Coconut flour bread found its way to our kitchen this week courtesy of Ann Marie of CHEESESLAVE and her new Surf & Turf class which focuses on protein-rich and nutrient-dense cooking. About thirty-five to forty percent of Nourished Kitchen readers purposefully avoid gluten or grains entirely either because of a diagnosis of celiac disease or out of dietary preference. So, this post is for you – a beautiful coconut flour bread for all those grain-free readers, or just any of you looking to enrich your diets with wholesome fats and high quality protein.
Coconut flour is remarkably versatile, and I like to use it in otherwise starchy recipes where its spongy, dense and moist texture really shines. It soaks up liquid readily and just a little bit of coconut flour goes a long, long way. In most recipes, coconut flour is paired with several eggs and a good amount of fat, both of which contribute valuable vitamins and a favorable fatty acid ratio to the dish you’re making – in this case: coconut flour bread. By comparison to grain-based flours, coconut flour is richer in dietary fiber, protein and fat which makes it a particularly helpful flour for those that must be mindful of their macronutrient intake levels (which is probably all of us.)
Coconut Flour Bread
Composed of just five simple ingredients, this grain-free bread is remarkably satisfying. Though the bread is made from coconut flour, its flavor is only slightly reminiscent of coconut and it offers a beautiful dense crumb similar to coffee cake but without the cloying sweetness. While you could undoubtedly use this coconut flour bread to prepare sandwiches, I think its dense crumb coupled with its very faint coconut flavor would make it the ideal bread for a nutrient-dense and protein-rich French toast. This coconut flour bread will be featured in the lesson #10′s recipe section of CHEESESLAVE’s new cooking class, Surf & Turf, which focuses exclusively on protein: why we needed, why you may need more than you think, and how to prepare it.
Coconut Flour Bread: Ingredients
- 3/4 cup coconut flour (see sources)
- 1/2 cup ghee (see sources), plus extra for greasing the pan
- 6 eggs
- up to two tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
Coconut Flour Bread: Equipment
- stand mixer, food processor or mixing bowl and whisk
- loaf pan
Coconut Flour Bread: Method
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Combine coconut flour, ghee, eggs, honey and 1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt together.
- Mix all the ingredients together until they form a smooth paste with no clumps.
- Grease a loaf pan.
- Spoon the mixture into the loaf pan, and bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes.
YIELD: 1 loaf
TIME: about 5 minutes (preparation), 40 minutes (baking)
NOTES: This recipe, and about 100 other protein-rich and nutrient-dense recipes, are featured in the Surf & Turf class hosted at CHEESESLAVE. The class is suitable for those who are following a grain-free diet including those following grain-free, gluten-free, paleo, primal or GAPS diets.
Are you sure: Only three-quarters of a cup of coconut flour?
Yes, as I mentioned in the post: a little bit of coconut flour goes a long way and it soaks up liquid readily. You don’t need more than 3/4 cup.
Can you substitute anything for the ghee, like butter?
YES! You can substitute butter or coconut oil for the ghee. I just *LOVE* ghee though – it’s my favorite fat.
Oh I was just about to ask the same thing! I might try making this with some refined coconut oil. I had seen this article on Cheeseslave and then googled more reciped and stumbled upon this site.
This bread sounds great! I am going to try it with coconut oil and see what happens! Love coconut flour!
Marni –
If you’re big on coconut flour, you should also try this recipe: http://nourishedkitchen.com/coconut-citrus-madeleines/. It’s amazing. It has the texture of yellow cake and is blooming with citrus.
Whenever I’ve eaten coconut flour before it always gives me awful gas and bloating. I’ve even tried fermenting it with sourdough to see if that would help (it didn’t). How come everyone else seems to be okay with this coconut flour except me and my husband? And unfortunately I have a ton of it, because I thought, oh great, this stuff is supposed to be so wonderful for you. I know the fiber content is fairly high, and lots of fiber isn’t always so great, unlike what popular advice would say. Any advice?
