A soft, pillowy flaxseed bread that can be baked as a loaf, Focaccia-style or even as muffins. This bread uses coconut flour as a base and is great toasted. Great for low carb, gluten free and Paleo diets. No eggy taste!
Who loves bread? Well, who doesn’t love bread??
For many people, bread is one of those things that is impossible to give up. It’s not only delicious in a comforting kind of way (I’m thinking buttered warm toast here), it is also such an easy and transportable meal staple.
Unfortunately, two slices of wholegrain wheat bread will raise your blood sugar levels higher than eating 6 teaspoons of table sugar. You can test this yourself with a simple glucose meter – check your blood sugar between 30 to 60 minutes afterwards.
It really is astonishing that we are still being told by our governments that the bulk of your diet should come from carbs and grains.
All that’s definitely going to happen when you eat according to the food pyramid is that you end up looking like the food pyramid.
Our bodies cannot process all the excess glucose we’re consuming on a regular carb-heavy diet. It gets stored as fat around our waists and around our organs. There are predictions that by 2050 up to 90 percent of the population in the UK will be obese (today it’s 60% of the adult population, 1/3 of the children), and Type 2 Diabetes continues to be on the rise.
With wheat and other grains off the table, there still are many ways of enjoying bread when you’re on a low carb diet.
Low carb bread is generally made with either coconut flour or almond flour as a base. I have quite a few recipes on my website using either or both in combination. Try my easy low carb rolls, these low carb English muffins or this really rustic Paleo bread, which is packed with seeds.
I wanted to create a coconut flour bread recipe using flaxseed, which is super-low in carbs and a brilliant source of fibre. I decided to base it on my low carb roll recipe and after a bit of experimenting I’m excited to share the result with you here.
This coconut flour flaxseed bread recipe is delicious, easy and really versatile.
Here’s all you need to know about the recipe:
1.) The great thing about this bread is that here’s no need to whisk the egg whites until they’re stiff. You could do it if that’s your thing – it might make the bread even fluffier – but it’s pillowy and soft even without.
2.) Talking about eggs – one of the great things about this coconut flour bread is that it DOES NOT TASTE EGGY. This is because I’ve left out 3 of the egg yolks and used only the whites.
3.) The first time round, I made this coconut flour bread as a Focaccia-style flatbread. Just before I started writing this post I made it again in a silicone loaf mould (yes, I do double-check these recipes work!!). Both work well – as a loaf the bread needs 10 minutes longer in the oven.
4.) I baked my bread Focaccia-style in a 25×15 cm casserole dish. Next time, I will line it with baking paper to be able to take it out easier.
5.) You can even make flaxseed muffins with this bread recipe! In this case, the oven time will probably have to be reduced. My guess would be 25-30 minutes.
6.) I calculated the recipe as 8 portions. These portions are GENEROUS! Flax is very filling, as is coconut flour.
Recipe variations
You CAN make this flax bread with almond flour instead of coconut flour. I’d think you would have to use twice the amount of almond flour as it’s less absorbent. In this case, you’d also leave out one of the eggs.
You could top your coconut flour flaxseed bread with seeds (I tried sesame seeds, which worked well) or even mix some seeds into the dough. Or you go full-out Focaccia by adding rosemary and garlic on top.
I used olive oil in the recipe because I was after a “bread” taste. I think it masks the taste of the coconut flour well, especially in combination with the salt. This way, the bread is perfect for savoury toppings. If you wanted, you could use melted butter instead and have more of a muffin-type taste, which would be good for sweet toppings.
Here are some other delicious recipes using flaxseed:
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Flaxseed Bread with Coconut Flour
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup / 75 g coconut flour
- 1/2 cup / 60 g ground flaxseed / flax meal
- 3 eggs large
- 3 egg whites large
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4.7 oz / 140 ml / water (10 tbsp)
- pinch sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius / 356 Fahrenheit.
- Whisk the eggs and egg whites with an electric mixer or in a food processor until foamy.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until you have a smooth dough.
- Let the dough sit for a few minutes so the coconut flour and flax can absorb the moisture.
- Pour the mix into a well-oiled pan (alternatively, line a pan with baking paper) and bake at 180 Celsius / 356 Fahrenheit for 35 minutes or until browned on top. It's ready when a knife inserted comes out clean.
- If you prefer to bake as a loaf, increase the time in the oven by 10 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
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Richard Pezner says
Hi when you calculated the 9.7 grams of carbs is that net carbs? I made the bread and it was great thank you for the recipes.
Katrin Nürnberger says
Hi, it’s 9.7g total carbs minus 6.5g Fibre = 3.2g net carbs per slice.
Richard Pezner says
Are all your recipes total carbs? Thanks
Katrin Nürnberger says
Yes, the nutrition panels always state the total carbs and the fibre. In my newer recipes I also state the net carbs in the recipe notes.
