True story: I used to be a total carboholic, and bread was my number one choice of food. But after having to go grain free, I thought those days were over. Was gluten free bread an oxymoron? Was it possible to make a grain free bread, and at that, a good one? Well today I’m introducing a paleo cassava bread recipe, an easy to make paleo bread that’s free of nuts and grains! Let’s take a look!
Easy to make paleo bread
Let me first clarify that my grain free nut free bread is on permanent rotation in our household, but truth be told, my kids are just not huge fans of it. It’s full of seeds, which I like – but my kids are just not as crazy about them:). This paleo cassava bread recipe produces the perfect loaf of bread that slices easily, making it wonderful for toasting, making sandwiches, and simply feeling like just because you are gluten and/or grain free that you can actually enjoy a piece of bread, which is a huge win!
Items to help make this paleo cassava bread recipe:
- Loaf pan – I purchased this glass loaf pan years ago and it’s my far one of my most-used items.
- Parchment paper – This unbleached and chlorine-free parchment paper is a product that I always have in my kitchen and highly recommend.
- Kitchen mixer – While a stand mixer is not necessary, it certainly makes the mixing easier!
- Cassava flour – Cassava flour is a wonderful grain-free paleo flour that I have really enjoyed baking with. Try my 2-ingredient paleo tortillas if you have extra left over!
- Coconut flour – Another wonderful paleo and grain-free flour, coconut flour is unique but a staple in my kitchen, too.
- Arrowroot flour – A grain-free flour that can be used in baking but also for thickening soups, stews and other recipes.
- Box grater – This kitchen tool is great (pardon the pun) for grating cheese, vegetables and even butter, as you’ll do in this recipe!
Questions about cassava flour:
Is Cassava flour healthy? Cassava contains thiamin, phosphorus and small amounts of iron, vitamin C. It’s a starchy root vegetable, so you can feel good about eating that – but honestly, the nutritional breakdown of a cassava isn’t that impressive. On the positive side, Cassava is high in resistant starch, a type of starch that bypasses digestion and has properties similar to soluble fiber. For this reason, cassava can help reduce inflammation and promote digestive health.
Personally speaking, for those who are gluten-free, grain-free or have food allergies, it’s a solid flour alternative that works well in baking. So the question isn’t so much if it’s healthy in my opinion – it’s got an okay makeup and I can eat it. That’s a win in my book.
Is cassava flour anti inflammatory? Because cassava flour is a resistant starch, (which feeds the beneficial bacteria in your gut), it may help reduce inflammation.
A simple recipe for a paleo, nut-free and grain-free bread that's wonderful for toasting, making sandwiches and more.
- 1/2 cup warm water (around 100 - 110 degrees F)
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 4 eggs beaten
- 1 1/3 cups cassava flour
- 1 1/3 cups arrowroot flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 4 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp coconut flour
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Combine the warm water and maple syrup together in a bowl and then sprinkle yeast on top. Set aside to get frothy - this should take 10-15 minutes. When it has doubled it is ready. If it does not froth, the water temp was off or the yeast is old and I advise starting over.
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Sift or stir together cassava flour, arrowroot flour and baking powder. Using a box grater, grate butter into the flour mixture and incorporate. Use a fork and mashed it around until crumbs form.
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Add beaten eggs and yeast mixture to flour mixture. Mix just until it all comes together well. You can use a stand mixture, or mix by hand; this will require some elbow grease, but this is how I make it. Add in coconut flour and mix to combine.
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Let rest about 5 minutes. While this rests, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
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Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and transfer batter into lined pan. Set in a warm place and let bread rise 30-45 minutes.
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Bake 30-35 minutes, remove from oven when done, and immediately take out of pan and allow to cool on a rack.
How to enjoy this paleo cassava bread recipe
- Toasted with butter
- Warmed with some honey ghee added on top
- Slathered with smashed avocado for avocado toast
- Two slices, with your ingredients of choice sandwiched in-between
- Cut into cubes to make your own grain-free croutons
Other gluten free bread recipes you may enjoy:
Grain free carrot cake banana bread
Additional easy Paleo recipes:
Air fryer Paleo zucchini fries
3 Ingredient cookies (Paleo and egg-free)
Healthy Paleo zucchini chocolate chip muffins
2 Ingredient Paleo Tortilla Recipe (Vegan + Grain Free)
This bread is GREAT! It actually looks, feels, and taste like bread. It will be a new staple in our home. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe.
