There are those rainy summer days when I don’t want to leave the house but get warm and cozy inside. Maybe I heat the oven and bake some of my all-time favorite munchies for comfort. This superb crisp bread is one of my all-time favorite munchies. Crunchy, tasty and crispy, without gluten and as healthful as possible, it might become one of your all-time favorite munchies as well.
Munch this crunchy crisp bread just like that, or with butter and cheese. For real comfort, top it with sugar-free strawberry or raspberry jam. My favorite way to eat this bread, in addition to load a slice with butter and cheese, is to crumble it over my breakfast yogurt — it’s just like granola, but not sweet, though.
Tips for making this crisp bread
This is very simple and easy bread to make after taking care of a couple of things: the ideal coarseness of the seed mixture and the ideal thickness of the batter on the baking sheet.
The finer the texture of the ground seed mixture, the better the bread holds together. Really finely ground seed mixture doesn’t produce crunchy bread, though. The bread will be rather leathery if the texture is too smooth. On the other hand, too coarse seed mixture will produce bread which is crunchy, but which is also crumbly.
The thickness of the bread affects also how well the bread holds together. The thicker the bread, the better it holds together and the bigger pieces you can break from the bread. Very thin bread is crumbly. On the other hand, too thick bread is not nice to eat, so you might want to make bread which is something in between. For me 0.2 inches (0.5 cm) has been the ideal thickness.
I use a substantial amount of salt because I prefer my bread rather salty. If you don’t like salty bread, please feel free to reduce the amount of salt.
This recipe makes two baking sheets of bread. If you don’t want that much, or if you just want to try out if this bread is your cup of tea, you can halve the amounts of ingredients.
So, let’s get started. Seeds and salt placed in a food processor.
Then processed until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
The blade removed; eggs and oil added.
Then just some mixing with a spoon so that everything is well mixed.
Batter divided in two parts, each part placed on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Then spreading the batter with spoon…
…until it’s flat and even, approximately 0.2 inches (0.5 cm) thick.
My crisp bread experiments
Actually, this crisp bread has almost nothing to do with that crisp bread we eat here in Finland and in other Nordic countries. The traditional crisp bread is made from rye flour, salt and water. My version doesn’t have any of those — except salt. But since my version is crispy and it’s bread, I call it crisp bread.
I started developing this bread when my toddler was begging for some crisp bread — obviously because my dad was eating that traditional Finnish crisp bread. Since me and my toddler eat completely gluten-free food, the traditional crisp bread was out of question. And because they don’t sell any healthy gluten-free crisp bread here, I had to develop my own, simple and healthy version.
In this final recipe I have heavily simplified a version which I found from a Finnish low-carb forum. There is almost nothing left from the original version. I’ve tried different ratios of seeds, oil and eggs and this one is the best in my opinion. And the simplest. My family likes it as well, also my dad who loves to eat traditional crisp bread — he immediately fell in love with this one. Lucky me.
But when I first started thinking of crisp bread, I had to choose which nuts or seeds to use. I thought my favorite seeds. Something low-carb and not very strong tasting. Sunflower seeds would be the best option. Somehow I was also thinking of flax seeds — a great addition to otherwise plain sunflower seeds.
Then just salt for better flavor and a couple of tablespoons oil for richer flavor and texture. From three different fats I use, butter, coconut oil and olive oil, the latter was a natural choice for this crisp bread.
In my first experiments I used too few eggs. The bread was hard and it was blistering in the oven. Actually, what was even worse was that the batter was really hard to spread on the baking sheet. The batter was too runny to roll out and too stiff to spread with spoon. That was also a problem I wanted to solve.
Next I added more oil, hoping that the batter is easier to spread. It wasn’t, but the bread tasted delicious! I doubled the amount of eggs to see if that affects the spreadability. It did. The consistency of the batter was just right to get it nicely and evenly on the baking sheet. Even better, the bread didn’t blister in the oven and the texture was crunchy. The bread was almost melting in my mouth.
- 2 cups = 480 ml organic sunflower seeds
- 1/3 cup = 80 ml organic flax seeds
- 1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt OR Himalayan salt
- 4 extra large organic eggs
- 4 tablespoons organic extra virgin olive oil
- Preheat the oven to 300 °F (150 °C).
- Combine the sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and the salt in a food processor. Process until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Most of the flax seeds can be whole, though.
- Remove the blade or transfer the mixture to another bowl. Add the eggs and the oil and mix with spoon until well mixed.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Divide the batter in half.
- Place one half of the batter on a baking sheet. Spread the batter evenly with spoon so that it is approximately 0.2 inches (0.5 cm) thick. Repeat with the other half.
- Bake one baking sheet at a time, for approximately 30 minutes, or until crunchy and golden brown. Don’t let get too dark.
- Let cool and break into pieces.
| Nutrition Information | In Total (recipe makes 1 serving) |
| Protein | 104.0 g |
| Fat | 242.9 g |
| Net carbs | 7.5 g |
| kcal | 2632 kcal |
Tips for variation
The combination of sunflower seeds and flax seeds is my favorite for this crisp bread. However, feel free to use your favorite seeds. Please remember though, that flax seeds make the batter thicker. For example chia seeds work in a similar way. I tried this bread also with chia seeds instead of flax seeds, and the result was great.
You can replace part of the sunflower seeds with for example pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds. You can spice the bread with your favorite spices, or add some dried or fresh herbs for color and taste.
