Simple Gluten Free Sourdough Bread

Delicious gluten free bread does exist. Here’s a simple artisan-style gluten free sourdough bread that you can make for yourself at home.  

NOTE: Recipe update January 2021. If you’ve been making this bread before then, you’ll notice that I’ve tweaked the recipe in order to get my loaf to be a bit more sour. Try it. It’s so good!

Sourdough is such a craze this year.  Many of us have been baking away during the 2020 quarantine.  Before last March, I had never baked a loaf of bread in my life. Now it’s a regular occurrence in my kitchen, and I’m obsessed.  

But not all breads are created equally. After months of experimentation, I’ve come up with this simple gluten free sourdough bread recipe made with just a few basic ingredients. 

It’s very similar to whole grain artisan bread you’d find at a good bakery with a mild sourdough flavor. A nice crusty outside with a soft texture inside. Unlike many other gluten free breads, it is not too dry, dense, or too gummy. Simply delicious!

And you don’t have to be a master baker to make it.

Intimidated by the thought of Sourdough?

Don’t worry.  I’m here to break it down for you into digestible pieces.  Even if you’ve never baked bread before, you’ll be able to do this. 

What is Sourdough?

Sourdough is a bread made from the natural occurring yeast and bacteria in flour. Flour is slowly fermented in water to create a sourdough starter.  The wild yeast in the sourdough starter become the natural leavening agent that makes the bread rise. The sourdough starter and the fermentation of the flours in the bread give sourdough bread its signature taste.

Benefits of Sourdough

❤️ taste… is the first obvious benefit of of making bread with a sourdough starter. The slightly sour and tangy flavor is what makes sourdough bread so dang delicious.

❤️ more available nutrients and better digestion… the long fermentation process required for sourdough bread helps break down much of the phytates/phytic acid and other “antinutrients” in the flours used, making the minerals more easily available and digestion of the starches in the bread much easier.  The natural bacteria working with the natural yeast in the starter predigest the starch a little bit for you.

❤️ less glucose… sourdough lowers the glycemic index of the bread. The natural enzymes in the sourdough starter break down the starches in the flours into glucose.  This glucose is used as fuel by the wild yeasts in the starter, meaning some of the glucose in the flours is eaten up by the yeast during the fermentation process. The benefit of this is less of a spike in blood glucose when eating sourdough bread. 

What do I need to make Gluten Free Sourdough Bread?

❤️ gluten free sourdough starter… is the first thing you will need to start baking.  If you’re lucky enough to know someone with one, simply ask them for a bit and start feeding it.  You can also make your own.  It’s a good idea to learn how to take care of and maintain your starter so you can use it again and again. 

My gluten free sourdough starter was originally given to me from a local GF bakery. It was a combination of sorghum, rice, and millet. I feed mine mostly sorghum flour and sometimes a bit of brown rice flour.

❤️ gluten free flours…the best gluten free sourdough bread is made with a combo of flours to get just the right flavor and texture. After much experimentation, I’ve settled on my favorite combo of:

• sorghum flour
• buckwheat flour (I make my own from THIS)
• brown rice flour
• tapioca starch

 ❤️ salt… because salt is life and is the best flavor enhancer.

 ❤️ psyllium husk… acts sort of like a gluten substitute and gives the dough elasticity and flexibility. Use ground whole husk not the fine powder. Do not leave out the crucial ingredient.

 ❤️ 1 tbsp honey… You can use 1 tablespoon sugar or maple syrup instead if you want to keep the bread 100% vegan.

That’s it.  No weird ingredients.  No eggs, dairy, or xanthan gum. I told you that you can do this. 

My recipe is not a light and fluffy white bread. I’ve worked on this recipe to get the flour ratios just right: least amount of starchy flour without being too dense. I love a heartier loaf made with buckwheat flour. You can definitely experiment with other flours like millet and oat and also try subbing out some of the denser flours for more starchy flours like tapioca, arrowroot, and sweet rice if you like a lighter loaf.

Why I grind my own buckwheat flour

I have found that if I grind my own buckwheat flour from hulled buckwheat grouts, I get a much lighter and better tasting flour. It’s super simple to do. Just grind the groats in a food processor until you get a nice flour, about 2 minutes.

Store-bought buckwheat flour will have a darker appearance and will have a stronger flavor. It also makes a slightly denser loaf. If that’s what you have, it will still be absolutely delicious. The loaf in the right upper corner of the image below is made from store-bought buckwheat flour.

Do I really have to weigh my ingredients?

I HIGHLY recommend weighing your main flours and water with a kitchen scale. It’s the best way to ensure reliable, accurate, and precise results in bread baking. If at all possible, measure in gram measurements.

In my experience, measuring by volume (in cups) has given inconsistent results.

