This Teff Bread is perfectly crusty on the outside and soft on the inside with a rich & unique flavor just like our top-rated 100% buckwheat bread. This teff bread is not gummy, is easy to make, and will leave you craving more!
Teff flour is rich in dietary fiber and protein, and it has a unique flavor that makes me want to eat this bread again and again.
Psyllium husk allows for a bready and chewy texture, while an addition of tapioca or potato starches creates a soft and airy crumb. If you like baking with naturally gluten-free flours, try this budget-friendly gluten-free corn flour sandwich bread!
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- This teff bread tastes like a regular rustic loaf!
- You only need the basic ingredients, no eggs, dairy, or gums, just like in this popular psyllium husk bread recipe.
- This loaf is perfectly crusty on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, just like my gluten-free vegan sourdough bread!
Ingredients for Teff Bread
- Starch - use potato, cornstarch, tapioca, or arrowroot starch. You can also use a combination of starches in this recipe!
- Psyllium husk - I recommend using whole husks, although psyllium powder can be used, too.
- Yeast - use instant or fresh yeast, avoid active dry yeast as it requires activation before use.
- Vinegar - I use apple cider vinegar. It is meant to help the yeast activate better!
- Teff flour - use either light or dark teff flour for this recipe. The darker the flour the stronger the flavor!
Substitutes
- Teff - if you don't have teff, try my brown rice bread or this sorghum flour bread instead.
- Psyllium husk - I don't recommend substituting psyllium husk unless you can't tolerate it. Here is a list of psyllium husk substitutes in baking for you to consider! I've had the best success using Konjac vs. any other psyllium substitute.
How to Make Teff Bread
Step 1
Make psyllium gel by mixing psyllium husks and water (for detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card!).
Step 2
Mix the dry ingredients until combined, then add the liquids ingredients and mix the dough.
Step 3
Use an electric mixer, a wooden spoon, or mix by hand until the dough is smooth and fully incorporated.
Step 4
Shape the loaf on a lightly floured working surface as you see in the pictures.
Shape the loaf into a batard or a boule.
Step 5
Spread some sesame seeds on a small plate and dip one of the sides of the dough into them.
Step 6
Place the dough into a well-floured proofing basket or a mixing bowl lined with a kitchen towel seeded side down.
Let the dough rise for about 1 hour or until it rises by ½ or ⅔ of its size. It shouldn't double in size!
Step 7
Transfer the loaf into a Dutch oven and place the cold Dutch oven into the cold oven (we are doing a cold start, no preheating). When the oven reaches 450°F/230C, start the timer and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and bake on the oven rack for another 40 minutes.
Transfer the teff bread onto a cooling rack and let it sit until no longer warm to the touch!
Storing
Store this bread in a bread box or a bread bag for up to a week. You can slice and freeze this bread to keep it fresh!
To defrost, simply place a piece or two into the microwave for 30-60 seconds.
Expert tips
- Don't let your bread rise too much or it will deflate during baking.
- You can bake this bread in a bread pan if you place a dish with water at the bottom of the oven for the first 30 minutes of baking.
- If the bottom of the bread burns, try baking for less. I like to bake this bread on the middle rack after the first 30 minutes with a baking sheet at the bottom of the oven. This ensures my bread doesn't burn on the bottom!
- For a bread machine, check out these gluten-free bread machine recipes!
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Easy Teff Bread (Gluten-Free & Vegan)
Ingredients
- 20 grams whole psyllium husk
- 400 grams water
- 20 grams sugar
- 12 grams apple cider vinegar
- 8 grams instant yeast or 20g of fresh yeast
- 200 grams teff flour
- 200 grams starch of choice, potato, corn, tapioca, arrowroot starches are good, or you can use a mix of a few types
- 12 grams salt
- 40 grams sunflower seeds, optional
- sesame seeds for topping, optional
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Instructions
- Add psyllium husk and water to a middle-sized bowl and whisk to incorporate. Then, add the sugar and apple cider vinegar. Set aside for a couple of minutes to let the gel form!
- Mix 200g of teff flour, 200g of starch, and 12g of salt in a large bowl. Then, add the psyllium gel and yeast.Bring the dough together by hand or with a wooden spoon. You can also use an electric mixer if you prefer.
- Turn the dough over onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a ball by folding each side onto the center of the dough, flipping it, and smoothing out the edges by making turning movements with your hands. See the pictures in the post for illustration.
- Spread some sesame seeds on a small plate and dip one of the sides of the dough into it.
- Place the dough into a well-floured proofing basket or a mixing bowl lined with a kitchen towel seeded side down. Let the dough rise for about 1 hour or until it rises by ½ or ⅔ of its size. It shouldn't double in size!
- Turn the dough over onto a piece of parchment paper. Be careful not to drop the dough but rather transfer it slowly and gently to preserve the air bubbles.
- Lower the bread into a Dutch oven, place it into the oven, and turn the oven on to 450F/435F. We are not preheating the oven in this method, the "cold start" works just as great as baking in a preheated oven!
- Wait until the oven gets to the right temperature and set the timer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, take the bread out of the Dutch oven and transfer it onto the baking rack.
- Lower the temperature to 400F/200C and bake for another 40 minutes.
- Cool the bread on a cooling rack until no longer warm to the touch. Enjoy!
Peg says
Can I make this in a loaf pan and do I cover it?
