Millet Bread
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This gluten-free millet bread is such a delicious recipe. It’s a healthy, affordable alternative to store-bought gluten-free sandwich bread.
One of the biggest challenges of a gluten-free diet is finding a decent loaf of bread to eat. The store-bought loaves tend to be very expensive and not so tasty.
It’s difficult to find a recipe that doesn’t contain at least 6 different types of flour in it. Who wants to buy all that flour? Also, the price of gluten-free flour is much higher than that of regular flour, which is discouraging. I know that some gluten-free folks give up on bread altogether because of these challenges.
I’m someone who could never give up bread. The convenience of a sandwich is a comfort that I need in my life. After going gluten-free several years ago, I tried a few bread recipes, but none of them came out well.
At the suggestion of a nutritionist, I started ordering millet flax bread from a bakery called Sami’s. For gluten-free bread, they have really good stuff, but it becomes expensive to order it regularly.
So after a while, I decided it was time to figure out how to make a good loaf of gluten-free bread myself. I’m happy to say that I’ve done it with this millet bread recipe. It’s soft and hearty, and it makes a great sandwich.
Millet Bread Tips
For this millet bread, the yeast needs to be properly activated first. Heat water to a temperature of 115 degrees, then mix the yeast and sugar together in the warm water. The mixture should become frothy within about 15 minutes. If it doesn’t get frothy, throw it away and use another package of yeast. The bread won’t rise properly if the yeast isn’t good.
After you place the dough in a loaf pan, cover it with a warm, wet kitchen towel and let it rise to the top of the pan. This takes between 45 and 90 minutes, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. If you let the dough rise too much, the millet bread loaf may collapse in the middle during baking.
This bread tastes wonderful right out of the oven, and it’s delicious the day it’s made. The texture isn’t as good the next day, so I like to freeze the portion I won’t be using the day it’s made.
For the best results, you can slice this millet bread before putting it in the freezer. Freeze it in pairs of slices so you can take out just enough for a sandwich. You can toast it, or defrost it on the counter until it reaches room temperature.
For the millet flour, you can buy millet from the bulk bins at Whole Foods and grind just the right amount into flour using a coffee grinder. Otherwise, I like Bob’s Red Mill for the millet flour as well as the brown rice flour, tapioca starch, and flax meal.
Visit my gallery of gluten free recipes for lots of other ideas of how you can enjoy gluten free snacks and meals.
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp sugar (or honey)
- 1 cup water heated to 115 degrees
- 1 1/4 cup millet flour
- 3/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1/4 cup flax meal
- 2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 2 tbs honey
Instructions
- Proof the yeast by mixing the yeast, sugar, and warm water together in a small bowl or measuring cup. It will begin to get frothy after about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Combine the millet flour, tapioca starch, brown rice flour, flax meal, xanthan gum, and salt in a medium bowl.
- In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, olive oil, and honey. Add the yeast/water mixture. Stir in the dry ingredients and mix until fully combined.
- Transfer the dough to a 1 pound (9 inch x 5 inch) greased loaf pan.
- Cover the pan with a warm wet towel and let the dough rise. It should take between 45 and 90 minutes for the dough to reach the top of the pan (depending on the air temperature).
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- When the dough has risen to the top of the loaf pan, bake it for 40 to 45 minutes. The loaf should rise a bit more while baking, and the top should be well-browned.
- Cool on a wire rack before removing from the pan. This tastes best the day it’s made. You can freeze any leftovers.
Approximate Nutrition Info
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Price Breakdown
The ingredients for this recipe cost a total of $3.07, or $.26 per slice. It’s so liberating to be able to come up with an affordable, tasty loaf of gluten-free bread that I don’t have to order online. Try this millet bread for a great alternative to store-bought gluten-free bread.
Note: This post was originally published in 2012, and it was updated in 2020.
Looks like a great recipe – if you can eat yeast. What I like about Samis is it does not contain yeast (they use the cultured brown rice flour to replace yeast and I’ve not had success with that). Sami’s only uses baking soda in their millet breads. Still trying to find a great bread recipe without yeast.
Food allergies are so tricky! Good luck – I hope you can find something that works for you.