This is my second time making these awesome crackers. I didn’t have enough sunflower seeds so I added hemp hearts. I also threw in some dehydrated onion. Yum!
elvira, I just wanted to tell you, (per our conversation about rolling the crisp bread). (sorry it took me so long to get to finally try it myself, but, things have been crazy in my life until this week) I tried a batch this morning, and, just finished a few pieces with some cheese and fruit for lunch. It’s FABULOUS. I just love it very much. I can think of a million different versions to make. Thank you, thank you so much for the basic, lovely recipe. I did not have extra large eggs, rather, large, so I used 5 and ended up adding 2 tspns of coarsely chopped almonds to it as well. I thought it very easy to spread, and didn’t have to think of rolling it out, and it baked up beautifully. My house is so fragrant right now, but, I enjoyed it very much and I know my husband and family are going to love it as much as I do. What a doll you are! Thanks for this wonderful jewel you’ve invented.
Hi Sue, thank you so much for your kind words, makes me really happy! It’s wonderful to hear that you liked it so much! Thanks for trying out!
I have a suggestion for you for this recipe and spreading it.
The batch could be spread more easily if you, instead of spreading, use another piece of parchment, or plastic film that has been sprayed with cooking oil, placed over the glob of biscuit, then, rolling it out to desired thickness instead of trying to spread it. Then, simply pull the sprayed piece of extra parchment off before bak.
Great, thanks for the tip! Usually I just try to spread it quickly before it thickens, then it’s easier to spread.
I do understand that in the case of spreading it, but if rolling it, it will definately work and work very well. If you try it, let me know how it works for you. I am going to try your recipe this week, and, I am going to roll it. I’ll let you know how it works, if I make them first. Thanks for the great looking recipe
Thanks, actually I’m just baking and might try that out now! I will let you know how it worked out for me.
Thanks. I appreciate it. I can’t wait to try them.They look wonderful. We love crackers, or bread like this, and I am excited to give it a try making.
Hope you like it! Just remember to leave the layer thick enough, otherwise it will break too easily.
I sure will. Thanks again
I just tried out (just halved the recipe), and for me the batter was too runny for rolling, it was easier to spread with spoon. I’m eager to hear how it worked for you.
Let me please know how it works out. I suggested rolling because I took the recipe and pictures to read that is was a thicker paste like dough that was hard to spread. Let me know how it works out for you.
How are you getting your nutritional information? I ran it through a recipe analyzer and for 10 servings I got:
Calories 147
Calories from Fat 119
Total Fat 13.2g
Saturated Fat 1.9g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 65mg
Sodium 259mg
Potassium 113mg
Total Carbohydrates 3.1g
Dietary Fiber 1.8g
Protein 4.8g
I take the numbers that are given by the manufacturers, weigh the ingredients and calculate. How did you define serving?
Could I use something else for the flax seeds? They are estrogenic so I need to avoid them. Would sesame seeds work, or pumpkin seeds for the flax? I love sunflower seeds. Should I use raw or roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds? Thanks!
Hi Bonnie, I wonder if chia seeds would work instead of flax. I prefer raw, unsalted sunflower seeds, they get toasted flavor in the oven.
The net carb count for the entire recipe is 7.5 grams?
Two cups of sunflower seeds is 32 grams net carbs. What am I missing in the math here?
Hmm, weird, I have to check that.
Any suggestions about how to store these? This is great, I will try making them this week!
Hi Eunice, I just store them covered at room temperature. They store well for several days. Just keep them dry that they remain crispy.
we love this recipe, I add some zaatar which is a mediterranean thyme mix and they turned out great. Thanks!
Hi Levon, that’s a great idea to add some spices! Wonderful that you liked the recipe!
how many pieces of what size does this make?
I would like to calculate how many calories and fat per piece.
Thanks.
Hi Linda, this is a difficult question since it completely depends on into how many pieces you break the bread. If you get 10 pieces, they will have 24.3 grams fat and 263 kcal per piece. If you get 16 pieces they will have 15.2 grams fat and 164 kcal per piece. If you get 20 pieces, they will have 12.1 grams fat and 132 kcal per piece. If you get 24 pieces they will have 10.1 grams fat and 110 kcal per piece. Hope this helps!
Hello. Thank you for this recipe. I made the bread using half of the ingredients and it tastes nice but I need to try this more times.
I had some difficulties to spread the batter in the parchment paper with a spoon, I had more luck with a knife. It seems like the batter need to be thinner in the parchment paper.
But I’ll get there and my crisp bread will look and taste like yours.
Hi Luiz. Thanks for trying out my recipe. You’re right, the batter is easier to spread when it’s thinner. Flax seeds thicken the batter quite soon after adding the wet ingredients and mixing the batter. You can also reduce the amount of flax seeds if you think the batter is too thick.
Hope you succeed in getting the result you want!
Elviira, how do you store these crackers? do they maintain their crispness? have you tried freezing them?
thank you – i just found your website and love it!
Hi, zooie! I store them in a cool and dry place, they don’t have to be in an airtight container, just covered. They maintain their crispiness unless you put them to the fridge where they get chewy. I don’t have experience if they maintain the crispiness in humid weather. I haven’t tried to freeze them.
Great to hear that you like my web page!
These crispbreads are lovely. I added about
1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons of nigella seeds and the result is great
Debra, thank you for trying them out. Great to hear that you like them!
I laid cling film over the whole sheet and flattened out mixture with my hand
This helps get an even layer and gave me another sense of connection with my food!
I added fennel seeds and flaked salt before cooking
A-maxing
Thanks for the recipe
I love your blog
Wendy, thanks for your comment and for a great idea! I have to try out cling film as well, sounds very clever!
What can I use in place of eggs. .??
Well, you can try flax egg, however I’m not sure how well that binds the dough. Another option is cream cheese.