I think the fiber might be too much, perhaps. If you think you’re reacting to it, you should probably avoid it. I used to think that all healthy foods should be tolerated by everyone, more or less, and that’s just simply not true.
I also have this problem if I eat too many coconut pancakes or coconut blueberry muffins. I have learned to either eat less or, when baking, substitute some of the coconut flour with almond flour (up to half the volume sometimes).
I have had this problem as well. The coconut pancakes from The Primal Blueprint Cookbook calls for waaaaaay too much coconut. Coconut flour, coconut milk, coconut oil, shredded coconut. Coconut is great but not that much! If you have problems with coconut flour then just be sure to eat a little bit.
In my opinion, coconut flour is the least healthiest out of all the coconut products. I just have problems myself and it seems to be the most processed form. I could be wrong as its just a theory! But, if you want some bread then making it with coconut flour beats wheat flour any day!
Hi Megan
Coconut products are known to be very high in salycilates and I think the way coconut flour is processed might give you reaction if you are sensitive to salycilates. The WAP website has written about salycilates sensitivity you might want to have a look at it…
I have problems with salicylates and phenols but use PhenolAssist, which was recommended by my integrative physician, and it solves any problems! Hope this helps.
it MAY be because you’re not used to such a high fiber diet. I think coconut flour is something like 50-60% fiber, but you may want to look it up. increase fiber intake SLOWLY, and drink a ton of water. i’ve gotten terrible gas and bloating when i introduce fiber too quickly. and the water is necessary because constipation is a very real, and uncomfortable danger.
You may also be reacting to the eggs, if you are unused to digesting eggs. Since baking with coconut flour calls for a lot of eggs, if you don’t already eat a lot of eggs you and your eggs aren’t fresh, that can be an issue.
Thanks for the recipe Jenny! I love this!
Love this recipe. I added lemon juice and it tastes like cake! What size loaf pan do you use? My bread was 3/4 ” high. :/
I had the same result, Debbie. It still tasted great, but it was a rather unusual looking loaf.
I bet if you doubled the recipe, it would fit quite nicely in a regular loaf pan.
Thanks for the idea, Jenny! I will do that.
I’m totally new to making bread…I have a loaf pan here that my husband bought ages ago. What size loaf pan am I supposed to use? Measurements? I want to make this today, it sounds amazing! I’m not gluten free at all, but I just love the idea of coconut flour…I need to search if you have recipes for pancakes and waffles using coconut flour. I don’t have ghee, or coconut oil, do you know if I can use walnut oil instead? Currently I only have olive, avocado, walnut and hazelnut oils. Not going to use the hazelnut since I think I only have like 4oz of it! Or can I use regular butter?
I am going to make this today. I can’t wait!
Nevermind…. I don’t have Ghee. Damnit. Well, I will be saving this recipe and will make it when I have ghee on hand!
Anyone have a suggestion for a ghee replacement. I have to avoid dairy for awhile now. I really need to find something to replace the fat that dairy represented in my diet. This bread would make a great snack, as I now have to eat every 2 hours too. I’d love some suggestions on how I could tweak this recipe. I’m having trouble eating as I should be right now as it has thrown my TF ideas for a loop a bit.
I used coconut oil. I didn’t even bother melting it first, just whisked it in and it turned out quite well.
I thought that unrefined coconut oil could not be heated above 250 degrees? Can you still bake with it at the 350 degree temperature?
The internal temperature of the baked goods won’t exceed about 212 F, so even though the oven may be heated to 350 degrees, the coconut oil shouldn’t reach that temperature.
I too think I will use coconut oil and blueberries! This is a nice easy recipe.
I’ve made it twice already. The first time was good but then the 2nd time I added ricotta cheese, a juicy fresh nectarine and orange zest. INCREDIBLE!!! What a treat. Thanks so much for the idea of using coconut flour!
