The low-carb 3 seed bread that kiwis and Aussies are raving about. Perfect with melted butter and only has 1.9 net grams carbs per slice!
This bread is absolutely perfect with melted butter and Vegemite or Marmite (depending on which side of the ditch you live in). It is gluten-free, grain-free, and a super easy recipe to make.
By the way, if you are missing bread when living low-carb, I've got your back!!! I have a whole list of easy recipes so you can make your own bread.
Jump to:
What is multigrain bread (without grains)?
The original recipe for multigrain bread contains wholegrains, whole wheat flour, white flour, yeast, sugar (maple syrup or honey), all purpose flour, oats and a selection of your favorite grains.
But since we are following a low carb diet (or keto diet) then we don't eat grains and are sugar free, so what ingredients do we use in a multigrain bread?
Easy. Healthy whole seeds, water, eggs and simple psyllium husk. Your whole family will love this heavy seeded sandwich bread.
What is so special about seeded bread?
This seeded bread is soft, yet dense enough to replace a true multigrain bread. This fluffy bread has a seeded crunchy topping. Be sure to sprinkle seeds on the top of your loaf before baking. Sesame seeds and poppy seeds are especially delicious for sandwich bread.
As I was developing the bread recipe, I posted a little video on Instagram and this is when I finally knew my low carb bread recipe was perfect. I served it warm with butter and Vegemite dripping off the sides, well it received thousands of views and so many hilarious comments.
Oh hell to the yes!!! - Omggggggg thank you thank you Libby - You have made my day - Yummmmm!!!!!! Looks delish! - I've actually been dreaming of a seed loaf, toasted, with crunchy peanut butter
For those of you far far away from us Kiwis and Aussies, a famous snack is to enjoy Vogels bread (which is a whole grain, seeded loaf with many variations) toasted (some swear you must toast it twice for the authentic crunch) then slap on plenty of butter and as much Vegemite or Marmite as you can handle.
These are rich, thick, black yeast extract spreads which have a wonderful beefy salty flavour (although it is actually meat-free). You generally love'em or hate'em.
Yeast spreads have a tiny amount of barley extract (i.e.: sugar) but because yeast extracts are so powerful (read: strong) you only need a small amount. So, in reality, it is negligible.
But as always, read labels. Some other yeast extracts available around the world have thickeners, cornstarch, cornflour and wheat.
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Which low carb flour is best?
The most popular low carb and keto bread recipes are my low carb almond flour bread and keto coconut flour bread. But not everyone likes these keto flours.
It took me quite some time to develop the perfect low-carb hearty seed bread. I used coconut flour and psyllium husk powder. However, psyllium is a tricky flour alternative to work with. It never actually cooks properly because it is so absorbent of liquids.
Here are some other considerations I took in when developing this recipe. I'm proud to say I met them all!
- It had to be almond-flour-free (so it can be included at schools with a nut-free policy).
- It had to be easy to make (no one likes fussy recipes)
- Use the minimum amount of eggs (too many readers are sensitive to the taste that many low-carb bread recipes have that use a large number of eggs in the recipe).
How to tell when the bread is cooked
You can tell when the centre of this bread has completely cooked when a knife pushed into the centre comes out clean and dry. There is no raw bread dough sticking to the knife.
However, it's also perfectly fine for the middle of the loaf to appear to be a little soft and moist. That is how it should be and will still toast beautifully.
What are the best toppings for seed bread?
We've already talked about how this is the perfect vehicle for Vegemite or Marmite. But, don't just stop there! These are my favorite ways to serve this keto seed bread.
- Toasted with my sugar-free Nutella
- Layered with sugar-free chia jam
- Toasted with the Ultimate LCHF breakfast
- Sliced with the Big Breakfast
- Squares toasted twice, then floated in slow cooker bacon and pumpkin soup
- Sliced fresh with easy egg salad on top
- Almond butter and cream cheese
Want even more ideas? Check out my school lunch box ideas. And take a look at my book Low Carb Easy Family Meals - how to be a low carb family. It's a great way for everyone to start living low carb, ditch the sugars and ditch the junk food once and for all.
Which seeds do you need for this bread recipe?
As the name suggests, I used three different types of seeds in this recipe. For this homemade bread, the main ingredients are chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. These seeds work best for gluten-free seed bread because they are small enough to add to the flavor and texture without having too bold of a taste.
What equipment do you need?
Good news. You don't need any fancy equipment. No bread maker is needed. You don't need a food processor. You simply need one large bowl and a measuring cup.
Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients in one large bowl. You don't need to wait for the dough to rise, to wrap in plastic wrap or to sit in a warm cupboard that most traditional bread recipes require.
Is this keto seed bread gluten free?
Yes, this keto loaf of bread is naturally gluten-free. The only type of flour I used is coconut flour and psyllium husks. Both of which do not contain any gluten (but please check your brand carefully for their cross-contamination policy).
Which pan to use?
To bake the perfect sandwich bread, use a loaf tin (loaf pan), lined with parchment paper. By lining your baking tin, makes it easy to remove the hot loaf and place it onto a cooling rack. Even though the baked loaf will smell delicious, please try to hold yourself back and wait until it has completely cooled before slicing with a bread knife.
How to store bread
For best results, store your homemade sandwich bread in an airtight container. The bread will stay fresh for up to 3 days in the fridge, or sliced in the freezer, for up to one month.
When you want a slice of bread, remove one or two slices from the freezer and place them on a plate at room temperature to defrost in less than an hour, place in the microwave for 20 seconds or toast in the toaster.
So next time you make a loaf, why not make a two or three loaves of bread so you have a lot of bread, sliced, frozen and ready to go. You can vary each recipe to use a variety of nuts, you could cut some thick hearty slice and some thin sliced.
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📖 Recipe
Low-Carb 3 Seed Bread
Recipe Video (tap to play)
Calculate ingredients
Ingredients
- 35 g (¼ cup) chia seeds
- 75 g (½ cup) sunflower seeds
- 75 g (½ cup) pumpkin seeds
- 25 g (¼ cup) coconut flour
- 75 g (1 cup) psyllium husks
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt optional
- 50 g (½ stick) butter melted
- 2 eggs - medium
- 250 ml (1 cup) water warm
Instructions
- Place all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir.
- Add the melted butter and eggs. Stir until almost mixed.
- Add the warm water and stir until all the ingredients are full incorporated.
- Place in a loaf tin and bake at 180C/350F for 35-45 minutes. Ensure it is golden on the outside and cooked in the centre. Cooking times may vary with each oven.
Nutrition
More low-carb bread recipes you may like:
Milos
Great recipe, i loved it!
I was wondering if it is possible to use a mixture 80% plantain seed psyllium (Plantago psyllium), 20% plantago ovoid scales (Plantago ovata) or would it ruin everything?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
I'm afraid that would be another recipe entirely and need full recipe development to ensure it works. If you have success, I'd love for you to come back and let us know. Many readers share their adaptations and tweaks so we can all get some new recipe inspiration from one another.
Betty
I just tried this bread recipe. It looked and tasted like sawdust. How can anybody eat this stuff??
Zoe
Made this today, fantastic alternative to all the almond flour low carb breads. My only small issue is that it's a bit bland, but that does make it quite versatile. I enjoyed it with smoked salmon and cream cheese for lunch today. So pleased I found this recipe, thanks Libby!
Betty
Can I substitute psyllium husk powder for psyllium husks in the low-carb three seed bread recipe? If so, how much powder do I substitute for 1 cup of psyllium husks?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
You could omit it entirely from this recipe, just be aware I developed the recipe using it because the psyllium helps to create a lovely bread texture and stops it from being crumbly. If you do buy psyllium, here are a whole variety of recipes that use it so you will end up utilising the whole bag (I hate to waste ingredients too).
Carole
Hi,
I wondered the same thing as previous poster, not about omitting the psyllium but how much does 75g of psyllium husk convert to psyllium powder?
Thanks!
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
75g husk is the same as 75g powder but it will appear to be more by volume. That's the beauty of cooking by weight and not by volume, it's the same 🙂
Tammy
I accidentally bought psyllium husk powder and added a cup and it’s very dry and crumbly before I even added it to the pan. I added another entire cup of warm water and no change. I guess I still don’t understand the conversion of husk to powder?
Urupikia
Hi, I'm a little confused with the nutrition facts panel. Does this mean these are the amounts per slice? So 1 slice has 107 Calories?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Yes, per slice.
Sonia
Hi Libby
This looks like a great recipe. I am wondering at the possibilty of doubling the recipe and putting in same size tin but cooking longer. Not for me but for my daughter (pre sliced and frozen) at boarding school, (no gluten, but trying to cut back on her carbs without actually going keto. A taller loaf would would better mimic ordinary bread for toated sanwiches and such at boarding school. Your thoughts
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Gosh. I would have to experiment with that to make a 100% accurate suggestion on cooking times. If you were to double the recipe BUT put it in the same size pan, the loaf would be much taller (as you mentioned) so my initial thoughts would be you may have trouble ensuring the centre is cooked whilst the outside may begin to burn. Saying that, as long as you kept a very close eye on it you may just be lucky enough for this to work. But I think it will be a very fine balancing act. Let me know how you get on.