Tips for baking gluten free sourdough bread

❤️ feed your starter… making sure your gluten free sourdough starter is nice and active before making your preferment is key to getting your bread to rise in a good way.  I like to feed my starter twice before baking. This means if I want to bake on Monday, I will take my starter out of the fridge on Sunday morning to feed it, and I will feed it again just before dinner time. I’ll wait about 3 hours, until it’s nice and bubbly, to make the preferment. (example:  Feed at 8am.  Feed again at 530pm.  Make preferment at 830-9pm.)

❤️ weigh your ingredients… I cannot emphasize this enough.  You will be much happier with the results. If making flour substitutions, be sure to sub by weight not by volume measurement.

❤️ use a Dutch oven… OR make sure to add ice cubes to the bottom pan if baking on baking sheets (instructions including in recipe card).  The steam helps the bread rise better. 

❤️ grind your own buckwheat… trust me. It’s worth it. If you use darker store-bought buckwheat flour, you may need to wet your hands a bit while kneading the dough as it is a bit drier.

❤️ be patient… learning to bake sourdough can involve some experimentation. It’s part science + part art.  It won’t always turn out the same.  Sometimes the weather will be different.  Sometimes your starter will be thicker or more runny.  Every kitchen has a different temperature, oven temperatures vary, and all flours are different. You may need to learn the vigor of your starter. You may need to learn how to keep it healthy. It’s all part of the process. 

❤️ flour substitutions… I have successfully made this bread with millet flour (in place of the buckwheat.) I’ve also used brown rice flour in place of the sorghum. Feel free to experiment with your favorite gluten free flours. Just be sure to keep the weight measurements the same.

What is a preferment

A preferment (sometimes called a levain) is a mixture of fresh flour, water, and some active starter left to ferment before mixing everything into a final dough. Preferments help adjust the flavor balance by making it more or less sour.

There’s a whole science to it. You can make alter the flavor of your sourdough loaf with the strength of your starter, the choice of flour you use in the levain, the temperature of the ferment, and the amount of time you let it ferment.

Step by step for making gluten free sourdough bread

To make the preferment: mix together active starter, water, and rice flour.  Cover and place in warm place overnight (ideal temperature = 75-78’F). In colder weather, I leave mine in my oven (turned OFF) with the light on to produce a bit of warmth.

In a large bowl, whisk together psyllium husk, honey, and water. Let sit for about 5 minutes until a thick gel forms.  

In another bowl, whisk together sorghum, buckwheat, tapioca, + salt. Set aside.

Scape preferment into psyllium husk mixture and gently mix to combine. 

Add dry mixture to wet mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until it comes together then knead by hand for about until dough is smooth and elastic and pulls off the sides of the bowl nicely. Dust with a bit of extra sorghum flour if it feels too sticky. Wet your hands and knead if too dry.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and continue kneading for about a minute, shaping it into a smooth ball.  Transfer dough ball, smooth side down + bottom seams up, to a tea towel-lined soup bowl dusted with flour (about 6 inches in diameter), fold towel over and place into a plastic bag. Place in a warm area to rise for 3-4 hours until dough has noticeably increase in size.  It will not double in size. 

Thirty minutes prior to baking, preheat oven to 450’F.  Place large Dutch oven with lid into oven to preheat. (*see note in recipe card if you do not have a Dutch oven)

Once dough has risen and oven and Dutch oven is HOT, turn dough out onto a piece of parchment paper.  Dust the top with flour, wiping off excess with your hand.  Use a sharp knife or razor to score the top of your loaf.

Carefully remove preheated Dutch oven from hot oven. Lift loaf with the edges of the parchment paper, place into Dutch oven, and place lid on.  Bake for 25 minutes covered.  Remove lid and bake for another 25-30 minutes, until bottom is brown and loaf sounds hard and hollow when tapped with a wooden spoon.

Cool on a rack for 4 hours or overnight before slicing.  Cooling sets the crumb. Slicing bread before it is cool can affect the texture. It’s worth the wait, I promise.

How to tell loaf is ready to bake

Learning to tell when loaf is proofed enough can be a bit tricky. This is mainly because every sourdough starter differs in strength and every kitchen differs in temperature. Be sure your starter is nice and active before using. The warmer a kitchen is, the faster the dough will proof. The cooler it is, the slower it will proof.

I have found that 3-4 hours is good in my kitchen. The dough will look noticeably bigger but will NOT double in size. It will be soft and airy. When you touch the loaf with your finger, it should spring back just a tiny bit but leave a little indent. The more you bake this bread, the better you’ll get at telling when your dough is proofed enough.

In cooler weather, I leave my loaf in the oven (turned OFF) with the light no to produce just a bit of heat. I’ve read that the ideal temperature for proofing is 75-78’F.

Don’t have a gluten free sourdough starter?

You can still make delicious GF bread with my Everyday Gluten Free Bread recipe made with yeast.

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