This hearty, whole grain seeded bread is gluten-free and vegan. The recipe uses oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, and sesame seeds for a delicious, healthy combination. Enjoy with fruit for a plant-based breakfast. Or, toast a slice and spread on some almond butter for an afternoon snack.
Recipe Memories: Farm Bread from New Zealand Backpacking
This recipe reminds me of the breads we made when I worked on organic farms in New Zealand. I spent a couple of months as part of the WOOFing program, where I worked on farms in exchange for free lodging. During that time, I also was able to cook with my host families.
Most of the dishes we made centered around the food we had on the farm — vegetables from the garden, honey from the bee hives, eggs from the chickens. We even made “farm bread” — my label given to the hearty loaves of no-rise bread chocked full of seeds, nuts, and oats. This bread was sometimes toasted and served with honey and fruit for a quick breakfast. Or, it was topped with homemade avocado or almond butter for an afternoon snack.
I was so happy to rediscover seed bread recently, when one of my personal chef clients requested it. After a few trials, I found a recipe I love. I’m so excited to share this with you!
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The Health Benefits of Seeds:
Seeds are an incredibly healthy addition to your diet. Seeds are a healthy, plant-based sourced of protein, fiber, and minerals. Plus, seeds have been shown to be heart-healthy, lowering your risk of LDL “bad” cholesterol. Seeds have even been linked to reduced risk of cancer.
Nuts and Seeds: What’s the Difference?
The easiest way to distinguish nuts from seeds is that nuts have a hard shell that is difficult to crack. This shell holds the fruit of a plant. However, a seed has a soft coating that holds an entire plant. Well, that’s the botanical difference. Nutritionally, there isn’t a huge difference between nuts and seeds. Both are healthy components of a plant-based diet.
How Seeds Help with Nut Allergies
While nut allergies can be quite common, it is rare to find seed allergies. In fact, seeds can be an easy, healthy substitute for nut allergens. Instead of using almonds, peanuts, or cashews in recipes, try sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and hemp seeds. The same works with seed butter. Instead of peanut butter, you can use tahini (sesame seed butter) or sunflower seed butter.
Can You Substitute Different Seeds?
The seeds in this recipe are quite interchangeable. However, keep in mind two concepts: Size and Purpose. Seeds of the same size can easily be interchanged. Sunflower and pumpkin seeds are similar in size. White sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, and hemp seeds can be interchanged.
Seeds of the same purpose include flax seed and chia seeds. Both of these seeds have a binding quality that helps hold the bread together. While they can be interchanged with each other, you wouldn’t want to swap out the flax seeds with sesame seeds. Only swap flax and chia for each other.
Yeast-Free Bread
This vegan seed bread is yeast-free. In fact, it doesn’t use any leaveners at all. In turn, you’re left with a hearty loaf of satisfying bread. However, it’s not uncommon to find yeast-free bread. My Quick Whole Wheat Flatbread uses the heat of the oven to get rise. Things like muffins and Spelt Banana Walnut Bread use baking powder for “poof”. In pioneer days, bakers would make Salt Bread. This Appalachian tradition is a yeast-free recipe that gets rise from salt.
Chef Katie’s Plant-Based Baking Tips:
Nut Allergy? If you’re avoiding nuts for any reason, swap out the walnuts for more sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, or a combination of the two. Use a nut-free plant-based milk like soy, rice, or hempseed.
Freezer-Friendly: This recipe is very freezer-friendly. After baking and slicing the bread, you can wrap it tightly in air-tight plastic wrap or foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. You can thaw out 1 or 2 slices at a time, helping with portion control.
Gluten-Free Celiac: Oats are naturally gluten-free, but they can processed in a facility near wheat. If this is a concern, check for “Certified Gluten-Free” oats.
Weigh Your Ingredients: For precise measuring and consistent results, always weigh your ingredients. A small kitchen scale makes this easy to do. This will save you time and give you more delicious muffins and breads.
What is Date Paste? Date paste is a smooth, pureed paste made after dates are boiled in water. It is a healthy substitute for maple syrup and sugar in your whole food, plant-based baking. You can make it yourself or buy it online.
Cookies Without Refined Flour, Oil, or Sugar: I’m on a mission to get rid of empty calories. These cookies don’t use any refined sugar, maple syrup, or other refined sweetener. Instead of refined white flour, I use whole grain flour. No oil or butter is needed for moisture.
