Gluten Free Sourdough Bread (and Starter)

Day 1: Whisk together in glass jar or bowl – 2 Tbsp buckwheat flour, 2 Tbsp sweet rice flour, and 1/3 cup water. Cover with a wet cloth, leave to rest 24 hours at room temp.

Day 2: Whisk together in glass jar or bowl – 2 Tbsp of yesterday’s mixture (the starter), 2 Tbsp buckwheat flour, 2 Tbsp sweet rice flour, 1/3 cup water. Cover with a wet cloth, leave to rest 24 hours at room temp. (Save remaining starter in a jar in the fridge – this is called the ‘discard’ and can be added to during the week, then used in baking pancakes, muffins, crackers, etc – search ‘sourdough discard recipes’ for ideas.)

Day 3 through Day 6, 7 or beyond: Repeat above each day until the mixture becomes bubbly under the surface, has air pockets, and a sweet-sour smell. It took 7 days for me, but it can take longer. Use visual cues for readiness – watch my video if you’re not sure.

Before using starter to make bread, you will need to ‘refresh’ or ‘feed’ it: In clean, lidded, glass jar, place 1/4 cup starter, 1/2 cup water, 3 Tbsp buckwheat flour and 3 Tbsp sweet rice flour, and mix until combined. (Place discard in the fridge to use in other baking.) Place lid on jar, and a rubber band around the jar to indicate level of starter before rising, so you can see when it has doubled. (See example in video.) Allow starter to develop for 8-12 hours at room temp, until doubled in size. The time it takes depends on temperature in room. (If starter is taking too long to double, place it in a warm spot like in the oven, temp off with oven light on.)

Once your starter has doubled in size, is bubbly, and has a sweet-sour aroma, it’s ready to use! After measuring out the portion needed for your recipe, refresh the starter as above and store until ready to use again.

Storage of starter:

Room temp if baking every day: store in glass jar with lid and refresh daily after removing starter needed for recipe

Fridge: store in glass jar with lid, refresh once a week; may need to refresh twice in 12 hours before using in recipes to get it active again

Freezer: store in glass jar with lid, thaw and refresh a few times before using

Have fun, and be patient!!! It can take a couple of weeks for the starter to ‘start’!

1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together starter, water, eggs, oil and honey until frothy. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together psyllium husk powder, rice flour, millet (or other) flour, tapioca starch, and salt until well combined.

3. Pour the wet mixture into the large mixing bowl with the dry mixture, and combine with a wooden spoon, mixing quickly as it will soon start to thicken. (It won’t be a ‘dough’, more of a thick batter.)

4. Divide the batter between two loaf tins lined with large pieces of baking paper.

5. Sprinkle dough with a little water and mould into domed loaves, smoothing the surface with wet hands. Sprinkle tops of loaves with sesame seeds if desired. Slash tops of loaves with a sharp knife in diagonal lines 2cm apart and 1cm deep (if you like).

6. Fold the baking paper hanging over the sides of the tins over the tops of the loaves, and cover with a doubled over tea towel.

7. Leave bread to rise in a warm spot for 7-9 hours (until bread doesn’t seem to be rising anymore) – it won’t quite double in size. Don’t over-rise or bread will be more sour and heavier than usual.

8. Place a pizza stone on a rack in the centre of the oven, and a heavy, high-sided baking tray on the bottom of oven. Heat oven to 230C fan-forced. (Oven may take about 30-40 mins to really heat up – it needs to be REALLY hot for the bread to ‘bounce up’ and rise properly.)

9. Place bread tins on the hot stone, quickly pour a cup of water into the hot baking tray, close oven door, and cook for 20 mins. Reduce heat to 180C and cook another 30-40 mins, until top of bread is golden brown. Take bread out of tins and knock on the loaves underneath with your knuckles, to check they sound hollow and the crust is crusty! If they need a bit more baking time, leave out of tins and place the loaves directly onto the hot pizza stone for another 10 mins then check again.

10. Cool loaves slightly before slicing.