John says
Excellent recipe – thanks. To follow from this. I’m someone who has not given up carbs, but instead am on a low calorie diet 2 days a week. I looked at the various flour options available and flax seems to be the only one that both is low in carbs (great for my friends who are on low carb diets) and relatively low in calories (great for my diet). My original recipe which was with ground almonds was too high in calories. It involved 2.5 cups of ground almonds, with 1/2 cup of fat (butter or coconut oil) and 3 eggs. I wonder how I would achieve the same texture with golden flaxseed meal? Can you advise? Thank you!
Katrin Nürnberger says
YOu’d have to experiment a bit. I’m try to reduce the amount of butter or coconut oil in your recipe and replace with water. That should make a difference in terms of calories.
Maureen says
this is definitely the best Keto bread ever!.
Love it ! Thank you so much
Solvor Leistad says
Abasolutely my favourite keto bread recipe. It tastes sooo good and the texture is so much better than I ever have experienced with any other keto-bread. I often add some chopped walnuts with the dough as well. And maybe some Himalaya salt on the top
Phoebe Head says
Hi just wondering is it possible to make this bread using vegan egg substitutes?
Thanks xx
Katrin says
I’d love to be able to help, but I think you’d have to start again from scratch – there’s a lot of eggs to replace. I don’t have much experience in vegan baking, so I’m not sure how to make this bread vegan whilst keeping it fluffy. Sorry!
Sue Clayton says
Thank you, thank you. I made this yesterday – with 1/2 cup almond flour, 1/2 cup coconut flour, and 1/2 cup (dark) flax meal, your 3 egg whites and 3 eggs, (whisked till very pale and fluffy), 60ml olive oil, 90ml water, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp bicarb soda, 1 tsp cider vinegar, and a good few pinches of salt. I mixed with my hands and kept back 1/3 of egg mix to just lightly combine once the mix was wet. Left it for 10 mins then put in a metal bread tin (10.5 x 20.5 cm) lined with paper and baked for 40 mins at 180C. Was no towering loaf so maybe a smaller tin, or double the mix, next time. It was great, sort-of soda bread texture and taste, best non-grain “keto” bread I have tried so far. My husband enjoyed it, too. I will try your recipe some time but somehow felt I wanted some ground almonds yesterday.
Katrin says
Thank you fo detailing your tweaks! Glad you liked the end result 🙂
Marcy Gregory says
This recipe sounds great .
Can I replace the eggs with something else. I’m allergic to eggs.
Katrin Nürnberger says
This particular recipe contains a lot of eggs so I think it will be a bit of an experiment to make egg free. Generally though, you can replace eggs with either a flax or a chia egg.
Judi says
I used one cup almond flour and a couple of flax eggs instead of the coconut flour and real eggs , bake a bit longer. It is delicious if u top it with olive oil, fresh rosemary, fresh Basil and salt to serve .
My recommendation if it is to doughy , cut into
Chunks and toast or bake again as if it was biscotti
Very good!
Katrin Nürnberger says
Thanks so much for letting us know your substitutions. Great tips!
Bharat says
I use duck eggs as they are much healthier than chicken eggs. Do you know if I have to lessen the full egg or whites for that?
Katrin says
Hi Bharat, I’m not sure if duck eggs are the same size as chicken eggs. I’ve never had one!! Sorry, I cannot help with this question.
Bharat MV says
Can I use the whole eggs? If yes how many?
Katrin says
I am not entirely sure. You could try using five medium eggs, but be aware that this will change the taste because the egg taste many people don’t like comes from the egg yolks. You would also have to judge by the consistency of your door if you need a little extra coconut flour. The bread may also end up being heavier in texture as the egg yolks contain fat. To be on the safe side, I would stick with the original recipe first and then start with your tweaks and experiments the second time round. You can always use the spare egg yolks to make a nice mayonnaise.
Emaleigh says
Just came out of the oven and I followed everything to a T (using weight measurements). Added sesame seeds and sunflower seeds to the top and I can not believe how good it smells, looks, and feels! So easy and fast to put together. Nu fuss. Amazing.
Emma C says
I loved the flavor of the first loaf I made and happy to finally find a low carb loaf without almond flour. The first loaf was very dense and almost too moist.
The second time through, I weighed my ingredients and found that the coconut flour I was using weighed a little over 100grams per 3/4 cup. I cut this back to 75 grams (closer to 1/2 cup). The brand I used was Trader Joe’s — maybe it had settled and gotten denser than average.
I probably didn’t need to do so, but I also whipped my eggs white separately.
Emma C says
I’ve been looking for a bread recipe without almond flour and tried this yesterday. Flavor was excellent. My batter did not pour and I found that the loaf was quite dense and 50 minutes of baking still left it very moist. I’m going to attempt it with 2 changes — beating the egg whites separately and using a scale to weigh the coconut flour and the flax seed meal.
