About two years ago, I ordered a gluten free sourdough starter from Azure Standard. And then, for an entire year, it sat in my refrigerator door taunting me. I was just so overwhelmed by the prospect of figuring out what to do with it. Gluten free baking is a little finicky on its own, but then to figure out the process of sourdough too? It felt like an insurmountable hurdle, so instead of doing something with it, I just felt guilty every time I looked at it. When January 2023 rolled around I was 8 months pregnant and taking a month off social media. It was the perfect opportunity to dedicate all my twitchy Instagram withdrawals to something useful. I remembered that I’d seen an online course offered through Wyndelin, and because human behavior is what it is, I knew that if I paid money for something, I’d probably be more motivated to stick with it. So, I accessed Marissa’s course1 , and with great trepidation bent to the task of getting a starter going. To my surprise, it wasn’t hard. It was a little time consuming, and involved a lot of mixing and weighing, but none of it was actually difficult.
After a month’s worth of experimenting I was making passable focaccia, dinner rolls, and some discard waffles. I soon branched out and started making my first bread, which again, while intimidating, wasn’t hard.
A year and a half later, I’m still at it, and it’s been one of my most satisfying kitchen ventures to date. Having gluten free bread as a low-cost2, ready to use item for toast, sandwiches, soup accompaniment, and to use as breadcrumbs etc… has made so many things about feeding our family easier. And while it takes time, I’ve found ways to make sourdough fit into our family’s rhythm, even with unpredictable sleep schedules and a toddler trying to help me mix it. I’m going to walk you through the process, from getting a starter going, to a complete loaf of bread, and hopefully help you with some tips and tricks along the way. There is just something about fresh baked bread that never gets old and I recommend this as a very useful and practical hobby :)
So, let’s start with the starter.
If you want to get your own starter going, I recommend Marissa’s course. Starting your own is a bit of an undertaking and will take a few weeks of feeding more than once daily, along with a bit of unavoidable discarding, to get strong activity. I did this to begin with, and while it was worthwhile and has served me well, what I discovered is that my family and several other taste testers preferred the flavor profile of the original starter we bought from NW Ferments slightly more3.
If you want to get up and going quickly, what I would suggest is ordering a Gluten Free Sourdough Starter from NW Ferments. If you’ve got normal kitchen supplies like Mason jars or other glass containers, a few flour sack towels (just something light and relatively breathable) and a few rubber bands you can skip the kit. The starter will set you back $12 plus shipping.
In order to start feeding the starter I recommend you have two flours on hand (I’ll link to what I use, but you can buy them online or at most health food stores)
Buckwheat flour (you’ll want this to be finely ground, without the hulls)4
Kitchen scale (needs to measure in grams) 5
The brown rice is the backbone of this recipe, and will comprise the majority of what you use to feed the starter; however, the buckwheat is important because the higher protein content makes for a more robust starter. If you don’t have the buckwheat the starter will fall flat much more quickly and won’t be able to sustain as good of a rise (I’ve definitely fed it with all brown rice before, and it won’t hurt the starter, but it collapses much more quickly).
So, let’s say that you have your initial materials in hand. You’re not quite ready to bake bread, but you want the starter to get going.
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Procedure:
Dump the powdered starter into the bottom of a clean glass jar, or flat bottomed container (I like using one of these round Pyrex containers, because it’s easy to scrape the sides down), then add 80 g of FILTERED water6, 60 g of brown rice flour and 20 g of buckwheat flour. These are my preferred feeding proportions, but you could use more buckwheat if you like. You will almost always feed a 1:1 ratio of whole grain water to flour, and you never want to leave less than about 40g of starter when you discard or bake (visually this is at least a couple tablespoons of starter— if you use it all, there’s nothing to feed and maintain). Stir it thoroughly — it should be a thick paste consistency — then cover with a clean, dry towel (you can rubber band it, but I usually just wrap the towel around the bottom and tuck it somewhere out of direct sunlight— ours lives next to the stove)
For the first few days you are going to feed the starter twice a day, and treat it like it’s a very needy pet. The yeast is hungry, so giving it a quick turnover speeds up the development of all the good microbes. To feed, you’re going to discard all but 40 g (for these first few days this goes in the trash, after that you can reserve it in a container in the fridge and use it). “Discard” means, remove from the container, just so we’re clear :) Then you add another 60 g brown rice, 20 g buckwheat and 80 g filtered water. Give this a good stir; again, you are looking for a paste consistency (somewhere in between quick bread and pancake batter, it shouldn’t be runny), then cover with a clean towel and let sit for another 12 hours.
