to knead the bread. I don’t knead the bread anywhere near as much as normal bread, but i do get a really nice rise on the breads i make. I’m also wondering if more Xanthum Gum would help, as this is meant to be a gluten substitute and so is needed for rising also.
This is amazing! I didn’t have the bean flour, so I subbed 2 oz of flax meal and an extra 2 oz of the sorghum flour. I didn’t add the extra seeds the first time. This will be a staple in my freezer. I’m so happy to have good tasting bread again! It’s fantastic toasted!
Yay! Happy you liked it Debbie. I’m really excited to hear that people’s substitutions have been working. I love the sounds of yours. I’m working on using this base for a few other recipes – oatmeal honey, cinnamon raisin, ancient grain blend, etc., so I’ll be sure to share those recipes when I have them perfected!
I’m baking this right now and top is brown and I still have
24 minutes,now what? Should I drop temp or cover lightly with foil?
Ok,opened door with 24 minutes to go,took out of oven with 5 minutes left. My bread really double in size like you said before baking. Even though bread baked way fast,its prefect,taste great sliced great.. still can’t believe it baked so fast and still turned out!
I’m thrilled it worked out for you, Leisa 🙂 This is by far one of my favorite recipes!
Can I make this in a bread machine?
Can I use quinoa flakes instead of the flour?
Does anyone have the nutritonal analysis for this bread?
Hi, yes, I would love to see a nutritional analysis…it looks amazing.
I made this last weekend and it turned out dry and crumbly. It also didn’t double in size during the rising phase. Any suggestions for improvements?
My grandmother would cover rising bread in a blanket
Great recipe, I cannot find Sorghum flour in spain. Could you please advice for a sustitute?. Thanks
I can’t wait to make this! I’ve been looking for a gluten free bread recipe and this might be it 🙂
When I made this, I left out the xanthan gum. The consistency of the mixture reminded me of pancake batter. Might be work having a play with
Hi there, Just recently joined your blog and I am in LOVE! Just had a question regarding this loaf, I don’t own a stand up mixer but I do have a bread machine, do you think that this recipe would work on the dough cycle? or even on a full bake cycle?
Thank you 🙂
2 TBSP of honey is too much glucose for me. Can it be reduced or substituted?
Remember that the yeast has to eat something. Chances are there wouldn’t be much left of the honey by the time the yeast done its work
Having surgery in 2 weeks . Wondering how well the bread , cakes , and granola bars freeze ….. Would like to bake ahead so I can continue to eat healthy . Has anyone every froze any of the items ? Would appreciate any comments . Thanks in advance .
I would like to make this with instant yeast. Will this be possible?
I made this bread last night and had two slices for breakfast. The bread did not look all that appealing but it had a really nice moist crumb. I will make it again, hopefully it will look better as I get more experience with it. I thought about using my bread maker but put that idea away for now.
I want to know too if you can use this recipe in a bread machine. I don’t have one, but my friend does and is looking for a healthy bread recipe for her machine.
Do you have the nutritional information for this recipe?
I just made this loaf. The mixture was quite runny – more like a pancake mix, so it ran over the sides of the loaf tin. Thankfully I sat the loaf tin in an oven pan. I have tasted the warm bits than ran over the sides, Delicious
Thank you so much for this bread recipe, I made it and I love it, I did not have sorghum so I used chick pea flour for it. Turned out great. Counder i toast the quinoa before grinding into flour.
Thanks again. Helen
So glad you enjoyed it! xo
I found a website that lets your put in your ingredients to find the nutritional facts- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator
Ingredient Cal Carb Fat Protein Sodium sugar
Active Dry Yeast 0 0 0 0 0 0
Honey 2 tbsp 128 35 0 0 2 34
Chickpea flour 4 oz 178 27 3 10 29 5
Quinoa Flour 4 oz 264 46 4 8 6 62
Sweet White Sorghum Flour 3.5 oz 350 73 3 12 0 0
Xanthan Gum 20 4 0 0 20 0
Eggs- 3 Lg 215 1 14 19 213 1
Oil, Almond, 3 tbsp 361 0 41 0 0 0
Potato Starch 5.5 oz 520 130 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 2,036 316 65 49 270 42
Per serving 102 16 3 2 14 2
Hopes this helps. There were times when I had to use the measurements given on the secondary website-
You can also put any substitution and get the new nutritional profile.
Hi there,
This may sound like a weird question, but since this isn’t a “typical” bread recipe, did you use the paddle attachment or bread hook in your stand alone mixer? I’ve been gf for years and have made tons of recipes, but this one didn’t work out for me. Only thing I can think is that I screwed up my weights or used the wrong attachment?
PS..I know it wasn’t my yeast because it bloomed well..
I use the paddle attachment! I actually just made this yesterday and it worked out well, so maybe it was the weight of the flours? Sorry you had trouble!
I must admit I was nervous to try some new ingredients for me but the bread looked so good, especially in the toasted picture, so I went for it! I just tasted my 1st slice and am so impressed!! I can’t wait for tomorrow morning to have a toasted slice with mashed avocado & egg. After tasting I then looked up the health benefits of what was new to me, such as sorghum & xanthan gum. I found an artical recommending physilium fiber over xanthan gum as a binder. I’m going to try next time I make this and really hope it comes out as good as your amazing creation.
So glad you enjoyed it!! One of my favorites as well 🙂 And please do let me know if you try psyllium husks – I’d love to know if that works!
A big thank you for the recipe! I tried it with my old bread machine and it was a success. It was a first because all of my other attempts at gluten free bread with a machine were unsuccessful…. I used the normal setting on my bread machine and did add some yeast during the second rise because it flopped during the second kneading. :S
So glad it worked for you! This is definitely one of my favorite recipes as well 🙂 xo
I’m going to be making this soon and wondering if there are any cup measurements yet for the flours? I do not have a working kitchen scale!
I don’t have cup measurements, sorry! You can definitely google the weight conversions though 🙂
Hi Alyssa,
Just baked this gorgeous looking bread. I was wondering if you knew what internal temperature the bread is considered done … it would help a lot since I am all thumbs in the kitchen. 🙂
I’m not positive to be honest, sorry! I usually just go by feel 🙂
At high altitude (5300 ft) the yeast may be too high. Mine slid over the top of the bread pan while waiting for it to rise.
I think you’re probably right! I haven’t done much high altitude baking, so am not really sure what the best suggestion would be. Sorry about that!