I used a combination of butter, coconut butter and coconut oil for the fat. I (sadly) had to omit the honey since I’m eating a candida diet right now, and I think that cost me moisture as well as sweetness. Instead I added several drops of stevia, a splash of orange extract, a squeeze of lemon juice and some zest. My loaf turned out nicely, though I think I would tweak it a bit more next time around… maybe replace the honey with applesauce!? I just finished a couple of thin slices with almond butter. Yum! I plan to use the last half of the loaf for french toast
Oh my gosh! I’ve been looking for a straight-up coconut flour BREAD recipe for so long! Thanks’!
I’m new to your blog but loving the recipes. I’ve become curious about eating more Primal, so this is great inspiration.
I made this tonight following the directions – except I subbed in coconut oil and added 1/4 cup of homemade cottage cheese. I also split it into two mini loaf pans and baked for 35 minutes. It came out moist and so filling! I was craving some good butter and this was the perfect non grain vehicle for it. I could barely finish my two little slices slathered with raw cultured butter. Yum!
I made this recipe last night, and it looked rather odd and dense, although tasty. Shouldn’t it have some baking powder so it will rise a little? If so, how much?
I never use baking powder in my cooking anymore – it’s rife with processed additives. You could use baking soda, if you added something acidic to the ingredients. I don’t find it needs soda or powder.
Even the aluminum-free baking powder? Hmmmm. The bread was fine except that it barely made it to be an inch tall, and was rather denser than I prefer. I’ll keep that under advisement.
I don’t use aluminum-free baking powder either. You might find some oooold recipes here from a time when I did use it, but it’s filled with additives like cornstarch. i prefer to use baking soda + acid to leaven things.
For future reference, there are recipes on the Internet for making baking powder with baking soda and cream of tartar. I *think* the proper ratio is something like 2:1 cream of tartar and baking soda. The cream of tartar is acidic. Make it right before you need it, it tends to go blah pretty quickly.
And ideas about what could be used in lieu of the eggs? I’m always interested in a vegan perspective (even though I’m just barely a vegetarian). This looks delicious!! Since I just started trusting myself to bake things I can’t wait to share with my brother, who has Celiac-Sprue and can’t do any kind of grain. Million Thanks for this recipe!!!!
I’ve heard that flaxseed, ground and soaked in a bit of water, helps to mimic the congealing effects of egg. If you can tolerate them, pastured eggs are a critically important source of fat-soluble vitamins that really shouldn’t be missed.
The only eggs that are available around here are either from one of the local farms or from the chain super-markets… I toured a few of the close-by farms last year only to find ABHORRENT conditions for the precious little chickies. If I *HAVE* to have eggs,I get them from what I found to be the cleanest farm; I still feel incredibly guilty about it though. Christopher however doesn’t concern himself with matters like these, and will be thrilled to receive this recipe for gluten free bread, which I just e-mailed to him! He lives in Pittsburgh, where it should be easy to find coconut flour (and mail me a package!) Millions and millions of thanks again!!!
I *SO* get where you’re coming from. The conditions laying hens are kept in truly is deplorable. I’m really fortunate that we have a fantastic infrastructure here for real food and holistically managed animal foods. I don’t think I’d eat eggs if I couldn’t get them pastured (the factory farmed eggs also taste awful).