After the first couple feeds you should start to see signs of life — bubbling, little pockets of air (this is why the glass container is important — the side view gives a good idea of the starter’s activity level) etc… You can measure the activity by marking a line on the container, or putting a rubber band around the jar at the level when you feed it. When the starter has risen a decent amount above this line, you know it’s got some good activity.
Once the starter is very active, you can move to feeding once a day. If you know that you won’t be baking for a good stretch of time then you can let the starter go to “sleep” by putting it in the refrigerator.
My starter powder took four days to get to a point where it looked ready to use. After the first two days, or whenever you notice a good amount of bubbling, you can reserve that discard for recipes like pancakes, or waffles (just put it in a clearly marked container in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it).
Congratulations! You’ve got a starter that’s ready to use!
Now, if you’re ready to bake, here’s what you’ll need for the recipe with which I’ve had the most success. After doing a fair amount of scouring the internet, I decided to give this one a try, because not only was it gluten free and vegan7but it also had rave reviews and clear instructions.
Brown rice flour
Psyllium husk (whole husks, not the powder)
Salt
Olive oil
Honey or maple syrup
Some of these ingredients can be subbed out, but the psyllium husk is non-negotiable. One of the things I like most about this recipe in contrast to store bought gluten free bread is that it doesn’t contain any gums. Most 1:1 flour mixes contain xanthan gum, and it’s a common binder in gluten free baked goods. While I’m not against using it, it’s just not that great for you, and the result of the gums used in the gluten free goods, is that they’re often lacking fiber (important for gut health, but uh, also important for filling people up!) Psyllium husk replaces the xanthan gum and yields a much less gummy baked good (as with most gluten free baked goods it will be slightly gummy while hot, but as it cools the texture improves). I buy it off Amazon, at the local health foods store, and have also found it in bulk. If you can buy it in bulk this is ideal, as it’s the most expensive ingredient, so cutting the cost here will bring your overall cost per loaf down.
I have found that white rice flour works well as a substitute for the sorghum, is slightly easier to find, and yields more of a “white bread” type loaf.
If you cannot tolerate potato starch, I have had success with using tapioca starch for the larger amount of starch in the recipe and subbing in arrowroot starch for the smaller amount. I haven’t ever tried using only one starch, but with most gluten free recipes, a combination of starches and whole grain flour will yield the best texture.
So, now I want you to open a new window and read the recipe instructions, then report back here. She does a great job of breaking the process down, but I’ll walk you through the steps with some pictures so you can see it in action.
Before we get to the baking itself, let’s talk about timelines. This was the other major mental hurdle I faced when getting started. How do I work backwards so that I know I’ll actually be home when it’s time to bake the bread? And how far ahead do I have to think in order for this to work? Here’s a few examples of how that could look, but the preferment time is very forgiving, so you can feel free to experiment. I’ve done anything from 4-24 hours with the results being great.
Example #1:
Day 1:
Feed starter a large feed before bed. Use about 150 g flour (using roughly a 3:1 ratio of brown rice: buckwheat so about 110-120 g brown rice and 30-40 g buckwheat) without discarding, because you’re trying to build up starter to make a double batch of bread the next day.
Day 2:
7-ish AM: Mix preferment (starter, brown rice flour and filtered water), cover pre-ferment with a clean cloth and leave on the counter.
Lunchtime-mid afternoon (naptime): Mix bread, shape loaves, and let rise in a warm place for 3-4 hours (again, cover with a clean tea towel).
