Gluten Free Sourdough Starter Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Which gluten free flour is best for sourdough starter? ›

What gluten-free flours can I use for sourdough? There are various gluten-free flours that can be used for sourdough baking. Popular options include brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, sorghum flour, millet flour, and tapioca flour. Each flour adds its unique flavor and texture to the final bread.

This is definitely possible. While it would still contain trace amounts of gluten, eventually after enough feeding with gluten free flour, a regular starter would be transformed into a “gluten free sourdough starter.” But, then again may have traces of wheat still contained in the gf starter.

To get started, first you'll need to learn How to Make a Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter! All it takes is gluten-free flour, water, and time. This process takes about one to two weeks, twice a day in the beginning, but only takes a few minutes for each feeding.

This usually means 1 or both of 2 things: 1) you aren't feeding the starter often enough; and/or 2) you haven't been feeding it enough food and water. Go back and follow the directions in the Sourdough Starter post (there is new info there as of 6/2020).

The best flour blend for creating a new sourdough starter is 50% whole-meal flour (whole wheat or whole rye) and 50% bread flour or all-purpose flour. I recommend a 50/50 mix of whole wheat flour and bread flour.

As for using almond flour, it's possible to use it to create a starter but it's a much more expensive flour to experiment with.

If you plan on baking gluten free sourdough often, just keep your starter on the counter and feed it at least once a day. If you don't plan on baking as often, you can store your starter in the refrigerator and feed it once a week.

No, regular sourdough bread is not gluten-free.

While the natural bacteria may make it easier to digest, and the fermentation process decreases the amount of gluten, it still does not reach 20ppm (parts per million) or less of gluten, which is how the United States defines gluten-free foods.

Yes you can change the type of flour you feed your sourdough starter. Keep an eye on how your starter behaves after the first feeding. Keep your starter warm and regularly fed when changing flours. You don't have to feed your starter the same flour as you're using in your sourdough bread recipe.

Feed starter with GF flour and water every 4 hours by using one of the following methods: If using a scale to measure ingredients, combine equal amounts by weight of starter, water, and GF flour. For instance, 50 grams of starter, 50 grams of water, 50 grams of GF flour.

Does gluten free sourdough starter float? ›

Gluten-free sourdough starter won't double in size like traditional starter. It also won't pass the “float test”. You'll know it's ready to bake with when there are lots of bubbles or air pockets, it slightly rises, it has a slight dome on the top, and it doesn't smell bad.

The simple reason is that gluten free bread takes much longer than a regular loaf to bake and therefore a sticky crumb is generally the result of under baking (there could be other reasons but this is the first place to start troubleshooting).

I feed my starter with brown rice flour, but you can use sorghum, millet, or most other wholegrain flours for your starter. I would not recommend using a premade gluten-free flour blend, or a starch. Wholegrains work best because they give your starter a lot to feed on.

Young sourdough starters have not had enough time to develop good bacteria necessary to prevent mold. A strong presence of beneficial bacteria wards off pathogenic bacterias, or those which cause disease.

Your sourdough starter can be runny because:

You're not weighing your ingredients accurately or measuring by volume. It's too warm in your kitchen. The flour you're using needs less hydration. You're not feeding your starter regularly enough.

Gluten-Free Bread Flour

It contains gluten-free wheat starch, which helps mimic the flavor of conventional flours and acts as a thickener. While the starch undergoes rigorous testing to ensure it's gluten-free, it's not wheat-free, so if you have a wheat allergy, this flour is not suitable for you.

Of course, yes you can add it, but it will not give you any added benefit to using just flour alone. Your sourdough starter is a collection of complex bacteria and yeast. They feed off the flour and water you add to the jar. They do not benefit from added gluten.

Since it is minimally processed when you compare it with white wheat flours, whole wheat flour is said to be packed with nutrients and potential microbes, providing faster fermentation for a starter.

For more tang: Incorporate some rye flour and/or whole wheat flour early in the bread-making process, such as when feeding the mother culture and the preferment. Rye flour in particular will help your culture produce some acetic acid.