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Gluten-Free French Bread (Baguette)

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Today’s recipe for this impressive loaf of Gluten-Free French Bread comes from my friend Iris Higgins. Iris is the author of the highly praised gluten-free cookbooks The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guide Part 1 and The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guide Part 2. She is graciously sharing several recipes on gfe that were on her previous gluten-free site, The Daily Dietribe.

Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Recipes Ebook from Iris Higgins

Although Iris’ original site is no longer active, you can still get her most popular recipes for FREE by downloading her e-book, Gluten Free Fan Favorites RIGHT HERE. You can read more about Iris and her new focus at the very bottom of this post.

Iris has shared Paleo Zucchini Coconut Waffle Wraps and Lemon Bars previously on gfe. Today she’s sharing this beautiful and delicious gluten-free French Bread recipe. I will have several more wonderful recipes from her here on gfe in the near future.

This impressive gluten-free French Bread is not only free of gluten, it's also egg free, with a dairy-free, vegan option. [from GlutenFreeEasily.com] (photo)

Iris says: “This delicious bread comes the closest to French bread I’ve had since going gluten, egg and yeast free. It has a crispy outside with a soft and chewy inside. Note that I use white rice flour, which is NOT the same as sweet white rice flour. I don’t recommend changing the flour, so if you can’t have white rice flour, experiment at your own risk.”

This recipe is not only gluten free, but it’s also egg free, with a dairy-free option, which also means it’s easily made vegan. Plus, there’s no yeast–which means there’s no additional time needed for the dough to rise before baking.

Gluten-Free French Bread on Cutting Board. Check out this gluten-free, egg-free, yeast-free bread, which is easily made vegan by using non-dairy milk. [recipe featured on GlutenFreeEasily.com]

Are you amazed yet? I certainly am. As you can probably tell from the photo, this French bread is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. That’s just the way that French bread should be!

Oh, by the way, another bonus is that this recipe does not require a special French Bread pan. You only need to shape the dough into a French bread loaf before baking.

For more gluten-free French Bread recipes, see the Top 20 Best Gluten-Free Bread Recipes, part of A Bountiful Bread Basket series here on gfe. I love that we have all these wonderful gluten-free bread recipes from which to choose! A Bountiful Bread Basket is an amazing collection of gluten-free bread recipes from the best gluten-free bloggers.

Gluten-Free French Bread Recipe

Gluten-Free French Bread. Gluten-free, no-rise, egg-free, yeast-free bread that's easily made vegan by using dairy-free milk. [featured on GlutenFreeEasily.com]

This impressive gluten-free French Bread is not only free of gluten, it's also egg free, with a dairy-free, vegan option. [from GlutenFreeEasily.com]
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Gluten-Free French Bread

Iris says: “This delicious bread comes the closest to French bread I've had since going gluten, egg and yeast free. It has a crispy outside with a soft and chewy inside. Note that I use white rice flour, which is NOT the same as sweet white rice flour. I don't recommend changing the flour, so if you can't have white rice flour, experiment at your own risk.”

Ingredients

  • 1 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy; see notes for another option)
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons whole psyllium husks (NOT psyllium husk powder)
  • 1 tablespoon oil (canola, olive, etc.)
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 3/4 cups white rice flour (254 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
  2. Stir together milk and apple cider vinegar. Let sit for a minute, then stir in psyllium and let sit for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, stir in the oil and applesauce.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the middle, pour the wet mix in and stir. It will eventually get clumpy and you'll need to knead it until it comes together in a dough. Alternatively, you can use a food processor to mix them together.
  4. Form into the shape of a French bread, about 8 inches long. Place on baking sheet and brush liberally with extra oil.
  5. Bake for 40 minutes. Allow to rest at least 20 minutes before cutting.
  6. Note: Make sure your oven is preheated so you can get the bread straight into the oven. It won't rise much but you want to make sure the baking soda and baking powder are working in the oven.

Notes

Whole psyllium husks and psyllium husk powder are not interchangeable. Psyllium husk powder is made by grinding whole psyllium husks into a powder. This recipe calls for whole psyllium husks only; psyllium husk powder cannot be substituted.

One reader substituted water for the milk and said the resulting bread was softer and kept longer.

Courses Bread

More About Iris

Iris Higgins, MA, is a certified hypnotherapist with a passion for delicious gluten-free food. You can download 11 of her favorite gluten-free recipes (like her waffle and pancake guide that works with any gluten-free flour!) HERE. She also loves teaching women how to trust their intuition and create the life that’s just right for them. You can join in on her free challenges, meditations, and e-courses at www.yourfairyangel.com.

Originally published October 16, 2016; updated August 6, 2019.

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Comments

  2. This bread looks amazing and fits Tony’s diet well! I have all on hand but the white rice flour (need to get some!), so I may have to “experiment at my own risk” with sorghum flour! 🙂

    Reply

    • I’m so glad this recipe works for Tony’s diet and I agree that it does look absolutely amazing, Alisa! I’m in a baking mood now that cooler weather has arrived and I can’t wait to try this recipe myself. Iris is such a skilled baker and I believe she tried some different flours, but I’m not sure how many and which ones before deciding that white rice flour was the answer. I will be interested to see how your experiments go, of course! 😉

      Shirley

      Reply

    • Hi Kate–Welcome to gfe! My understanding is that whole psyllium husks are far more effective for binding and subbing for eggs than psyllium powder, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that substitution. However, if you decide to try the powder, please let us know how your bread turns out.