Evening (after dinner most likely): Bake bread and let cool overnight (you *could* use this bread for dinner, but it’s going to be a little gummy still without any cooling time)
Example #2 (this works well if you’re taking a starter out of the fridge to get it going for bread)
Day 1:
Feed starter a regular feed before bed (80 g flour: 80 g water)
Day 2:
First thing in the morning: Feed starter another feed (80g flour: 80 g water)
Noon-mid afternoon (when starter is at peak activity): Mix pre-ferment
After dinner/before bed: Mix bread, shape loaves, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for an overnight rise
Day 3:
First thing in the morning: Bring oven up to temperature, let loaves sit on top to come to room temp. Score and bake.
Example #3 (this one works if you need to be out of the house all day)
Day 1:
First thing in the morning: Large feed (150g)
Evening (let’s say after work): Mix preferment
Day 2:
First thing in the morning: Mix bread, put loaves in the refrigerator to proof for ~12 hours
Evening (after work, or before bed): Preheat oven, score and bake loaves
Hopefully these sample timelines help you to start conceptualizing how baking bread might fit into your life. Once you find a routine that works well for you, it’s much easier to work backwards and remember that you need to start the process. When we are down to 1/3 a loaf of bread I usually need to start a new batch. I never bake less than two loaves at a time, and for this reason (and because I don’t own a dutch oven) I always bake in loaf pans. By the end of the week, the second loaf might be getting a tiny bit dry, but is easily revived in a toaster or used for something like French Toast.
I find that shaping and letting the bread rise in the loaf pans is much easier for me than trying to shape it in a banneton and then transfer to the pre-heated dutch oven. The results are not quite as aesthetically pleasing, but the shape actually works better for sandwiches and the toaster, which is the primary way we use the bread. It also doesn’t require me to flour the top, and while this leaves off the pretty white dusting, my children think it tastes better without it.
As far as mixing goes, I sold my Kitchen-Aid a few years back, and so I mix everything by hand with a spatula or a metal spoon. It’s my arm workout for the day. Honestly, it would be slightly quicker with a mixer, but it would create a few more dishes, so it’s really six in one, half dozen in the other. The point is that it’s perfectly fine to be very low tech about this whole operation. You don’t need anything fancy. I have a set of nested plastic mixing bowls which are nice and wide at the top, and these are easy to mix in, because I can get my hands into them. When the dough is incorporated enough that flour isn’t flying everywhere, I turn it out onto a clean countertop and finish kneading by hand (you shouldn’t really need to flour the countertop, it’s not sticky).
I use the lower amount of brown rice flour, usually about 70 g, and don’t have issues with gumminess, but your mileage may vary. I’ve found that while she says that the starter and the loaves should appear to “double” that’s a pretty subjective measurement, and I’ve had a hard time telling when things are proofed or not. Everything is less dramatic with gluten free sourdough. The starter’s rise is less dramatic, there’s less steps to the process of forming a loaf (because remember, there’s no gluten formation), and, if I might go so far, the whole process is actually way less fussy. It might be the one time where gluten free baking is easier.
What I look for when I’m assessing if a loaf is proofed is a general sense of “puffiness”. You won’t see this to the same extent if you’re doing an overnight rise in the refrigerator, so just trust that the yeast has done it’s work, score the bread well (you really need to make fairly deep cuts for the best results) and wait for the oven spring to do its work. I have gotten the most consistent rise with an overnight refrigerator proof, but I don’t always have time to do this. Otherwise it usually takes between 3-5 hours in our dry, colder kitchen (we keep our house in the 65-67 range in the winter). If it’s very warm you can expect the proof to be closer to 2-3 hours, but this is going to depend on your kitchen and your climate.
As far as baking times go, I’ve done some experimentation, and what I find works best is a slight reduction of this recipe’s baking times. When I’m doing two loaves in loaf pans I bake for 1 hour at 425, and then reduce the oven temperature to 415 and bake for another 15-16 minutes.
If you like having the crispy, classic artisan type crust, then take the loaves out of the pans for the last 15 minutes and put them directly on the oven rack. However, if you have children who can’t chew the crust and whine about it, leave the bread in the loaf pans for the last 15 minutes and don’t remove from the pan right away. This little bit of sitting in the pan softens the bottom of the crust ever so slightly and this can be helpful for cutting sandwich slices, or letting little mouths have an easier time chewing.
