Red Lentil Bread Rolls (No Flour, No Yeast)

These red lentil bread rolls are crusty on the outside and soft, if a little dense, on the inside, with the toasty taste of a whole-grain roll. They’re made without flour or yeast, and they’re vegan (dairy-free, egg-free), grain-free (gluten-free), soy-free, nut-free, and refined sugar-free. I typically serve them with a puréed soup or a stew.

Finding minimally processed, grain-free bread in a grocery store is hard. I would go as far as to say it’s nearly impossible. White bread is the easy one to rule out: it’s made from refined flour, with most of the fiber and nutrients milled away and, often, sugar added.

Whole wheat is less clear-cut than the bag suggests. In the US, a loaf sold as “whole wheat bread” has to be made from whole wheat flour, but “wheat bread,” “multigrain,” and “made with whole grains” carry no such rule, and many of those loaves list enriched flour first. Then there is the question of what we get out of it. The team behind Modernist Bread: The Art and Science looked at 50 years of health and nutrition studies and concluded that human digestion doesn’t break down whole wheat the way chemical analysis in a lab does, so our bodies don’t absorb many of its vitamins and minerals.

Gluten-free bread avoids wheat altogether, but it’s typically built from starches and gums, with hidden sugars.

So, I make my own bread. Always. I honestly don’t remember the last time I bought a loaf. I have several bread recipes on the blog, and these rolls are the ones I make from a cup of dry lentils and no flour at all.

Tips for Making Red Lentil Bread Rolls

Ingredients

These rolls call for seven ingredients, water included:

• Red lentils: the base of the dough is dry lentils that are soaked, never cooked. I prefer red ones because they need the shortest soak, taste mild, and bake into a light brown roll that could pass for whole wheat. Yellow lentils gave me equally good results. Brown and green lentils work as well, with a longer soak, an earthier flavor, and a darker color.
• Psyllium husk: this is the binder, and the one ingredient the rolls can’t do without. It forms a gel that gives the dough the structure and stretch gluten would. I use whole husk; the powder is more concentrated and needs a smaller amount (see the questions below). Which psyllium to buy, and why some of it turns bread purple, is covered in my low-carb bread rolls post.
• Water: only a little goes in, because soaked lentils bring plenty of their own. That is also why draining them well matters.
• Olive oil: I have made these rolls with and without it and prefer them with. Oil keeps water from evaporating in the oven, so the crumb turns out softer and more moist. Readers who leave it out report that the rolls still work.
• Baking soda: with no yeast in the dough, this is what makes the rolls rise, and it helps them brown. Baking powder can stand in, but it is weaker, so you would need considerably more, and too much can leave a chemical taste.
• Lemon juice: the acid that sets off the baking soda. The reaction releases carbon dioxide, and those bubbles are what lift the dough. Vinegar works the same way.
• Salt: without it, bread tastes flat. The amount in the recipe gives a mildly seasoned roll, and the recipe notes say how far you can raise it.

How to Make Red Lentil Bread Rolls

To make bread out of red lentils, you soak the dry lentils, process them into a dough with psyllium, and bake the dough right away. I like to think of this recipe in four parts: soak, process, shape, bake.

1. Soak the lentils. Add the dry lentils to a bowl, cover them with water, and soak them for at least 2 hours, ideally 8. Drain, rinse, and then leave the lentils in the strainer for about 10 minutes. Lentils that go into the machine dripping carry extra water with them, and that is the most common reason the dough turns out too soft to shape.
2. Sprout the lentils. This step is optional; the rolls work with lentils that are only soaked. To sprout, leave the soaked lentils in a strainer set over a bowl (or in an inverted sprouting jar) so they stay moist without sitting in water. Sprouts should appear in 8-12 hours. If they don’t, rinse, drain, and give them a few more hours.
3. Preheat the oven. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat it to 356°F/180°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. Process the dough. Add the lentils, water, psyllium, olive oil, baking soda, and salt to a food processor or a high-speed blender and process until a dough forms. Any food processor will do. A blender has to be a high-speed one; mine is a Vitamix, and that is what you see in the video. The dough will look wet at first. Psyllium absorbs water gradually, so the dough firms up over the next few minutes.
5. Add the lemon juice. Pour it in and process until just combined. Baking soda reacts with acid immediately, so from here on, don’t let the dough rest. The bubbles that lift the rolls start escaping right away.
6. Shape the dough. Shape the dough into a log, divide it into 4 equal pieces, and roll each piece into a ball. Set the balls on the baking sheet. I often bake mine on a cast-iron griddle without parchment, which is what you see in the photo.
7. Bake the rolls. Bake until crisp and golden brown, about 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center of a roll should come out clean.
8. Cool the bread. Transfer the rolls to a cooling rack and let them cool completely.
9. Store the leftovers. Keep the rolls in an airtight container; the details are below.

Common Mistakes When Baking Red Lentil Bread

More than a hundred reader comments have come in on this recipe since 2023, and the same few problems account for almost every batch that went wrong:

• The dough is too wet to shape: the lentils usually went in without draining. Measure the lentils dry, before soaking (1 cup dry becomes about 2½ cups soaked, and all of it goes in), drain them well, and give the psyllium a few minutes to thicken the dough before you decide it needs fixing.
• The rolls came out flat: the lemon juice went in too early, or the shaped dough sat before baking. Add the lemon juice last and get the rolls into the oven quickly. If they still don’t rise, test your baking soda by stirring a little into vinegar; if it doesn’t fizz vigorously, replace it. Rolls that rise and then sink were usually underbaked, and a couple more minutes in the oven makes a difference.
• The dough stayed like batter: ground flaxseed was swapped in for the psyllium. Flax is a much weaker binder, and more than one reader has ended up with batter this way.
• The dough is stiff and sticky: psyllium powder was used at the whole-husk amount. Powder absorbs considerably more water, and adding water afterward rarely rescues it, so start over with the smaller amount.
• The rolls taste beany or bitter: brown lentils are earthier and green ones more peppery. Red lentils taste mild and slightly sweet.

How to Serve Red Lentil Bread Rolls

These bread rolls are very filling. One will keep you full for hours! I typically serve them with puréed soups or stews for a complete meal; sweet potato soup is a good match.

They’re also great with hummus or an avocado spread (½ avocado mashed with ½ tsp. lemon juice, salt, and black pepper). Readers split and toast them for sandwiches and burger buns, and one shapes the dough into bagels, dips them in everything seasoning, and bakes them in a preheated cast-iron skillet.

How to Store Red Lentil Bread Rolls

• Room temperature: these rolls are best on the day they’re baked. Once they have cooled completely, store them in an airtight container for 1-2 days.
• Freeze: transfer the cooled rolls to an airtight container and freeze them for up to 1 month. I freeze them after baking, not as raw dough.
• Thaw: let the rolls thaw on the counter, the way you would regular bread. The microwave works too.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Grain-Free Bread Recipes

• Protein Bread: a loaf built on the same pairing of lentils and psyllium, for when you want slices instead of rolls.
• Flax Rolls: grain-free rolls made with flaxseed and no psyllium.
• Low-Carb Bread Rolls: almond flour, coconut flour, and psyllium, with a light crust and a soft, chewy crumb.

Did you make this recipe? I would love to know how it turned out! Please let me know by leaving a review and rating below.