Yay! I’m so glad that you love it. I agree that it is the first gluten free and grain free bread that I’ve had that feels like real bread. Enjoy!
The dough seems dry… should I add water?
The dough is on the drier side. This bread is best used to be toasted; it’s not extremely soft/moist when eaten. I hope this helps!
Do you mix in the seeds at the end? Which do you usually add?
Cassava flour is wonderful. Looking forward to making this bread recipe!
Looks delicious! Yes to avocado toast!
Yes, yes, YES to avocado toast! And this bread is the bomb. I hope you get to try it:).
I noticed you mentioned tapioca flour in the directions, but have arrowroot flour in the list of the ingredients. do you make it both ways? Thanks looks great!
Sorry about that! They are pretty similar, but I do use arrowroot. Updated to reflect this.
Thanks Rodney!
Can I use honey instead of maple syrup?
Yes you can!
I have a friend that can’t have egg also, any ideas?
Hmmm … I know there are some different egg replacers and you can also make a flax egg – or make a few of them in this case. You could try them, but I honestly don’t know how they will work. If you try it, let me know!
I did replaced 2 of the eggswith 1/2 cup water (1/4cup for each egg) plus 1 teaspoon xanthan gum powder.
How did this work for you?
My non-Paleo boyfriend, who bakes wheat flour bread, eats this bread so it’s a winner! High in carbs—consume judiciously but enjoy!
AWesome!! Thanks for sharing and enjoy!
Could I use frozen cassava for this recipe?
I have only used cassava flour in this. Let me know if you try with frozen cassava!
I have a histamine to coconut. I wonder if it could be replaced by almond flour. I may have to try the flax eggs as well.
Let me know if you try it with these changes as I have not tried it. Thanks!
Can you use coconut oil instead of butter?
Hi Deidra,
I honestly haven’t tried it. If you use it, please comment and let us know!
Warm regards,
Kiran
I would like to try this recipe, did you try substituting butter for coconut oil? How did it turn out?
This bread was delicious! I think my yeast was old but I’ll try again.
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed it:).
I made this tonight. All around fantastic!! I used Earth Balance soy free butter substitute in place of the butter and it worked beautifully! I went totally grain free in April of 2015, so finally finding a real BREAD after nearly 5 years is a huge win for me! Can I ask- What does the three tablespoons of coconut flour accomplish? Could it be omitted without sacrificing structure?
So great!! I have a number of other grain free recipes on the site; hope that you are able to try some of those, too.
The coconut flour is absorbent and definitely adds to the structure. I would not advise removing it if possible; there also is not a great substitute for it. Do you have an allergy or sensitivity? If not, I do have other recipes to use coconut flour (if you want to use it) or you can store it in the freezer for a longer shelf life.
Thank you, Kiran! I don’t mind the coconut flour at all. My family sometimes “thinks” they can’t taste the coconut (insert mom’s eyeroll here). It seemed like such a small amount, so I was just wondering. Thank you for the response! When you freeze a loaf, how long does it keep?
This is pretty amazing! I made cassava flour shortbread and it was terrible but this is good! I’m new to grain free and really miss bread, thank you so much for sharing!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it. Grain-free is not that bad once you get used to it!! 🙂
Here’s the verdict on not using coconut flour, after I forgot to add it to the first of a two loaf batch. ????
I accidentally made the bread two ways when I made two loaves. Once with the 3 TBSP of coconut flour and once without. Both were delish, but very different. The Without Loaf was more dense and very moist. The With Loaf was lighter and not quite as moist. Both held together well, were crumbly when sliced (use a bread knife), toasted well, grilled well, and were perfect fresh sliced and plain. Also, i use vegan soy free butter made by Earth Balance. Works perfect, but don’t use the cheese grater, it’s far too soft. I just used my fingers to drop globs into the flour and then mashed it up with a fork. Lastly, I let my bread rise about twice as long as it states. I like taller loaves, and it just kept on rising!