If you cut into the bread right after cooking it will seem a little gummy, but give it a solid few hours to cool, and the texture will be perfect. I err on the side of ever so slightly underbaking, because I prefer having a bit more moisture in the bread so it doesn’t dry out so quickly. You will have to experiment a bit with baking times as each oven is different, but an hour and 15 minutes is a good starting point.
Lastly, let’s remember that sourdough is forgiving. If your starter looks a little weird8, scrape the top layer off, feed it and stir it up. It’ll probably be fine. If you let the pre-ferment go for 24 hours instead of 12, bake anyways, it’ll probably be fine. Use clean utensils and try to be consistent when you can, but also trust your instinct. If the starter’s consistency is crumbly and dry, add a little more water. If you accidentally dump in too much water, just add a bit more flour until it looks right. It’s good to follow the rules initially, but rules are there as guidelines, and bread starts to become an intuitive process. You’re the boss! There is no sourdough police, I promise.
I’ve put together a printable PDF with some tips regarding the care and feeding of sourdough. I recommend printing it off along with the Bakerita recipe, then bookmarking this post for reference. As always, if you've got questions or input, drop them in the comment section below and I’ll do my best to answer them or find someone smarter than me who can :)
Now that you have a working sourdough starter, the world is your oyster. I highly recommend this bagel recipe — a real, chewy crust bagel without the gluten? Yes please!
Tag me in your bread pictures if you’re on Notes! And please share this post with a friend who misses good bread.
Tragically, Marissa Froese has since passed away; however, I believe you can still purchase the video course and it will support her family. Because many of my family can’t eat eggs or dairy, her recipes were not as useful to me, and I ended up finding a different bread recipe, but the background knowledge and guidance was so helpful.
Using the 5 lb bulk bags of flower from Azure Standard, and psyllium husk from Amazon, I calculated the cost to be between $2 and $2.50/loaf, which, while not as inexpensive as wheat bread is so much less costly than store bought gluten free bread.
I think the flavor profile of your starter is impacted by what sort of yeast you catch in your home, and I guess the professional bakery was slightly nicer than my house full of small, sometimes smelly children? No one complained about it, but the rise on the bakery starter has also been better.
When I buy Buckwheat from Azure Standard it does have the hulls still left in — which, for normal purposes I don’t mind. However, I do sift most of them out and decant the bag into a jar. Since I only use the buckwheat for feeding the starter it lasts quite a while. Otherwise you can use a brand like Bob’s Red Mill.
I don’t think it really matters what kind you get, but I will say, if you are looking for one I would suggest finding one where you can place a large mixing bowl on it and see the numbers at the same time. I end up measuring flours into smaller containers when I’m making large batches, because the bowl obscures the numbers. It’s not a big enough deal that I’m going to get a new one, but it’s annoying. If you’re planning on baking a lot get a couple more batteries for the thing too. It’s really maddening when it starts to die in the middle of a measurement.
Not to be overly picky, but the filtered water thing really does matter. We use water out of our Berkey. I think the chlorine content of our tap water would kill any living thing it came into contact with.
The whole reason I started in on this adventure was for my dearly beloved now three year old who at the time could not handle eggs or dairy, but was always hangry. Handing the grumpy child a slice of bread slathered in coconut oil and honey was like a small miracle for our home.
Common weirdness: Wrinkly and dried looking — you just need to feed and hydrate. Turning sort of purple — this is because of the buckwheat, it’s fine, just scrape very top layer off, give it a good feed and resume normal use. A layer of liquid on the top — this is called “hooch” and it means your starter is very hungry. Just pour the liquid off, feed as normal and resume use. You might need to add a little more water than flour after this happens, because you’ll have lost some liquid. Mold — so… do as you wish. But, you can *probably* scrape all the top off, feed and keep using it. I suggest using a loose towel with air flow to cover the starter, because it’s far better for it to dry out a little than to have condensation that leads to mold forming.
I SO appreciate this post! You have taken out so much of the learning curve. I’m a year into this and just started figuring out the three different schedules!
Also, for those who don’t want to start their own starter and live in TX I have a starter I’m totally game to share. Just reach out to me and we’ll figure something out!