Have not tried the coconut recipes, however, I did read the comments…heres what I think…..coconut if eaten in concentration will give you bowel discomfort ranging from bloating and gas, to out right having to hang around the loo…that is the function of coconut so remember that if using coconut recipes with this amount of concentration per servings, maybe good to regulate grandma, or the occassional constipation for the kids when theyve eaten something that wont break loose. Everything in moderation. Sounds good though….thanks for the recipe
Oh I wanted to add, about eggs….Ive had backyard hens for almost 3 years now…my girls are the best. There are 6 of them verying in ages from 6 months to 3 years, when they arent in “molt” the younger hens lay everyday for a year or so, then every other day…my average is 5 eggs a day. To many for two people, but, we share with the neighbors, or take a dozen as a gift for the dentist, or the doctor. Although I havent physically eaten an egg since I ve had them, it took me awhile to get back into eating chicken as our meat staple. The girls provide endless hours of education, entertainment, eggs, natural fertilizer for the garden, garden cleanup,as they are natural bug eaters and weed feeders. I even saw one eat a mouse…. I havent seen a spider, red ant, slug, pincher bugs, crane flies, etc. I could go on and on. All I do is give them a locked up place to sleep at night, (keep out predetors), clean straw to lay their eggs in, rafters to perch on, ” chicken feed”, which I am presently investigating to see if it is GMO free, oyster shell, pea gravel, and the occassional corn “scratch”, chicken candy….and fresh water, oh….of course a name…..and they do all the rest. Incredibly fun animals to watch, great for adults as well as children. Most “citys” have ordinances against “roosters”…but two or three hens in the bachyard, is perfect for what I just described.
I made the coconut bread this evening. I used coconut oil, a bit of lemon juice and baking soda to add more height. I used appx. 1 tsp. of each. I also added a bit more honey than called for as I had an idea…I sliced some strawberries, and whipped some cream and had strawberry shortcake with my family! It was delicious.
I have to say, of all the real food blogs I read, yours is my favorite because your recipes never fail. Well, except for the Meyer Lemons, and that was my fault. I tried to to them in a regular jar and they got moldy. Anyway, I am 38 weeks pregnant and actively searching for quick recipes that I can nourish myself with while I adjust from having one child to two. Five minutes for bread? PERFECT! I’ll be doing a trial run this week.
Jenny,
Do you think this would turn out as well using almond flour?
Thanks!
I doubled the recipe and since I am a yogic vegan used Orgran egg substitute and agave instead of sugar (it is non-glycemic), also added gf baking powder and the juice/rind of one organic lemon, and a combination of raw coconut oil/butter. Delicious! By the way, raw coconut flourdoes not contain salicides and the stomach should be less reactive to it. Thanks for the recipe. Cheers.
Do you have any recommended sources for coconut flour? I’m eager to try this bread!
I really like aloha-nu brand, but it can be difficult to find so I often use bob’s red mill.
I LOVE Tropical Traditions for everything coconut. Have ordered lots of their stuff with amazing success.
I made the bread with half coconut oil and half butter. I found the results much too eggy and dense. I wish I had added a leavening agent of some sort and maybe dried fruit.
Suzanne L:
I bought my coconut flour from Publix here in Florida. It’s Bob’s Red Mill brand which I have been seeing a lot of products from pop up in regular grocery stores lately.
I was so excited to make this bread, I actually bought eggs for it. (We eat our chickens’ eggs as fast as they’re laid, so I bought some from the farmer’s market.) I used melted pastured butter, and added a tablespoon of cider vinegar and some baking soda for leavening. The bread rose a few inches, but not nearly as tall as it appears in the photo here. The flavor was okay, but the texture was insubstantial, like white bread. I think it would make an excellent shortcake, but I won’t make it again for bread.
Jenny, I cannot figure out how you got your bread to rise, with no leavening – even with leavening it seems that many of us ended up with flat, dense bread. Did you use miniature loaf pans? I so wanted this to work – I committed too many expensive ingredients to have it fail.
Such a nice recipe; this is dinner tonight, spread with chopped (local, grass-fed) chopped beef liver. Fresh orang on the side and lemon in the water to encourage the iron absorbtion, too. We use coconut oil instead of the ghee.
that bread was delicious. i was a tad worried about the 6 eggs..but
that worry soon went away after my third slice.
i’ll try it next time with a bit of orange.
who needs to leaven it??
Are you kidding? I just tried making this since I love coconut oil and I followed the recipe exactly. I can’t describe what a HORRIBLE taste it had. Absolutely awful! I can’t believe anyone could follow that recipe and come up with something edible. What a disappointment and I was so looking forward to it after reading some of the comments about how good it was. Obviously, they were lying.
“obviously they were lying?”
