I am at it again....
🍞 High-Protein Seeded Bread
Bread Machine Recipe • About 15g Protein Per Thin Slice • Best Toasted!
I've been experimenting with homemade breads, trying to find something that gives me a lot of protein without a lot of carbs, while still letting me enjoy bread.
This one has definitely been an experiment! The first version was a little too dense and needed some tweaking, but that's part of the fun of making things yourself. You change a little here, add a little there, and eventually find something that works for you.
For this version, I used real maple syrup instead of an artificial sweetener and added sunflower and pumpkin seeds along with hemp hearts.
The result is a hearty, seeded, high-protein bread. One thing I learned pretty quickly: this is definitely a better toasting bread! Depending on your toaster, it may even need a double toast to get that nice crispy texture.
We also use a meat slicer for our homemade breads, so I was able to get 12 nice, thin, even slices from my loaf.
🌻 Ingredients
1 cup warm water
1 tsp real maple syrup
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp butter, softened or melted and slightly cooled
28 g oat fiber
70 g ground flax meal
180 g vital wheat gluten
½ tsp xanthan gum
Salt, to taste
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
¼ cup sunflower & pumpkin seed mix
3 Tbsp hemp hearts
🍞 Bread Machine Instructions
I load this bread into my bread machine basically the same way I make my other breads.
Step 1 — Wet Ingredients
Add to the bread-machine pan:
Warm water → maple syrup → beaten eggs → butter
Step 2 — Dry Ingredients
Add:
Oat fiber → flax meal → vital wheat gluten → xanthan gum → salt
Step 3 — Yeast
Make a small indentation in the top of the dry ingredients and add the active dry yeast.
Try to keep the yeast from directly touching the salt when you first load the machine.
Step 4 — Seeds
Add the sunflower/pumpkin seed mixture and hemp hearts at your machine's add-in signal, or toward the latter part of the kneading cycle.
Now you have two choices!
OPTION 1: 🍞 Let the Bread Machine Bake It
If you want the bread machine to do everything, select the Basic/White Bread cycle.
If your machine lets you choose a crust setting, I'd use light crust. This high-protein bread can brown and dry more quickly than traditional white bread.
Take a peek during kneading.
During the first several minutes, check the dough.
You're looking for a soft, slightly tacky dough ball.
This dough contains a lot of vital wheat gluten plus flax and oat fiber, so don't expect it to behave exactly like regular white-bread dough.
Once you're happy with the dough, close the lid and let the bread machine handle the rest:
Kneading → Rising → Baking
When it's finished, remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool completely before slicing.
OPTION 2: 🥖 Bread Machine Dough Cycle + Oven
This is the method I used and is a great option if you want more control over the shape and baking.
Select the Dough cycle on your bread machine and let it mix, knead and complete the first rise.
When the dough cycle is finished:
Remove the dough from the bread machine.
Gently shape it into a loaf. You don't need to heavily knead it again.
Place it into a greased loaf pan.
Cover loosely and let it rise for approximately 30–45 minutes, or until noticeably puffy.
Don't worry if it doesn't double in size like traditional white bread.
Bake at 350°F for approximately 25–35 minutes.
If the top begins browning too quickly, loosely tent it with foil.
Remove it from the pan and let it cool completely before slicing.
Air-Fryer Oven Option
I used my air-fryer oven and baked mine at:
340°F for approximately 25 minutes
Every air-fryer oven is a little different, so I'd start watching it toward the end rather than relying only on the clock.
🔪 About the Slices
We use a meat slicer for our homemade bread.
That gave me 12 thin, even slices from this loaf.
That's important when looking at the macros below. If you're slicing your loaf by hand and making thicker slices, you may get fewer slices, which means the nutrition per slice will be higher.
The thin slices also work really well for this particular bread because...
🔥 This Bread Is Better Toasted!
This is probably my biggest tip for this recipe.
Toast it!
This isn't a light, fluffy grocery-store white bread. It's a hearty bread made with vital wheat gluten, flax, oat fiber, hemp hearts and seeds.
I found that I liked the texture much better toasted.
And don't be afraid of the double toast! 😂
Depending on your toaster, one cycle may really just warm it. A second round can give it that crispier exterior that makes a big difference with this bread.
Because we're slicing ours thin with the meat slicer, those thin slices toast especially nicely.
I think it would be great for:
Buttered toast
Cream cheese toast
Egg sandwiches
Open-faced sandwiches
Avocado toast
Tuna or chicken salad
Grilled cheese
Breakfast toast
You can also freeze the individual slices and pull out just what you need.
📊 Approximate Nutrition
My loaf made 12 thin slices using a meat slicer.
Whole Loaf
| Nutrition | Approximate |
|---|---|
| Calories | ~1,740 |
| Protein | ~185 g |
| Total Carbohydrates | ~83 g |
| Fiber | ~50 g |
| Net Carbohydrates | ~33 g |
| Fat | ~93 g |
Per Thin Slice — 12 Slices
| Nutrition | Approximate |
|---|---|
| Calories | ~145 |
| Protein | ~15.4 g |
| Total Carbohydrates | ~6.9 g |
| Fiber | ~4.2 g |
| Net Carbohydrates | ~2.8 g |
| Fat | ~7.8 g |
⭐ The easy numbers:
About 145 calories • 15g protein • 3g net carbs per thin slice
Remember, your macros will change depending on the brands you use and how thickly you slice your loaf.
🌻 A Little Note From My Kitchen
I'm not claiming I've discovered the world's perfect low-carb bread. 😂 I'm experimenting.
I wanted something that would let me enjoy a piece of bread while also giving me a significant amount of protein.
And I'm learning that sometimes a recipe doesn't have to perfectly imitate the original to earn a place in my kitchen.
This isn't my soft, fluffy sandwich bread. This is my protein toast.
Once I started thinking of it that way—and toasted it really well—I liked it much more.
I also like that I can use just a teaspoon of real maple syrup rather than adding a larger amount of artificial sweetener. It's one teaspoon spread throughout an entire loaf, and that's a trade-off I'm comfortable with.
And, of course, I'm already thinking about the next experiment.
Could this dough become sandwich thins? Hamburger buns? Hot-dog buns? Thin bagel-style rounds?
Probably.
And if I try it and it works, I'll share that experiment too. ❤️
Nutrition information is an estimate only. Exact values will vary depending on the specific brands of vital wheat gluten, flax meal, oat fiber, seeds, hemp hearts and other ingredients used, as well as the number and thickness of slices.
Let’s Connect
Have an idea?
Share it in the comments — I’d love to hear what’s working for you during your different phases 💛
Till we meet again
love and find joy in your day
Louise
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