Flourless oat and seed bread

This was one of those recipes that cropped up one too many times. Eventually I could no longer resist and bought some psyllium seed husk, despite the fact I am supposed to be only using things up in the pantry these days. It is a sort of a gluten-free bread, but with no flour at all - it is packed with seeds and oats and the binding is purely by chia, flax and psyllium seed husk.

I made this shortly before leaving for Scotland (ten days ago), and froze some slices. I remembered it on the journey home and looked forward to its deliciousness all the rest of the way.

The first time I saw this recipe was here (thanks to LB), and the deciding time, the one that precipitated me making it at last (and the one I followed), was here.

2 1/4 cups (235g) oats (GF oats if you want it to be properly gluten free)
1 cup (160g) sunflower seeds
1/2 cup (65g) pumpkin seeds
3/4 cup (90g) almonds, roughly chopped
3/4 cup (120g) flax seeds
1/3 cup (25g) psyllium seed husks (I bought from Trader Joe's)
3 tbsp (25g) chia seeds
2 tsp (12g) sea salt
2 tbsp (40g) maple syrup
1/4 cup (55g) olive oil
2 1/2 cups (600g) water

Oil a loaf tin. If you like, toast the almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then add the oil, maple syrup and water and mix well with your hands. Transfer to the oiled loaf tin and put in the fridge for somewhere between two and 24 hours (overnight might be convenient).

Take the loaf tin out of the fridge and let come to room temp. Heat the oven to 400F / 200C. Bake for about an hour, then take out and let cool a bit before tipping out onto a cooling rack and allowing to cool completely (at least two hours).


This reminds me of a seedy soda bread I used to make - dense and full of crunch and delicious toasty seeds. Basically, if you like toasted seeds, you'll like this. Toasts well (including from the freezer); good with hummus or avocado. I pretty much decided that toasting seeds is unnecessary faff. Lots of substitutions possible - the flax, chia and psyllium have to stay but the sunflower and pumpkin seeds could be mixed with other seeds, the almonds switched for hazelnuts or other nuts, dried fruit would probably be interesting, honey or brown sugar instead of maple, coconut or other oil instead of olive...