It seems more obvious that you simply can’t cook.
Tried this recipe tonight, though we forgot the honey. The flavor was very mild, and the loaf itself seemed dry. Maybe not enough eggs? Maybe the flour needed sifting? It does soak up the liquid! I do think it would make a good tea cake, or even shortbread, and I think I’d enjoy it a lot more soaked with raw milk or cream. I’ll try that tomorrow, with blueberries on top. I might bake it again with some of the add-in suggestions above, I’d really like more moisture and a sweeter flavor (alas, the unfortunate honey omission). As for the rise, I wasn’t expecting any, and I think the photo above is exaggerating one that really isn’t there – a matter of perspective. I used a regular 8×4 loaf pan, and it’s about 1 1/2 inches high at most. Used a regular mixer to beat the batter, and found it got pretty light and dry. I really had to press it into the pan and smooth it out. Interesting recipe…
How did the second trial go? I’m interested to know because I am about to make this for the first time.
Obviously this was written some time ago, so hopefully someone might still read and reply to my comment.
I love coconut but I can only handle so much of it. Almond flour tends to work better in my body – would this recipe work with pure almond flour? Any idea?
Hey, just wanted to say, I tried this recipe with 5 eggs, and only almond flour, along with a few walnuts and a sprinkle of baking soda. AWESOME!!! yummmmm. Seemed a bit more like a cake to me, though.
Hi, I was looking for a good basic bread recipe since my husband is always wanting bread-like foods and we are low carb after his heart attack. I baked your recipe with only one change: 5 duck eggs for the 6 eggs (probably you used chicken). We raise our own ducks and chickens, but the chickens stopped laying in the winter, so we have lots of duck eggs! The fat and ‘stickyness’ of the duck eggs made me think 5 would work, and it did. Very nice, not too dense loaf that was fairly neutral for dinner rather than dessert. I will try it with half nut flour half coconut flour next time just to try something different. Thank you for your nice recipes.
Thank you for the post…this is the closest thing to bread that I’ve had in a long time! It’s so yummy I can’t get enough, I’ve gone on a baking spree. I don’t think my 5 lbs bag will last as long as I thought.
I made this last night. It turned out well, I think. I had a bunch of small eggs from a pullet new to laying so I used 8 of those instead of 6 large. I cooked it for 5 minutes less in a convection oven. Thanks, Ann Marie!
I made this last night. It turned out well, I think. I had a bunch of small eggs from a pullet new to laying so I used 8 of those instead of 6 large. I cooked it for 5 minutes less in a convection oven. Thanks!
Jenny,
I just had to share: I have been eying this recipe for months and just today, when I got the most succulent fresh spring strawberries, begging to be made into shortcake. Since I no longer do gluten and I am quite used to things not very sweet anyway, this struck me as just the thing. I increased the honey ever so slightly (my guess would be by about a tablespoon and a half.) and finished the final shortcake with the teeniest pinch of organic sweetened coconut flakes and fresh sweet cream (grass fed, but not raw since NJ disallows raw milk sales) – HEAVEN
I made this and really didn’t like the taste. Do you think I could use half almond meal and half coconut flour? Also, would less eggs make it less dense? Thanks!
Jenny, the first time I made this for Little Man and I (we are GAPS), I had (have) to replace the ghee with something else. Little Man is dairy intolerant right now. I was going to try coconut oil, but didn’t have any on hand, so I used rendered chicken fat (gleaned from cracklings). Oh, my gosh, it was SO good! You should try it like that sometime. It lends a literal golden taste, a rich taste to the bread, that go so awesome with the salt and sweetness of the honey and coconut. Unreal.
This bread sounds so yummy but I was wondering if it would work to make it more coconutty. I’m not concerned with gluten free or anything, I just really like coconut. I bought some of the flour already and am wondering if adding shredded coconut and replacing the butter with coconut oil & the honey with coconut cream or milk would make the bread “not work”. I have never baked bread myself but this looks so tasty and not too difficult. Thanks for the recipe & I plan to try it straight the first time.