This is such a great response – so helpful to include your results!! Thank you so much!
I ,tried to do it with a 1/2 cup water but i got very hard dough and it did not rise.
Is this amount of water is correct?
Should the dough be so hard??
I will appreciate any shared experience .
Thank you.
PS. The texture of my bread was terrible but the taste was of real bread.
Did your yeast get frothy? By any chance could your yeast have been old? My guess is that either this was the case, or perhaps the temperature of the water was off a bit and it didn’t activate the yeast. The dough should not be hard when you put it in to bake. I hope you’ll give it another try!
I made this bread yesterday. My yeast did get frothy and had to allow for several hours to get bread to rise at all and then it had like a hard outer crust even before putting in oven. Is it not supposed to rise before putting in oven? I did use instant yeast, maybe that was where I messed up. I loved the flavor but it didnt rise enough to be good for sandwiches its more like a lil toasted piece of bread for dip lol Any help is greatly appreciated.
can you substitute egg replacer (or ground flax/water) for the eggs? Does it turn out ok?
I have not tried it, but I do believe that the eggs are necessary. If I try it – or if anyone else does – I’ll be sure to comment and let you know. Let me know if you test it out, too!
Warmly, Kiran
We had a similar problem as those above. We used brand new yeast and it was frothy. However, the mix didn’t rise and it came out very hard. The taste is good, but the texture is off. Our flours are pretty old, do you think that could be the issue? (Any ideas for what I can use old flour for?) THANKS!
Hi! I’m sorry that you had an issue with it not rising. I do think that old flour could have to do with it. I personally like to keep my flour in the freezer to keep it from going rancid/keep it fresh; unfortunately I don’t have any tips for older flour. Maybe some cookies where a rise is not quite as important as it is with bread? Sorry I’m not much more of a help!!
Kiran
I had the same issue. New flours, yeast too and yeast did get frothy however the dough was hard and did not rise. I’ve made bread with yeast before with regular flour and not had this issue — not sure what to do. Bummed.
I’m so sorry! I just made this a week or two ago to make sure that I didn’t have these issues, but mine worked fine:(. Keep in mind it’s not a large rise. I hope you were still able to use it?
Can you sub avacado oil for the butter in this recipe? Thanks!
Yes you can!
I have not tried this recipe but plan to since I just started Grain free. But I have found that green banana flower substitutes equally for coconut flour as long as it is not the main ingredient. I to have a histamine Reaction to coconut flour.
Yes, banana flour is a a great option. Have you seen these: https://easyrealfood.com/paleo-mug-cake-with-banana-flour-grain-free/ , https://easyrealfood.com/grain-free-carrot-cake-banana-bread/ or https://easyrealfood.com/banana-flour-banana-cake/?
Glad you found a good substitute for coconut flour!
I want to try this tomorrow but only have cassava and coconut flour. Can that work? If so, how to adjust? I see you have an extra flour in the mix.
You definitely need the arrowroot … I think you can skip the coconut flour, but not the arrowroot. Do you have tapioca flour? You could try using that in place of the arrowroot?
I also make cassava gf bread. My choice for bread pan is silicone pan. No need for parchment paper or any lubricants. Bread easily slides right out onto a cooling rack. Being in a small community, I ended up buying mine through Amazon. ❤️
What temperature do I bake this?
350 degrees:)
Very impressed by this recipe! Though the bread is quite dense, it has a wonderful chew and slight stretchiness that is reminiscent of normal bread. It does not have the usual gumminess that is unfortunately so common among cassava flour breads. It is very bland, however, since there is no salt in the recipe. I will try it again with salt next time. Meanwhile, the bread sliced, toasted, and sprinkled with salt is satisfactory. With the addition of salt, I think this recipe will be one of if not the best paleo cassava bread recipes I’ve tried (and I have tried many).
Thank you, Aileen. I completely agree with your comments. We are sensitive to salt which is why there is not any in here, but I”d love to hear what works for you if you do use it. Please share in the comments below. So glad you are enjoying it! ~Kiran