      Shirley

      Reply

        • Hi Demi–It’s good to see you here at gfe again. 🙂 I don’t really know the answer as this is not my recipe and I haven’t worked with it yet. Traditional gf French bread recipes include both xanthan and egg whites. You could give those additions a try. Or you could check out the French bread recipes in this post as you don’t have to be egg-free, xanthan gum-free, etc. Let us know what you try and your results. Good luck!

          Shirley

          Reply

  6. This recipe looks like one of the easiest I’ve seen for a GF French Bread! And I love that there are no gums or weird ingredients in it. 🙂 Looking forward to trying this!

    Reply

    • Hi Monique–Welcome to gfe! 🙂 Yes, this recipe gets some raves for all those reasons. I’m planning to give it a try this weekend myself. The weather is turning cold and I can’t think of better comfort food than a freshly baked baguette!

      Shirley

      Reply

    • Hi Rosy–Welcome to gfe! 🙂 Unfortunately, nothing can be substituted for the psyllium in this recipe per my knowledge. Although I didn’t create this particular recipe, its creator Iris has said that it works beautifully “as is,” but she doesn’t recommend substitutions. I suggest that you take a look at the recipes in this post and this post that might meet your needs. I truly hope there will be plenty of options for you!

      Shirley

      Reply

  11. I made this loaf without psyllium and applesauce. I replaced it with 3 tablespoon ground flax, 1 tsp xanthan, and 1 tablespoon oil. It turned out well.

    Reply

    • Hi Caroline–It looks like you’re new here! Welcome to gfe! 🙂 Thank you so very much for taking the time to share this feedback. It’s really helpful for readers to know which changes can be made successfully! I don’t always have applesauce on hand and tolerate xanthan just fine, so your info is really helpful to me personally, too.

      Shirley

      Reply

      • Made this bread twice. And used ground linseed instead of psyllium husks.
        However one cup milk is too much, it makes dough too soft…rather use 2/3 of the cup, cause if you go by the recipe you’ll have to add extra 100-150 grams of flour.

        Reply

        • Hi Tamara–Thanks for sharing your results. I’m glad you figured out how to make the recipe work for the ingredients you used. I’ve never worked with ground linseed and I doubt that Iris, the creator of this recipe, has either. Her recipe works well with whole psyllium husks. It will yield different results with ground psyllium—and ground linseed as you’ve shared. Whole psyllium husks are much more absorbent and using them in this recipe not only absorbs the liquid properly, it also gives the bread the desired texture and “weight.” Thanks again for sharing your tip on how to use ground linseed in this recipe.

          Shirley

          Reply

  13. This bread is really good. I made it first with soy milk and enjoyed it. Recently I tried subbing the milk with an equal amount of water. This made the bread even softer and it stayed fresh for longer. Both ways are great, but I definitely prefer water over the soy milk. Can’t speak to other milks since I haven’t tried those. Thanks so much for this recipe!

    Reply

    • A–First, welcome to gfe. 🙂 Thanks so much for taking the time to leave this comment and for sharing that water works better than milk. I’m guessing that water must work better with the psyllium than milk. Now I must try the recipe again! I know that Iris of Your Fairy Angel (she created this recipe) will be thrilled to hear this news and give it a try, too.

      Thanks again!
      Shirley

      Reply

  14. I just made this and followed the recipe almost exactly – I didn’t have the applesauce so left it out. My bread was perfect on the outside but gummy on the inside.. It doesn’t rise at all in the oven. Could the missing applesauce be the reason for this? Please do guide.

    Reply

    • Hi Arvee–First, welcome to gfe. 🙂 This is a gluten-free, vegan recipe and the applesauce acts as an egg substitute to make this bread vegan, so it’s not recommended that it be left out unless you also make other recipe changes to compensate for the lack of applesauce. One reader commented here that: “I made this loaf without psyllium and applesauce. I replaced it with 3 tablespoons ground flax, 1 tsp xanthan, and 1 tablespoon oil. It turned out well.” Hope that info helps some. Because this is not my own personal recipe, I have not experimented with it like I might with one I was doing recipe testing on.

      Shirley

      Reply

  15. Made this recipe using hemp milk and replaced the 1 3/4 c white rice flour with half quinoa flour, half tapioca starch. Had a good texture. Could have been a bit sweeter, but that’s because of what I subbed in for the rice flour in an effort to be grain free, not just gluten free. I’m sure I will remake this in the future. Maybe I will add a hair of Stevia….

    Reply

    • Hi Sharon–Welcome. 🙂 So happy to hear you had success making this recipe grain free. I hope the touch of stevia makes your results just right. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment.

      Shirley

      Reply

  16. Hi, I did the recipe with 3 tablespoons of psyllium husk I exactly used 42 grms of it with 254 grms of white rice flour, I think it was too much psyllium husk.. the color of my bread was completely brown and with a very strong flavor. I used psyllium husk powder.
    if you have an advice please let me know.
    thanks!

    Reply

    • Hi Pamela–This recipe calls for whole psyllium husks. Unfortunately, whole psyllium husks and pysllium husk powder are not interchangeable as your results show. 🙁 Whole psyllium husks are ground to get psyllium husk powder so you are not only using psyllium in a different form but you are actually adding more psyllium by using the same amount of powder; hence, the very strong flavor and dark brown color. You have to use whole psyllium husks in this particular recipe. I’m sure you can find other recipes that specifically call for psyllium husk powder that will give you good results. Here’s a recipe for buns that uses psyllium husk powder. Hope that helps you get started with finding recipes that will work with powder vs whole psyllium husks. If you buy some whole psyllium husks, you should give this recipe another try.

      All the best,
      Shirley

      Reply

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