Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread (Vegan)

For those accustomed to making wheat sourdough, this gluten-free version will feel awkward and unfamiliar, and it will not taste quite as fabulous to you as your usual wheat sourdough. (My wheat sourdough is the most delicious bread I've ever eaten in my life, hands down!) But for those needing to eat gluten-free, this will be a delicious and satisfying way to get bread back into your life! Just set what you know about wheat sourdough baking aside for a while, as this is a good bit different.

Making the initial gluten-free sourdough starter:

Sourdough starters mature and ripen with age, so getting some established starter from a friend is always preferable. (I'm happy to give you some, if you live nearby!) But if you don't have a friend who can share with you, you can always create your own using this process: 

Day 1: Start with 1 C. King Arthur Measure-for-Measure gluten-free flour blend and stir in 3/4 C. filtered, room-temperature water. Set aside, covered with cheese cloth or another "breathable" fabric.
Day 2: Discard half of your budding starter. Feed the rest with the same mixture as above.
Day 3: Measure out 100 grams of the starter and combine it with 100 grams of filtered water and 100 grams of GF flour blend. Continue this process daily—for however long it takes—until the mixture is doubled in bulk after 24 hours. Mine took three days, but it can take up to seven. (Your starter is gathering natural wild yeast from the air! How cool is that!)

Caring for your gluten-free sourdough starter longterm:

Unless you are making bread daily, you will store your sourdough culture in the refrigerator. Feed it once a week or so using a 1-1-1 ratio of starter, water, and flour. (I use King Arthur Measure-for-Measure gluten-free flour blend.) 

Start with 100 grams of starter and "feed" it by stirring in 100 grams of water (preferably filtered, but not cold) and 100 grams of gluten-free flour blend. It is very important to keep the ratio consistent at 1-1-1. Do not use more starter than flour and water. This will cause the starter to not have enough "food" to remain healthy over time. If you're not planning to bake on feeding day, simply place the starter back in the fridge and leave it for up to ten days before feeding again. 

Here's my newly fed starter resting on the counter near the toaster oven. This is my "sourdough spot," which is a warm space in my kitchen that is safely away from the other healthy food cultures growing there. Interestingly, you must maintain a healthy distance between cultured foods as they brew in your kitchen—foods like sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, vinegar, yogurt, or cheese—because the different cultures don't play nicely together and will definitely mess each other up if not kept several feet from one another during culturing.

Feeding your gluten-free sourdough starter:

It's ready when doubled in size!

When you want to bake with it, feed your starter and let it culture at room temperature until it is doubled in bulk. (I use a rubber band around my jar to mark the "starting place" after I've just fed it,) It will also look nice and bubbly, though gluten-free starter will look different from regular wheat sourdough starter. (It will look almost "frothy," with none of the characteristic wet look or "stretchiness" of the gluten web that is present in wheat sourdough.) This process will usually take at least 6-8 hours if it's been in the fridge, so I usually let it proof overnight and make the dough in the morning, or feed it in the morning and let it rise all day, then make the dough in the evening. It is very important to make the dough while the starter is active and bubbly, before it begins to fall. If it deflates, you will have to feed it and wait again before making the dough. (This does not happen nearly as quickly with the GF sourdough starter as it does with wheat sourdough, however.)

Baking with your gluten-free sourdough starter:

This recipe is the only one I've tried so far, because it is super easy, it works, and it satisfies our urge for gluten-free bread that tastes good. I will post other recipes as I experiment, if I find one we like better. Be sure to carefully measure your ingredients, as accuracy matters here. After you have fed the starter and notice that it is almost doubled in bulk (many hours after feeding), continue with the process below:

Dry ingredients. Sift together well:

375 g gluten-free flour blend* (2 3/4 C.)

25 g almond meal (1/4 C.) [I grind a handful of almonds in my Vitamix for this]

15 g coconut sugar or dark brown sugar (1 Tbsp.) 

15 g psyllium husks** (3 Tbsp.) 

15 g finely ground sea salt (2 tsp.)

