Hearty and delicious buckwheat bread, this is an easy to make no-knead, just stir bread that you could make every day.
BREAD WITH BUCKWHEAT FLOUR

I bake bread quite often, any kind of bread really, from the easy 5 minutes bread like the spelt bread to more time-consuming sourdough bread.
I don't bake sourdough bread as often as I used to, because I just don't have the time anymore and because German sourdough bread is hard to top anyway, but I bake easier bread like today's buckwheat bread very often, I would say at least every week or so.
Quick loaves of bread that can be stirred and pushed in the oven in no time. Bread to make on a Sunday when you notice that you don't have enough bread to pack your kid's lunch the next day.
All you have to do is to dump your ingredients into a bowl, add some water and stir. You might let the bread rise shortly in the baking tin (you don't even have to do that when baking my spelt/wheat bread), and then bake it for about one hour.
That's it! You don't even have to preheat the oven in advance, put the bread in, turn it on and the bread will continue to rise slightly while the oven reaches the required temperature.
INGREDIENTS FOR BUCKWHEAT BREAD
Buckwheat:
- This is a super healthy bread made with buckwheat and spelt flour.
- Despite the name, buckwheat is not actually a grain and it doesn't have anything to do with wheat. It is a so-called pseudocereal because its seeds can be used the same as cereals.
- Buckwheat is actually a flowering plant related to sorrel and rhubarb. Rhubarb! Who would have thought that?
- It has been cultivated for over 8000 years and it is sometimes called an ancient grain, just like spelt or farro.
- I've discovered buckwheat a few years ago. In the beginning, I've used the kernels mostly for soups, nowadays I make kasha, Polish or Russian style, buckwheat salads or buckwheat porridge.
- I often use buckwheat flour to make pancakes or blinis, to add to bread or to make some kind of buckwheat flatbreads similar to tortillas.
- I've tried to make buckwheat bread with only buckwheat flour a couple of times, but the results were not satisfactory, so I prefer to use a combination of buckwheat flour and spelt or wheat flour when making bread.
Spelt:
- Another so-called ancient grain, this time related to wheat, which has been cultivated for thousands of years as well.
- Spelt makes a good substitute for wheat if you don't want to eat wheat.
- It has less gluten and it is easier to digest than wheat, has more fiber which also helps digest the gluten better.
- In Germany, there are three types of spelt flour you can buy and I have used them successfully to replace wheat in baking.
- I don't bother much to use spelt when making cakes, I find wheat better for baking regular cakes.
- But I use spelt flour to make bread more often than I use regular wheat.
- Spelt berries can be cooked and eaten in a salad, you can make porridge or have them as a side dish instead of rice, for instance.
- I used whole spelt flour to make this bread, but you can use only white spelt flour or a mixture of whole and white spelt flour.
- You can replace the spelt flour with whole wheat flour if you like.
Oats:
- The oats make this buckwheat bread even heartier.
- I use regular oats, nothing special.
Seeds:
- You can use one type or several types of seeds.
- I find using a mix of seeds always better.
- For today's bread, I used sunflower seeds and flaxseeds, but I often use pumpkin or sesame seeds.
- You can mix whatever you have, just keep to the required amount.
Yeast:
- You can use either fresh or dry yeast.
- If using fresh yeast, you will need a cube of about 40 g/ 1.4 oz. Dissolve the yeast and the sugar in lukewarm water and add to the flour.
- If using active dry yeast, proof it in lukewarm water and add to the flour.
- If using instant dry yeast, mix it with the dry ingredients, then add the water.
HOW TO MAKE BUCKWHEAT BREAD?
- Always use a scale in baking, cup measurement is sooooo unprecise.
- For instance, 1 cup of spelt flour weighs 120 g/ 4.2 oz while 1 cup of buckwheat flour 140 g/ 5 oz.
- And depending on how you fill the cups with flour (scoop or sift or whatever), the differences can be enormous, 50 g – 60 g/ 1.7 - 2.1 is a lot in baking.
- If using fresh or active dry yeast, place it in a bowl and add the lukewarm water and the sugar. Stir well to dissolve and let stand for about 5 minutes.
- If using instant dry yeast, mix it with the flour and the rest of the ingredients.
- Mix together the spelt and buckwheat flour, oats, seeds and salt.
- Add the yeast water and stir very well with a spoon, making sure that all the flour is fully incorporated.
- Place the dough in a greased loaf pan of about 30x12 cm/ 12x5 inches.
- Let rise for 15 minutes.
- Place in the cold oven and set the temperature to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 50-55 minutes until deeply golden brown.
- Carefully, remove the buckwheat bread from the pan and place it back in the oven, directly on the wire rack, but upside down.
- This will ensure that the bread will be golden brown on the bottom side as well.