Some parchment papers have lines that help you know where to cut for your pans. 
Line your loaf pan with parchment for easy removal. No need to use any spray oil. 
Chopped walnuts, oats, and oat flour help add texture and rich flavor 
Applesauce replaces oil and adds moisture to this healthy vegan recipe 
Let the bread mixture sit for about 5 minutes, to allow the chia and flax seeds to soak up the moisture 
Use an off-set spatula to spread the bread dough in the pan 
Tap the loaf pan a few times before placing it in the oven. This helps remove any bubbles. 
Garnish your loaf with oats, sesame seeds, or sunflower seeds. 
Let the Seed Loaf cool completely before slicing
Gluten-Free Vegan Seeded Oat Bread
This hearty, whole grain seeded bread is gluten-free and vegan. The oil-free plant-based recipe uses oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, and sesame seeds for a delicious, healthy combination.
- Makes: 1 loaf
- Servings: 12
- Ready in: 75 minutes
Makes: 1 loaf
Servings: 12
Ready in: 75 minutes
If you like this recipe, you’ll also like: Quick Whole Wheat Flatbread, Easy No-Yeast Irish Brown Bread and Spelt Banana Walnut Bread.
Gluten-Free Vegan Seeded Oat Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups 110g oat flour
- 1 ¼ cups 100g rolled oats*
- ½ cup 56g pumpkin seeds
- ¾ cup 84g sunflower seeds
- 1 ¼ cups 140g chopped walnuts
- ½ cup 68g ground flax seed meal
- ¼ cup 30g chia seeds
- 2 tablespoons 18g black sesame seeds
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 ½ 10g teaspoons baking powder
- 2 ½ 52g tablespoons maple syrup or date paste
- ¼ cup 57g unsweetened applesauce
- 1 ¼ cup 10 ounces unsweetened plain almond milk
- 1 tablespoon oats sunflower seeds, or sesame seeds, for decoration
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
To make the Gluten-Free Vegan Whole Grain Seeded Bread:
- In a large bowl, combine the oat flour, rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, flax seed meal, chia seeds, black sesame seeds, salt, and baking powder. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the maple syrup (or date paste), applesauce, and almond milk. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the oats and seeds. Stir well to combine.
- Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes so that the flax and chia can absorb some of the liquid. In the meantime, line a 9×5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
To bake the Gluten-Free Vegan Whole Grain Seeded Bread:
- Pour the mixture into your pre-lined loaf pan. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan. Then, tap the pan a few times on the counter to get rid of any bubbles. Sprinkle the extra oats on the top of the loaf. Press down gently into the top of the loaf.
- Place the loaf in the oven and bake 60-65 minutes. It should be golden brown on the edges, and a toothpick should be inserted and cleanly removed.
- Remove the bread from the oven. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes. Remove from the pan. Let cool completely before slicing.
- Slice and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Servings: 12
Ready in: 75 minutes
Nutrition Facts
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings 12.0 | |
| Amount Per Serving | |
| calories 294 | |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Total Fat 18 g | 27 % |
| Saturated Fat 2 g | 10 % |
| Monounsaturated Fat 3 g | |
| Polyunsaturated Fat 9 g | |
| Trans Fat 0 g | |
| Cholesterol 0 mg | 0 % |
| Sodium 309 mg | 13 % |
| Potassium 259 mg | 7 % |
| Total Carbohydrate 24 g | 8 % |
| Dietary Fiber 6 g | 24 % |
| Sugars 4 g | |
| Protein 8 g | 15 % |
| Vitamin A | 0 % |
| Vitamin C | 4 % |
| Calcium | 22 % |
| Iron | 11 % |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. |
Shopping and Gear List
- Anthony’s Organic Whole Grain Oat Flour
- GF Harvest PureOats Gluten Free Rolled Oats
- Anthony’s Organic Pumpkin Seeds
- Anthony’s Organic Hulled Sunflower Seeds
- Viva Naturals Organic Raw Chia Seeds
- Terrasoul Superfoods Organic Black Sesame Seeds
- Spectrum Essentials Organic Ground Premium Flaxseed
- Premium Date Paste 100%
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Can you replace black sesame seeds with white?
Absolutely! You can even use toasted sesame seeds — if you want a little more nutty, toasted flavor
How long can you keep in the freezer? Or cannot keep in the freezer??
Tightly wrap and keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Fabulous bread. Thank you!