Helen
Hi there,
I’m going to try this today, but I was just wondering what size loaf tin you use. Is it 400g/1lb or 800g/2lb? The bread looks amazing. Can wait to try it!
Thank you!
Laurie A Phillips
Hi Libby,
Could I substitute almond for the coconut flour...? I really don't like the taste of coconut flour but love coconut.
Thanks
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
No, you can not substitute them out, they have completely different properties and require totally different amount of eggs and wet: dry ratios. You may wish to read The Ultimate Guide To Coconut Flour vs Almond Flour. Always use recipes that have been developed using the flour you have on hand.
Santelle
Wow!! Made this just now, grinding half of the seeds and keeping the other half whole. And boy, it’s AMAZING!! Thank you!
Santelle
Oh and I rolled into an oval ball and baked it on a flat oven dish. So it created a nice crispy crust all round. Definitely a winner!!
Moira
Hi............what sized loaf tin please ? It looks to be smaller than a regular 9x5 . I'm so looking forward to baking this, it sounds like my dream bread I used to have in Germany, I loved the unsalted taste of it years ago.
M.
I made this tonight but used more butter than it called for. Everything else was right on the money. It seems as if something was missing taste wise.I chose not to use salt as there is salt in the butter. I'm wondering if it could be using coconut flour as I normally use almond flour for low carb rolls. Any thoughts?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
The recipe can't be easily swapped for almond flour, they work in completely different ways. You may wish to read this article. Coconut flour vs almond flour. I wonder if you did need to add the salt as per recipe. I use salted butter but think it requires additional salt to give it a real deep flavour of all the seeds and nuts.
M/
I made the recipe again with the correct portion of melted butter. In my opinion, it had absolutely no flavor. In my opinion, an epic fail. I'll with my almond flour based rolls, but I am glad that a lot of people enjoy this.
Hpyzm
I ended up putting 500mls of warm water in because it looked too crumbly and it’s turned out to be a slimy gluey texture in the middle please advise
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
You added too much water, the recipe only required 250ml, not 500ml.
Chris
I am really looking forward to making this, it looks delicious.
I would just like to say thank you for all your lovely recipes, work and time you put into this site.
I am really looking forward to going low carb and so glad I came across your site ?
Ann
Quite fun! Used psyllium powder (3/4 cup) as I didn’t have husks. Don’t have anything to compare it to but we love it and your chia jam recipe. Thanks!
Lisa
Hi there
Looking forward to making this tonight because OMG the only thing I miss is my Vogel’s and Peanut Butter in the morning. Quick question as I am a yeast gal, Neroli, when you added yeast did you omit the baking powder, or did you use both?
Anna Mizzi
Fabulous loaf - easy to make and so delicious with butter and GF Vegemite. Thanks so much for this recipe Libby. ?
Debbie
Hi. I made it 100% per you recipe and it rose up beautifully and then totally flopped down when I took out of the oven. Any idea why. Also what tin size?
Ioana
Made this the other day and it's a wonderful, tasty bread! Very unusual due to the density given by the seeds but oh so flavorful! Didn't have pumpkin seeds so I used two tablespoons of hemp hearts instead, and cut it in 24 slices instead of 15. Because any Keto bread I've tried so far is so dense and filling I always end up cutting them in way more slices than the servings given by the recipe - and find them satisfactory enough, with whatever I use for the sandwich. Only thing that went a little wrong was me using by mistake a bigger loaf pan (9 x 5) which gave me a pretty low bread; next time I'll be paying more attention. 🙂
Thanks for the great recipe!
Aliana
I want to know how many grams of 1 cup Coconut flour .
Thanks.
Veronica O'Grady
Love this recipe. I had to swap out coconut flour with almond because I got home from thr shops and realised I was out of coconut flour. Laziness can be need for invention. So one cup of almond flour later and a halvsies swap out of pumpkin seed for activated walnuts and pecans... Voila a damn fine loaf of bread
Hélène
Do we need to use chia to absorb some liquid or could I sub poppy seeds or even sesame?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
They would be lovely. The chia seeds do absrob some liquid so add your substitutions of the poppy seed or sesame seeds then monitor how much additional coconut flour may need to be added.
Dee
Are the pumpkin and sunflower seeds raw or roasted -salted or unsalted?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Raw and unsalted - great question.
