The Ultimate Guide to Gluten-Free Sourdough
Everything You Need to Know to Master Gluten-Free Sourdough Baking
Discover the secrets behind creating perfect gluten-free sourdough—from understanding what makes it unique, to following our step-by-step process, and learning how to maintain an active starter. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or just beginning your gluten-free journey, this guide is your roadmap to success.
What Sets Gluten-Free Sourdough Apart?
The Science & Art Behind Gluten-Free Bread
- Ingredients: Gluten-free sourdough uses alternative flours (e.g., brown rice, sorghum, millet) that create a different texture and flavor profile compared to wheat.
- Fermentation: The fermentation process is slower and requires careful management to develop the signature tang and crumb structure.
- Handling: Because gluten is absent, hydration and mixing techniques must be adjusted to ensure proper dough consistency.
Sourdough Tools
What do you actually need?
So often on social media we see people trying to sell us just one more thing. For sourdough, what do we actually need to be successful.
In short, very little. Before the commercial production of yeast in the late 19th and early 20th century, sourdough bread was the norm. In short, it is a wild yeast culture that prefers to eat what it was started on. That is what makes it so great for gluten free baking.
So many creators and recipe developers over complicate the simple nature of sourdough. With it being gluten free, we do need a little more tweaking and maneuvering to get it to be the correct consistency but at the core it is just simple ingredients and a simple (albiet slow) process.
I keep my sourdough starter in a wide mouth Mason jar. At any point I have about 100g of starter in the jar and it lives in my fridge. I use my kitchen aid mixer that I got second hand years ago. Recenlt, I have upgraded to a banneton for fermentation but you could easily use a large bowl.
Your Step-by-Step Guide to Baking Gluten-Free Sourdough
Follow These Simple Steps for Artisan Quality Bread
This is for a detailed description for a simple white sourdough loaf, for more ideas, head to the sourdough page.
Start on the evening 3 days before you would like to be baking. For example, if you’d like to bake on a Sunday, start on Friday.
Take your starter out of the fridge. Discard all but 20 grams. Feed your starter 40 grams of brown rice flour and 40 grams of water. Mix well and set it in a warm place where it won’t be bumped or disturbed overnight.
Approximately 8 hours later, use your active starter to create your levain. Each recipe will have a different levain but for this recipe we are going to keep it simple. Take the following ratio and mix it together.
75g active starter
150g water
76g brown rice flour
45g millet flour
30g sorghum flour
Feed your starter before putting it back in the fridge. For the levain, mix it up and set it somewhere warm that it won’t be bumped for 8 hours.
When your levain looks active and bubbly through your jar, you can use it to finally make your dough. This will be about 16-20 hours after you take the starter out of the fridge to begin with.
Start with the psyllium husk, it should have about 10 minutes to sit after you mix it together. It will turn into a thick gel very quick. I like to mix mine with a fork as it gets stuck in the whisk. Mix the following:
27g psyllium husk powder
428g water
While that is setting up, mix your flours together. I like to use a small measuring cup with a bowl on my scale that is zeroed out. When I get the correct amount of flour, it gets put into the mixing bowl. Mix the following flours together:
90g brown rice flour
60g millet flour
30g sorghum flour
90g potato starch
90g tapioca starch
13g sea salt
Once all of the flour is mixed together, put your levain and psyllium mixture into the flour and put it on low on your mixer. Because it is gluten-free you can’t under do it or over do it, there isn’t any gluten strands to over develop or under develop. I usually let mine mix for about 5-7 minutes.
Once turned into a dough, put it into a container and cover with a wet towel. Leave the loaf in the fridge overnight (approximately 10 hours)
About 10 hours later, pull the dough out of the fridge. I like to do this as soon as I wake up in the morning. For your first loaf, I would reccomend letting it ferment on your counter for about 8 hours. However, you can put it in the oven with just the light on and it will go faster at about 5-6 hours.
You will know it is fermented and risen enough when it feels carbonated when you press on the dough. You should feel air bubbles kind of like in a hot tub that has jets.
At this point, turn your oven on to 430 with your dutch oven in it. Once preheated, shape your loaf, score, and put it in your dutch oven. Cook for 25 minutes with the lid on, and 45 with the lid off.
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