Made this yesterday, and it’s wonderful! Added a bit of lemon to the batter for zing. To serve, I topped slices with homemade cream cheese flavoured with lemon and a touch of stevia… delicious.
Hmm, this didnt come out so well for me… I used coconut oil, instead of ghee. When I first took it out of the oven there was a layer of oil on top. It eventually soaked it, but made the whole thing greasy and heavy… I’m hoping to find some way to use it, as opposed to throwing it away…
Hi there
Would you mind telling me when you make this how you use it for french toast?
Thank you
Lara
I just made this for the first time – substituting coconut oil for the ghee. It did not rise at all. What could’ve happened?
It was asked earlier, but I didn’t see an answer to what size loaf pan? 9×5 or 8×4?
that would effect the rise too.
I tried the Coconut Break Flour recipe, but it is very dry (that I need to drink lots of water with it.) Is it supposed to be very dry? Do you have suggestions how to make it moist?
The coconut flour cake should be very moist, unless it was overcooked. I live at high altitude and this can cause some variations in baking.
Jenny:
Like you, I also live at higher altitude (3,200ft). I tried to make this coconut bread and it came out very oily and very eggy (if that’s even a word). I followed the recipe exactly and it just didn’t come out right. It did seem to rise to about 3 inches (I used aluminum free Baking Powder), but I’ve seen several people post something about using baking soda instead. Do you have any advice about that? I’m not into oily foods so this has been sort of a disappointment for me and my wife. We are looking for a good read recipe for coconut, almond or flax bread as I am now on a gluten free, sugar free diet. Any help you could provide would be very appreciated. Than you very much.
I am jumping with joy about this recipe. I can not wait to try it, but first, I have to go get more coconut flour because I seemed to have run out. Thank you for this simple, healthy recipe.
Wow, that looks pretty fantastic! I made a coconut bread not too long ago and it didn’t look nearly as fluffy or smooth as yours. And I’m surprised at the lack of baking soda/powder in the recipe. I’m going to have to give it another go, it looks too good not to try again.
I am so excited to see these Coconut flour recipes. I love coconut ANYTHING. As someone who needs to be both gluten free and egg free, I was wondering if there are any egg free recipes, even if it means adding another wheat free alternative in? If anyone knows of them I would appreciate you sharing.
Would love to know if this recipe be used in a breadmachine?? No need for yeast?
I like to add some mint (crushed, fresh or just extract) and cocoa powder to mine as well as omitting the honey and using a full teaspoon of stevia so it it’s more like a cake. I also add a tsp of baking soda when I do that. Otherwise, it’s great as French toast topped with raw milk yogurt. YUM!
I made this and it turned out horribly! It didnt rise, it was hard on the outside and burt and gewwy on the inside, it had a very weird texture and a funny flavour
Hello everyone.
I thought I’d share a few tweaks I like to implement upon this wonderful and satiating recipe.
I don’t bake with honey, because if one is following the GAPS diet, it’s not allowed. Baking (raw) honey deactivates the enzymes.
But what I was REALLY going to share is this: I bake this recipe exactly as said, minus the honey, BUT, I love to add 10 oz of frozen blackberries after mixing all the other ingredients together. I also like to add a generous splash of vanilla extract and sometimes a touch of cinnamon.
I bake it just as normal. When it comes out of the oven, I either dip bites in raw honey, or sometimes slather raw honey on top of it and serve it for myself and friends.
Exquisite! Bon Apetite.
Needs to be doubled for standard loaf pan to look like photo. Surprisingly decent texture, but a little dry. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this!
I actually used 1/2 cup coconut flour and 1/2 cup blanched almond flour (wanted a slightly heartier texture), and 1/3 cup light olive oil in place of the ghee. And xylitol instead of honey. Also added a tsp of baking powder. Had to bake it an extra ten minutes, but it came out beautifully! Been looking for a good starch-free bread recipe, so glad I found this site