This keto and paleo no knead bread recipe is easy to make, and it takes no flour (!), no sugar, no yeast and no dairy.
The wonderful Nordic nut and seed bread (Nøddebrød), also known as stenalderbrød (stone age bread) is made entirely of nuts, seeds and eggs. Being a flourless bread, it’s naturally gluten-free, and there’s absolutely no refined ingredients!
The stone age bread looks stunning sliced, revealing all its nuts and seeds in an extraordinary array of colors and textures. It’s the perfect way to adorn your keto or gluten-free charcuterie board!
The easiest bread recipe
Danish chef Thomas Rode Andersen is the person behind this brilliant idea, shared on his paleo diet book “Stenålderskost” in 2013. It now has hundreds of spin offs, and it’s easy to tell after reading a few that there’s not really “a recipe” but instead a set of fairly loose rules. Follow them, and it will bread.
I have made this stone age bread several times now, and I do vary the recipe a lot based on what nuts and seeds I have in the pantry. You don’t need a specific list of ingredients. If you follow “the rules” I’m gonna show you this keto bread will always work and get wonderfully delicious.
There was, though, one recipe that I actually messed up by leaving the bread in the oven for almost one hour longer. I just forgot about it. The nuts and seeds tasted way beyond toasted, a little bit burnt. So yeah, it’s possible to mess up, but you’d have to try really hard.
I just don’t bake it more often because 1. it’s not cheap and 2. it’s still incredibly high in calories (even making it without oil). In its defense, it’s a very, very satisfying bread, quite possibly the most nutrient dense keto bread recipe ever.
There’s no room for “fillers” in the stone age bread recipe – which is paradoxical, as bread (at least from a low-carb perspective) is nothing more than a filler. But this bread, my keto friends, is nutritious enough to be a meal in itself.
How to make
Making the Nordic nut and seed bread is so simple! You’ll spend more time gathering the ingredients together than mixing this keto bread batter. Even if you have never baked a bread in your whole life, you’re gonna get a wonderful loaf!
You just need to mix all the ingredients – eggs, salt, nuts and seeds. Mix them all very well. To ensure thorough mixing I usually crack the eggs first into the bowl, add the salt (and occasionally some spices and herbs if I’m in the mood) then quickly beat them before adding the nuts and seeds.
After it’s all mixed together really well, let the keto bread batter sit for a couple of minutes for the flaxseeds (or meal) to moisten and help holding everything together. Then give another quick mix. You’ll have basically a big clump of nuts and seeds held together by egg and flax.
Then, pour the Nordic keto bread into a 10″ or so loaf pan, either buttered or lined with parchment paper, to prevent sticking.
Bake in a preheated oven for about one hour at 160 °C (320 °F). You won’t be able to do the toothpick test on this bread… the toothpick would most likely break 😅 but after one hour it will surely be ready.
Rules for a perfect loaf
You can use a combination of any variety of nuts and seeds that you have at hand.
You can be creative and play with colors and flavors… I use a lot of black sesame just because I like the dark color that it gives the bread. There’s 3 rules to be followed, though:
- Use more seeds than nuts – To keep the bread together, a proportion of at least double the amount of seeds to nuts is ideal. You could in fact even remove the nuts entirely, and make the bread only out of seeds.
- Flaxseeds must be present – Flaxseed, either in seed or meal form, is important because it helps binding everything together with the eggs. It makes the bread easy to slice without crumbling.
- Use whole nuts and seeds – don’t try to crush them. I know, it might seem weird to just dump all these big chunks together and hope for a bread to happen, but I promise, it will. The nuts will slice beautifully when the bread is ready. Use a sharp steak knife, instead of a bread knife. The thinner you can slice, the better!
Nut and seed alternatives
The recipe as written is the one I used for the bread that illustrates the pictures on this post. But if you keep in mind the proportions (at least double the amount of seeds to nuts) you can use any variation of nuts and seed combinations to make this keto bread your own!
Nuts – You can use a variety of nuts, depending on your favorite flavors and also your budget. Or use no nuts and make a nut-free, seed only bread.
As I mentioned on my sugar-free candied nuts recipe, nuts are usually keto friendly, but remember that cashews are significantly higher in carbs.
- Walnuts, Almonds, Hazelnuts, Macadamias, Pistachios, Cashew Nuts, Brazil Nuts, Pecans
Seeds – Flaxseeds are a must, to improve the texture of the bread. But you can also add:
- Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds (either black or white), poppy seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds
If you like and your macros permit, you can add some dried fruits as well – think cranberries, pieces of figs, dates or apricots, and of course sultanas or raisins… if you are into this sort of thing.