- Continue baking for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let cool on a wire rack.
How to check if the bread is baked through?
- The color should be a deep golden brown both on the upper and bottom side.
- Tap the bottom of the bread with your knuckles, it should sound hollow.
WHAT TO PUT ON YOUR BREAD SLICES?
Make sure you have a slice of warm bread with salted butter on it. Heaven!
HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE SPREAD - Chocolate nut butter or homemade Nutella (almost), this is a decadent yet healthy chocolate spread.
AJVAR - A smoky roasted red pepper dip with eggplants.
VEGAN SPINACH ARTICHOKE DIP - Super-healthy vegan spinach artichoke dip with chickpeas and sunflower seeds, this is one of our favorite vegan dips.
LEMON JELLY- A delicious sweet and tangy lemon jelly made with fresh lemon juice.
Or use the buckwheat bread to make some sandwiches:
SMOKED SALMON SANDWICH - Open faced smoked salmon sandwich with cream cheese and capers, a quick and healthy sandwich for any time of the day.
SMORREBROD - DANISH OPEN FACED SANDWICHES - The Danish Smørrebrød are probably the best sandwiches you will ever eat.
PIN IT FOR LATER!
Buckwheat Bread
Ingredients
- 2 small sachets/ 4 ½ teaspoons instant dry yeast See note 1
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 200 g/ 7 oz/ 1 ½ cups buckwheat flour See note 2
- 200 g/ 7 oz/ 1 ½ cup + 2 ½ tablespoons whole spelt flour
- 120 g/ 4.2 oz/ 1 ½ cup rolled oats
- 150 g/ 5.3 oz/ 1 ⅛ cups raw sunflower seeds
- 75 g/ 2.6 oz/ ½ cup flaxseeds
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 500 ml/ 17 fl.oz/ 2 cups + 2 ½ tablespoons lukewarm water
Instructions
- Mix together instant dry yeast, sugar, buckwheat and spelt flour, oats, sunflower and flaxseeds, salt. Read notes if using active dry yeast or fresh yeast.
- Add the lukewarm water and stir very well with a spoon, the flour should be properly incorporated.
- Grease a loaf pan of about 30x12 cm/ 12x5 inches. Place the dough in the pan. Let rise for 15 minutes in a warm place.
- Place the pan in the cold oven, set the temperature to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 50 – 55 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove the bread from the pan and place it upside down back in the oven, directly on the wire rack. Continue baking for another 10 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom side. Let cool on a wire rack.
Notes
- If using active dry yeast, proof it in lukewarm water.
If using fresh yeast, crumble it in a small bowl, add the sugar and the lukewarm water and stir to dissolve. - Always use a scale in baking, cup measurement is very unprecise. For instance, 1 cup of spelt flour weighs 120 g/ 4.2 oz while 1 cup of buckwheat flour 140 g/ 5 oz. And depending on how you fill the cups with flour (scoop or sift or whatever), the differences can be enormous, 50 g – 60 g/ 1.7 - 2.1 is a lot in baking.
angiesrecipes says
Healthy, hearty and yummy...definitely my kind of bread!
Julka says
Delicious. I didn't have any sunflower seeds in so used poppy seeds. Worked well.
Adina says
Super! Thank you for the feedback.
Madeline Armstrong says
SO good. I sliced it and froze it, and have been reheating it in the toaster all week. I will be making this over and over again! Thank you for the recipe.
Adina says
So happy to hear it, Madeline. Thank you for the feedback.
Laurie says
This is an question. Can you make this bread with same proportions, but drop the seeds?
Adina Beck says
Hi Laurie. Sorry, I've only ever baked the bread with seeds, so I cannot say how it will be without them.
Jo says
@Laurie, did you try this please? I was going to ask the same question! I love seeds but my husband doesn’t… was going to try milled seeds as a compromise!
Isabel says
I have made it a few times as I am very happy with the results,
thank you for sharing the recipe with us.
Isabel
Adina says
Thank you for the feedback, Isabel.
Jasson says
Very nice recipe chef 👍👌👏. If I whant to make my own buckwheat flour any suggestions, thank you on advance 🌹🌞😎
Adina says
Hi Jasson, thank you for the comment. Sorry, I've never made buckwheat flour. I suppose you can grind untoasted buckwheat in an appropriate kitchen gadget. I use the thermomix to grind wheat or spelt sometimes, but I don't know what other kitchen machines can manage that.
Mike says
2 teaspoons of salt or 665mg sodium per slice seems like a lot...that's 25% of a person's daily sodium intake in 1 slice of bread!
Adina says
Indeed, that would be too much. However, pay more attention when you read the ingredient list, please. The whole bread contains 2 teaspoons salt, not just one slice. If you leave out the salt, nobody will want to eat the bread.