What a great gluten free bread recipe! I’ll have to share it with my friends who have given up eating wheat. 🙂
I’m not much of a baker, but this looks so delicious and easy! Thanks so much for the recipe, will have to give it a go 🙂
wow that bread looks amazing moist and with great color. I am not a baker but would love to make a sandwich or two with this loaf!
Love Love Love this recipe! I’m sure these tastes are amazing! Now, this recipe will be one of my favorites. Looks incredible! THANK YOU!
This looks delicious, I am definitely going to be making this for my family!
This looks wonderful, but I can’t have any grain, including rice. Can it be done with almond flour, maybe?
I haven’t tried it with almond flour, but it’s definitely worth a shot. Please let me know if you try it!
I love Sami’s Bakery, but we don’t live in Florida anymore and I have been too cheap to order it and have it shipped. I’ll have to try this. Thanks.
Has anyone tried this in a bread machine?
I haven’t, Kate, but I think it would work. Let us know if you try it.
I made this the other day and it was really good!
I also had the problem with the rising and then “collapsing” in the oven, but I will try your tip about the light in the oven and not let it rise too much.
It was still really good, though.
My husband and son both eat normal bread and they both preferred this GF one on the normal one.
Thanks for a great recipe 🙂
I’m so glad everyone liked it, Noa!
Do you know of a recipe like this that is also yeast free?
I don’t Dianne, but I bet you could find one if you do an online search.
My family loves this bread! My only problem is getting it to rise! I follow recipe and check water temp…when covering with a towel I just use a tea towel I notice the towel gets cool quick am I supposed to keep rewetting it or use a big towel?
Cortney, it rises better in a warm environment. Try putting it the oven with the light on during the rise time (but don’t turn the oven on). The light from the oven might warm things up enough to get a good rise.
Well I tried ur trick of using the oven light n it works like a charm but bread seems to fall a little more n more as it bakes can u tell me what I could b doin wrong? Sorry for all the trouble
I love your persistence! When bread caves in while it’s baking, it means you let it rise too much before you put it in the oven. So try the oven light trick again, but don’t let it rise quite as much. It’s never going to be perfect with gluten-free flour, but hopefully you’ll find the right rise point to keep it from caving in.
This bread just came out of my oven. Love it! So easy to make. Just the right amount of honey/sweetness to this bread.
Thanks, Donna! So glad to hear that you like it.
This bread is amazing!!! I have searched and searched for a good gluten free bread recipe and I am now satisfied. My sister told me about Sami’s bread. I used to bake homemade gluten bread all the time so of course I went on a search for a recipe like Sami’s bread (though I never tried it her raves were worth the search). Feeding a family of 7 on a gluten free diet can be spendy not to mention bending over backwards to make up for the gluten recipes we once enjoyed. We also stay away from refined sugar. So, long story short…I doubled this recipe and it came out scrumptious. Everyone was pleased and my kids were jumping for joy. I made some modifications: I subbed some milk for some of the water. For the process I mixed xanthan gum with the oil to ensure even distribution of the xanthan gum. For mixing I followed King Arthur’s gluten-free bread making process and only did one rise (instead of two that they do for their bread). When the bread came out I buttered the top and covered it with a towel to keep in the moisture. When cooled I took it out of the pan and sliced it. WOW!!! AMAZING!!! Thank you SOOOOO much. Wish I could hug you!
Thank you so much for this wonderful report! I’m very happy for you and your family. It can be difficult to find GF substitutions at first. There’s nothing like a fresh loaf of bread coming out of the oven. 🙂
is there a way to make this without eggs? i have to avoid all the usuals but can eat eggs….
I haven’t tried this bread without eggs, but you could probably use flax eggs. Let me know if you try it!
I am so grateful to you for this recipe! We loved Sami’s bread for our highly allergic little boys but it is very pricey (6.05 at local store) and they have started using potato flour which is an anaphylactic no-no for our 5 year old. Wondering if anyone has tried this recipe without the eggs? We can’t have those either. Will likely try “flax egg” first but thought I would see if anyone else has substituted with success. Thank you, again!
I’m so glad you found the recipe, Valerie! That Sami’s bread is great, but the price is hard to swallow. I haven’t tried this without eggs, but flax eggs should be fine. You’ll want to add a little more yeast or a tsp. of baking powder though, because the egg does help the loaf to rise. Let me know how it turns out.