Natasha Levai says
Hi Peg! I think you can, but I haven't tried this specific recipe in a loaf pan. My prediction is that it will be denser in a loaf pan! If you bake in a loaf pan, keep baking times the same along with the temperatures, only place a tray with ice or water in the bottom of the oven for the first part of baking.
tim Johnston says
Could you please recommend a bread machine recipe for a GF loaf, using Brown Teff Flour as my main flour, I can also use a blend of Tapioca, Potato and rice flower for my starch. I get both these flours free on prescription? Regards
Natasha Levai says
Hi Tim! I am not sure what you mean getting flours free on prescription, but when it comes to bread machines, you can refer to this article for recommendations: https://www.natashashome.com/gluten-free-bread-machine-recipes/
Cathy says
I love this bread so much I can’t express how much I love it. It reminds me of a dark bread I used to eat before Celiac disease. I’ve tried so many breads but this is AMAZING!
Do you have a Dutch oven buckwheat bread recipe? Or can your other buckwheat bread be made in the Dutch oven?
How is teff flour for cookies or muffins?
Thank you for sharing your recipes with us.
Natasha Levai says
Hi Cathy! I wish I could experiment with teff for cookies and muffins but in the last few years teff hasn't been sold in my country due to shortage. I have a buckwheat sourdough bread recipe made in a Dutch oven here: https://www.natashashome.com/buckwheat-sourdough-bread/
Kellie says
What kind of starch do you recommend? I saw you listed a few options but I wondered which one you yourself use. Hoping to have better success in asking. Thanks!
Natasha Levai says
Hi Kellie! I personally prefer a combination of tapioca and potato starch!
Kellie says
Thank you so much! I’m not personally gluten free but I have two sisters that became celiac in their late teens/mid 20’s so I’m helping them navigate this change when they remember regular bread taste. I so appreciate your help and amazing recipe. I’m excited to give it a go!
Natasha Levai says
Hi Kellie! Let me know how they liked it!
Kim says
If adding optional sunflower seeds, at what step are they added?
Natasha Levai says
Hi Kim! Add the sunflower seeds when you are mixing the dry ingredients. But really it doesn't matter so much at what point you add them!
Kim says
Mine won’t turn out as I used chia seeds not psyllium husk cause Iam allergic
Jackie Schaefer says
Would really like to try this recipe, but I only have psyllium husk powder. Can I use it instead of the whole? What modifications would I need to make? I’m fairly new to gf bread making…
Thanks!
Natasha Levai says
i Jackie! Psyllium powder is fine, it might clump in water, so make sure to use cold water for psyllium gel and whisk it as soon as you add the psyllium powder to reduce the clump formation as much as you can! Otherwise, the general recommendation is to use 15% less powder than whole husks. So, if the recipe calls for 20g psyllium, you will need about 18g of powder.
Jackie Moore says
I would like to make this bread but am confused. It calls for 400 grams water, divided, yet says to mix psyllium husk with water (no division there).
Natasha Levai says
Hi Jackie! You can use all the water in the psyllium gel step. Sorry for the confusion! I don't know why I wrote "divided", I just fixed the wording.
Helen says
Hi Natasha, I am curious about the amount of salt needed.
I myself don't add much if any salt in baking for health reasons. Does this bread require this amount of salt or is it possible to reduce the salt a little please?
I am new to gluten free baking as my daughter has recently been diagnosed as gluten intolerant, so it's all feeling strange and a massive learning curve at the moment.
I am loving your website and hope that I can feel a lot more confident in my gf baking skills in the future.
Best wishes from the UK.
Helen
Natasha Levai says
Hi Helen! You can decrease the salt to your taste, salt doesn't play a big role in texture formation, so it is totally up to you how much of it to use!
Jennifer says
So good we thought it wasn’t gluten free. Question: do you wait for the oven temperature to go down to 400 before you put it back for the last bake? Or can you put it in the oven right away, after you switch it to the baking rack? Thanks
Natasha Levai says
Hi Jennifer! I am glad you liked this bread! I place the bread in the oven right away without waiting.
Rose says
hello Natasha nice teff bread but very high carbs-96.4? for howmany slices is that?
Natasha Levai says
Hi Rose! That number is for the whole loaf.
Liz Landau says
This teff loaf is baking now in the dutch oven. My husband loves bread as much as he loves cake! Today is his birthday so he's getting birthday bread with dinner.
I've been baking gluten free for over 20 years and always looking for improvements in recipes. I think I found you, Natasha on FB.....first recipe of yours I'm trying. The house smells like a celebration!
Natasha Levai says
Hi Liz! Excited to know how the bread turned out!
Lone Muchow says
I will have to try this, I use teff all the time together with other diff, gf flours for my version of gf danish pumpernickel bread or also called rugbrød. I always use powdered psyllium husk , as long as it it by weight it should work the same.
Wendy Taylor says
I’m going to try this - Thank you!
To be clear, you are Not using your sourdough starter in this recipe, correct?
Curious as to why not and how you would adjust recipe if you could…
Natasha Levai says
Hi Wendy! Sometimes I make recipes with baker's yeast and sometimes with a starter 🙂 I am planning on making a teff sourdough recipe at some point too! You can check my sourdough bread recipe and use teff flour in place of brown rice and sorghum.
Wendy Taylor says
Hi Natasha,
I made this and it came out wonderfully! I can’t have wheat or nightshade flours so your website/recipes/articles are excellent. You offer what I’ve found to be uniquely valuable advice / information and I am so grateful for that! I look forward to continuing to benefit from your website and resources in my bread baking journey.
Thank you!