I have made a nut and seed bread heavy on hazelnuts and with keto chocolates chips – it was sooo good! I think hazelnuts and chocolate are a match made in heaven!
Freezing and storage
The keto nut and seed bread keeps for about a week, in an airtight container. It will remain fresher refrigerated.
This big loaf can be a lot to be had by one person, or even a family of two, in just a few days. If that’s you, you’d be happy to know that the keto Nordic bread freezes beautifully!
You can either freeze the whole/half loaf, or slice it thinly and freeze the slices individually wrapped in cling wrap or put parchment paper in between them and seal in an airtight container. Them, just grab a slice whenever you feel like it!
Keto Nordic Nut And Seed Bread
Ingredients
- 6 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cups (100 g) flax seeds or 1 cup flaxmeal (see Notes)
- ¾ cups (100 g) pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
- ¾ cups (100 g) sunflower seeds
- ¾ cups (100 g) sesame seeds (I used half white and half black)
- ¾ cups (100 g) almonds
- 1 cup (118 g) walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160 °C (320 °F)
- In a large bowl, mix the 6 eggs and 1 teaspoon salt well with a big spoon or spatula. Add all the 3/4 cups flax seeds, 3/4 cups pumpkin seeds, 3/4 cups sunflower seeds, 3/4 cups sesame seeds , 3/4 cups almonds and 1 cup walnuts and mix thoroughly until everything is equally coated in egg and there are no dry spots.
- Let mixture sit while buttering or lining a large (10-inch) loaf pan with parchment paper
- Mix the nut and seed batter again, and pour it into the loaf pan, flattening the top with an spatula
- Bake the Nordic bread for one hour. Wait until it cools down before cutting into thin slices – use a sharp knife.
Notes
Nutrition
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Hey there Di! I’m sorry but I have never used an egg substitute so I have no way of saying for sure if it would work or not. But I have read that it’s possible to use them in many baking recipes, so I suppose it would work here too. I suggest you half the recipe for a first try with whatever substitute you previously had success with, so if it doesn’t work you don’t lose as much in ingredients. Good luck!
This is exactly what I need to make. How would you “veganize” it ? What would you use instead of eggs? Thank you in advance.
Hi Earl! You can add 1 cup of dried fruit (small pieces/chopped up) without making any alterations to the recipe.
what changes to recipe do you make per cup of fruit?
Hi Phil! This recipe is really just nuts and seeds held together by eggs so it gets sliceable like bread. As the moisture of the eggs dries up during baking all the nuts and seeds solidify into the shape of the pan, and the bread has a dry and hard crust. The nuts and seeds don’t soften during cooking and there’s no flour to make it fluffy. If you expected a soft bread, I can understand your disappointment. Try slicing it thinly and have it as you would crackers, with some soft cheese (like Brie or Camembert). I hope you’ll at least find it enjoyable this way.
Made this today but wasn’t really impressed with it , very hard and dry on top , not sure I’ll make again
That’s so interesting Zyanya! And to think that today we have all the flour that the Celts could have dreamed of and much more… and here we are are trying to get back into more simple, less processed foods. Our ancestors knew better 🙂 I hope you like the bread!
I read somewhere that Celts (I think it was specifically Celtiberians) baked “a bread made of nuts and seeds, as they had no flour available to them”. I couldn’t find the recipe anywhere, and by chance I came across this one today. I’m so happy and excited to try it out!
Thank you for sharing Simone, that combination of yours sounds lovely!
I made this using just almonds as well as hemp seeds and basil seeds. Delicious, and I finally have a tasty and suitable keto vessel for pate and soft goat’s cheese. Thank you ☺️
Thank you Inés! You mean pumpernickel, right? I also like this one better!
Wonderful! Very different than normal bread, more like german rye bread, but it tastes much better!
That’s great Warren, I’m so happy you enjoyed! Psyllium helps keto and gluten-free dough texture elasticity. It’s not necessary in this nut and seed bread, because it has a very different texture from regular bread.
I just made this last night and it came out wonderfully! Thanks for posting.
It most likely made no difference at all, but , by instinct i did put a bit of psyllium husk powder in, and added a handful of pistachio meats. To be honest I haven’t tasted a pistachio in the mix, so clearly an expensive add with no reward. I will be trying this again towards Christmas, and I am certain family and friends will enjoy. Thanks again for a great recipe.