This buckwheat quinoa bread has a slightly tangy flavor and a hearty texture with a firm crust and a moist, soft interior. It’s essentially a sourdough bread without a sourdough starter. It’s vegan (dairy-free, egg-free), grain-free (gluten-free), soy-free, nut-free, and refined sugar free.

Making traditional sourdough bread isn’t hard, but the process does require a little bit of planning and practice. It usually takes 5-7 days to develop a healthy starter and then a few hours to make sourdough bread with it. This is because it takes a while to capture enough wild yeast (in a form of sourdough starter) to leaven an entire loaf of bread.

One exception are pseudo-grains buckwheat and teff, which naturally contain wild strains of yeast. (1) This buckwheat quinoa bread, for instance, requires only a few hours to ferment and rise. The leavening relies purely the initial burst of microbial activity. The wild yeast is not yet well-established at that point, but there is enough of it for the bread to rise and expand. This is quite different from a true sourdough bread, which relies on mature, strong wild yeast.

Which one is better? This is simply a matter of preference.

Tips for Making Buckwheat Quinoa Bread

Ingredients

All you need to make a quick sourdough bread are a couple of ingredients:

Buckwheat: look for raw buckwheat groats (not the toasted variety known as kasha). Raw buckwheat is very light tan, has a subtle, mild flavor, and a chewy texture. Toasted buckwheat, on the other hand, is distinctly brown, has a much stronger, almost bitter flavor, and a crunchier texture. I typically let the buckwheat sprout for about 2 days, which is another reason why using raw buckwheat is important. Toasted buckwheat groats will not sprout.
Quinoa: I prefer white quinoa over red and black because white quinoa is the least bitter out of the three and has the lightest texture. Quinoa contributes to a lighter and fluffier texture of the bread. It is possible to make this bread entirely from buckwheat, but the bread turns out denser and chewier.
Salt: the primary role of salt in bread is to evoke and enhance the flavor of bread. However, salt also regulates yeast activity, which means that fermentation progresses at a more consistent rate, and acts as a preservative, increasing the shelf life of bread.

How to Make Buckwheat Quinoa Bread

This buckwheat quinoa bread does take a little over a day to prepare, but nature does most of the work. The hands-on time is only a few minutes.

Soak the buckwheat and quinoa. Add the buckwheat and quinoa into a large bowl, cover them with water. and let them soak for 4-6 hours (ideally, not longer than 8 hours). The soaking water will most likely be a bright pinkish-red and slightly mucilaginous (buckwheat releases pinkish mucilage during soaking). After 4-6 hours, drain the soaking water and rinse the seeds well.
Sprout the buckwheat and quinoa (optional). Transfer the soaked buckwheat and quinoa into a strainer and set the strainer over a large bowl so any excess water can drain. If you’re using a sprouting jar, invert the jar into a large bowl or other object that allows it to sit at an angle. This lets water drain constantly. The seeds need to stay moist, but they shouldn’t sit in water. After 8-12 hours, sprouts should start to emerge. If there are no sprouts, drain, rinse, and leave again for a few more hours. While sprouting is not necessary, it does boost fermentation activity.
Blend. Add the sprouted (or just soaked) seeds and water into a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. The batter might be slightly gritty, but there should be no visible seeds.
Ferment. Transfer the batter into a clean bowl, cover it with a piece of cheesecloth, and let it ferment for about 14 hours at 80°F/26°C. The fermentation time will depend on the temperature – as temperature increases, fermentation rate accelerates. You are looking for the batter to increase by about a third and for lots of air bubbles on top and throughout the batter.
Proof. At the end of the fermentation, gently mix in the salt, taking care to preserve as much volume and air bubbles as possible. Pour the batter into a parchment paper-lined 8 x 4 inch/20 x 10 cm loaf pan and let it rise for 30-60 minutes. Make sure you don’t over-proof the bread otherwise the center will collapse during baking.
Bake. Slide the loaf pan into the oven and bake the bread at 350ºF/175ºC until the bread pulls away from the sides of the loaf pan and the crust turns golden brown, for about 90 minutes.
Cool. Transfer the bread onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely before slicing. Cutting fresh-baked bread too early will result in a gummy and sticky interior.

How to Serve Buckwheat Quinoa Bread

This crusty and flavorful fermented bread is delicious on its own with a little bit of plant-based butter. It also pairs really well with purred soups.

Like most breads, this buckwheat quinoa bread is best fresh. I usually time it so it’s ready to accompany whatever we have for dinner. Then I slice the rest and freeze it. Later, I slide the frozen slices directly into the toaster to make toasts or to serve with a larger meal.

How To Store Homemade Bread

Storing at room temperature: wrap the bread in a large tea towel (so it can breath) and store it in a cool place for up to 3 days. Room temperature is ideal for maintaining proper crumb and crust texture.
Freezing: slice the bread first. Transfer individual slices into an airtight bag, one on top of the other, in an alternating 90-degree pattern, and press out as much air as possible. Freeze for up to 3 months.

I don’t recommend refrigerating bread. Even though the refrigerator delays the development of mold, it causes the bread to stale faster than if kept at room temperature (starch retrogradation occurs most rapidly at refrigerator temperature).

Fermented Bread Variations

I have been experimenting a lot with different types of fermented bread. Buckwheat is great as a base for naturally-leavened bread, but other grains and/or seeds with naturally occurring strains of yeast are an option too. I am currently testing teff and so far the results have been very promising.

As far as this particular bread goes, you can add different nuts, seeds, herbs, and spices. If using nuts and non-gelatinous seeds, you can add up to 15% of the of the total weight of dry ingredients. If adding gelatinous seeds, such as flax or chia, the total weight shouldn’t exceed 10%. My favorite additions are sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and flax seeds.

More Bread Recipes

If you enjoy homemade bread, here are a few other gluten-free bread recipes you might like:

Nut & seed bread: this bread is quite unique in that it is not leavened. It’s made entirely from nuts and seeds and it’s dense, chewy, and filling.
Flaxseed bread: one of my favorite low-carb bread recipes – soft, tender, and moist.

If you try any of these recipes, please, leave a comment and rate the recipe below. It always means a lot when you do.

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Buckwheat Quinoa Bread

This buckwheat quinoa bread has a slightly tangy flavor and a hearty texture with a firm crust and a moist, soft interior. It's essentially a sourdough bread without a sourdough starter. It's vegan (dairy-free, egg-free), grain-free (gluten-free), soy-free, nut-free, and refined sugar free.

Prep Time1 d

Cook Time1 hr 30 mins

Servings: slices