Katrin says
It’s always more exact to measure with scales – I’d be interested how it turns out next time:)
Deborah says
Katrin, have you had any experience using LUPIN (or lupine) FLOUR in baking? I just bought a pound of it and am searching for low carb recipes using it and there really aren’t many.
Found this on a low carb site:
Bread and cake dough becomes looser and more fluffy with lupine flour.
Lupine flour can replace the soy flour in recipes that contain soy flour.
Like flaxseed, it is very very low carb…..30g has 21g of carb but 11g of that is fiber.
It sounds like it might behave more like coconut flour that almond flour…..and I though this bread recipe might be a good one to try subbing a bit of lupin flour for the coconut flour (thought I would start with 2 – Tbs and see how that goes). Was hoping if you had any experience with it you might steer me in the right direction. Thanks looking forward to your comments
Katrin says
Hi Deborah, I was sent a packet of lupin flour recently and I haven’t tried it yet. Thanks for the nudge, I must experiment with it. I was thinking of using it for “breading” chicken and veggies instead of almond flour, which burns so quickly. I haven’t looked into using it in sweet recipes yet, time for some research 🙂
CHARLENE says
I love the flavour and held up nicely. Unfortunately I am a terrible baker so it did not rise more than what the dough consisted of. Still very delicious. I was missing “bread” for breakfast and this just fits the bill. Will keep trying. Thanks.
Katrin says
Using room temperature ingredients, fresh baking powder an beating the eggs to create air inside the dough should help to make your bread fluffier. 🙂
karen says
Interesting about flax seeds/ linseeds. here in Ecuador flax seeds are only 060 per pound so it is worth it to cultivate a taste, which i find difficult because everything, to me, ends up tasting like, well, gummy flax seeds! However, I do grind up my own flax seeds almost by recipe because not a lot is needed.
Just a point here: If you grind more than you need please put in the fridge or freezer. Most nut and seed flours may go rancid if left out.
Katrin says
Yes, that is true! Flax does have a bit of an individual taste, although I think that golden flax has a more gentle flavour than the brown flax. And you are absolutely right about leaving it in the freezer once ground so it does not oxidise.
karen says
what size loaf pan – metal or silicone? thanks
Katrin says
I prefer silicone over metal, because it’s non stick. However, a metal loaf pan works too – i’d use parchment paper cut into 2 strips so you can line all sides of the pan. you can use a regular size loaf pan like the one I have linked to in the post. That way you will get a flatter loaf (low carb bread does not rise as much as wheat) that will not rise above the top of the pan. I have a half size small loaf tin which holds 450ml and produces a loaf that is taller than wide.
Averill says
Hello,
I can’t wait to try baking this tomorrow!! Been on the hunt for a gf and almond meal/flour free bread for a while!
Just a quick question – I don’t have a food processor/blender at the moment. Only a hand held stick.
Would I be okay to just beat the eggs then mix in all the ingredients really well in a mixing bowl?
Thanks xx
Katrin says
Yes, that should be fine! Just make sure you’re beating the eggs until they’re nice and frothy to get plenty of air into the dough
Toni Leggate says
My husband made this today but misread and left out the baking powder, water and salt! He said he didn’t know why it was called a batter! I said the flax and coconut flour might be more absorbent! Even so it was delicious especially with cream cheese and smoked salmon for tea.
This will be made again – properly with all ingredients and I will re-report what I fully expect to be a triumph, Thank you for another wonderful recipe.
Katrin says
Glad you all liked it!!!
Ioana says
Hi Katrin,
Thank you for your reply. For some reason I couldn’t reply directly to your comment, sorry. I will definitely try the fathead pizza dough now that I made your cinnamon rolls (awesome, btw!) and I saw how easy it is to work with a dough made mainly of cheese. I guess I was just not ready to process this information, lol.
Thanks for all the yummy recipes and the information you offer in there, I’m glad I discovered your page.
Ioana
Ioana says
Hi Katrin,
After reading your recipe and by the look of the bread (which I can’t wait to try tomorrow morning! 🙂 ), I’m wondering if the dough/ batter would work for a pizza base? I’ve been on Keto for a couple of months now and I kinda miss pizza – and for some reason, I’m not ready yet to jump in the fathead pizza dough boat. Everywhere I look online that seems to be the only thing people are using for pizza, but I’d rather have a more “real” feel/ texture/ crumb to it.
So, have you ever tried using it as a pizza base, please?
Thank you!
Katrin says
I have never tried it, but I guess it could work. However, the fathead pizza dough is AMAZING and you REALLY should try it – it comes close to an actual pizza base. I have a super easy recipe on my site, you should check it out – low carb pizza.
James says
Mine’s just come out of the oven. Should I leave to cool in the tin or take it out?
Katrin says
Definitely let it cool completely in the tin, unless you used parchment paper.