Nana Rubina
Mixed all ingredients and the whole thing was so dry and glued together... Added more water but it didn't help.. very disappointed...
Jo-Ann Howell
Oh-Em-Gee, what I miss most about a low carb lifestyle is MARMITE! I am stopping everything, ignoring my 3 page to-do list, and I am off to make this bread so that when hunger strikes mid-arvo I'll get to enjoy a yummy slice of marmite on toast <3
Thank you Libby, so many of your recipes are completely awesome 🙂
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Awesome!!!! I miss buttery vegemite/marmite on toast too (although we have thrown away our toaster so it makes life a little tricky). Now run and enjoy your toast! 🙂
Vanessa Rouse
Have just made this recipe (all the right quantities) and its awesome, so happy 😊 id love to try doubling the recipe to get a taller loaf, might try next time.
Thanks so much, love it 😀
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Hey there Vanessa, I'm so glad you love this 3-seed bread. I love it toasted or fried with butter, avocado and plenty of salt and pepper. I would suggest not to double toe recipe and make it in a taller loaf tin. Because it is such a dense bread, you may have trouble ensuring the centre is cooked before the crust is overcooked. But if you give it a go, please come back and let me know how it went.
Jamey
Hi, I am going to try making your receipt this weekend. Was wondering what you thought about substituting whole flax seeds for the pumpkin seeds? I have a large container of them and want to use them up, but if you think pumpkin works better I will buy them. If you think the flax seeds would work, would I use the same amount? Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing back from you.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Maybe try half pumpkin with half flax seeds to give the bread a lovely variety of texture and flavours - yum!
Nancy Clark
Is it possible to grind up the larger seeds so they're not so big to use in this recipe?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Sure thing, but I like the big seeds in this recipe to replicate the savoury seeded whole loaf I miss. But grinding the seeds up to be a bit finer would work. You may need to add a little more liquid ingredients as there would be added seed powder now.
Maria
I'm sure you can but the more one chews one's food, particularly any bread, one won't eat so much!
Kate
Question: how many ounces of butter should be used? I find that “sticks” of butter can vary between brands. Really looking forward to making this! Thank you!!
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
1 stick is a standard US measurement = 113g butter or 1/2 cup. This recipe calls for 50g butter which is the equivalent of 1/2stick (give or take a few grams, it's not imperative).
Marzi
This looks great, I will try to make this. Could you substitute ground flax seeds for the chia seeds? Since when combined with water, chia seeds form a gel-like substance, suitable for replacing eggs-- and ground flax seeds do the same.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
I have never tried this substitution. If you give it a go, I'd love to know how it works out.
Rachel
We love this bread but found it a little too "lumpy" with the large seeds.It made it difficult to cut and toast.
We tried it again after whizzing the seeds slightly in the blender to break them up a bit. Much better texture, easier to cut thinly, toast, slightly more "nutty" flavour.
Definitely fab with butter and marmite.
Jan
Just made this - delicious! 5*
Sonia Mehrotra
Hi Libby...thank you for a lovely recipe. We loved the bread. I doubled the ingredients and baked on a cookie sheet (14x10). It baked evenly with a lovely crust. My question is regarding the macros...I just checked the recipe on a USDA database. The macros were as follows...fat -11.8 g.......protein-6.5g and carbohydrate 19.8g and fibre was 13.4g. For some reason there is a discrepancy...would appreciate your input.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Are you sure you didn't double the nutrition values too? Or possibly that you did not include that you made double the servings? My nutrition is per slice. I use cronometer.com which are the USDA database too. My recipe makes 15 slices. There is something really out of whack with your calculations, it's probably something as simple as adjusting the servings you actually made.
Sonia Mehrotra
Hi Libby... I took all your concerns into consideration and checked 3 times and I actually put in ingredients without doubling the recipe for 15 slices. I use your recipes fairly often and have not had this problem before. I need to mind my calories as well as macros so I generally check almost everything I cook as well as recipes from keto blogs. The website i use is this one:
https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
I too am trying to figure out what I’m missing unless any one of the ingredients is showing wrong nutritional info. So far I have gotten mostly similar macro info for other recipes. Thanks
Sonia Mehrotra
Hi Libby ...I tried again just now and the macros came out similar to yours. My Son tells me this happens sometimes when apps fail to update data in real time( not being tech savvy I’m not sure I understand that). Please accept my apologies. Thanks
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Hey, absolutely no problem whatsoever 🙂 It was a superb question and a good learning curve. I'm sure someone else reading it will learn too 🙂