* [I use King Arthur "Measure-for-Measure" GF flour blend or Bob's Red Mill "1-to-1 Baking Flour" GF flour blend. You can experiment with others, but those are the two I've tried that I know work. If you try others with good results, let me know in the comments!]
** You can even use Metamucil for a slightly sweet, slightly orange-flavored bread. Also, I have a friend who uses ground flax seed instead of psyllium husks, with good results.

Wet ingredients:

375 g water, preferably filtered but not cold (1 1/2 C.)

50 g avocado oil (1/4 C.)

Starter ingredients:

175 g active gluten-free sourdough starter (1 C.)

15 g raw apple cider vinegar (1 Tbsp.)

Dutch dough whisk and lame—and wheat sourdough versus gluten-free

1) Combine the wet ingredients (water and oil) into the sifted dry ingredients—I use my Dutch dough whisk, but you can just use your hands if you want—and mix together until well-combined. Set this mixture aside, covered with a wet cloth, to rest for 1-2 hours before proceeding. (Yes, you are doing this step even without the starter in there, which seems counterintuitive and unnecessary. You can skip this step and combine all the ingredients at once, but your bread will not rise as high or be as light. (The GF loaf pictured above was made without doing this step. If you do this step, however, your GF loaf will be about as tall as your regular wheat sourdough.) 

[NOTE: The original recipe says you can let this mixture sit overnight in the fridge at this stage, but I've never tried that. If you decide to try it, you must bring it back to room temperature before proceeding.]

8-in glass bowl or small proofing basket

2) After your wet flour mixture has rested for 1-2 hours, fully incorporate the starter and vinegar into your moist flour blend with your hands or your Dutch dough whisk, folding it in and shaping the dough into a ball as much as possible.

3) Transfer dough to a medium (I use 8-inch) glass bowl or proofing basket lined with a cloth dusted in GF flour. 

4) Cover well—I place my bowl into a large plastic bag and twist it closed—and place in a warm spot for 4-6 hours or overnight. (I put mine in my oven with the light left on.) The dough will release moisture, which will cling to the plastic wrap covering it, which is good. It needs to stay moist during this stage. It will only be visibly risen about one inch or so after this step

5) At baking time, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a cast iron Dutch oven with parchment paper—stuff the parchment paper in there to "shape" it, then pull it out again for this next step. Gently turn your dough out onto the shaped parchment paper—which is no longer in the Dutch oven—flat side down.

6) Score the dough in a pattern with a bread lame or very sharp knife to allow steam to escape during baking. The scoring is functional, not just for appearance, so don't skip this step!

7) Carefully lower the parchment paper and dough back into the Dutch oven and cover with a well-fitting lid. If you don't have a Dutch oven, you can use a baking stone with a metal bowl inverted on top like a lid, or a  pre-soaked Romertopf clay baking pot. Just use anything that traps all the moisture inside during the first part of the baking cycle, and to keep the heat steady throughout. This ensures the bread cooks from the inside out and isn't too moist in the middle.

8) Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid for 20 more minutes of baking.

9) After these 50 minutes of baking, carefully lift the bread from the Dutch oven using the parchment paper, then place the loaf directly on the wire oven rack for the last 10 minutes of baking. It will look dark, like it is burning, but it isn't. 

Recap: Bake 30 minutes covered, 20 minutes uncovered, and 10 minutes directly on the oven rack.

10) Carefully remove the loaf from the oven and place it on a cooling rack for 2-3 hours. Do not cut into the bread until it has cooled completely. 

NOTE: This bread will keep fresh on the counter in a ziplock bag for around 3 days, or you can slice and freeze it for toasting later. (We always eat it toasted, with a little bit of butter or buttery spread put on before putting it in the toaster oven!) Interestingly, even though sourdough bread does get stale, I've never had a loaf of wheat sourdough mold, even after a week on the counter in a ziplock bag. The gluten-free sourdough is more moist, however, and will mold after a few days unless frozen.

Regular (wheat) sourdough on the left, versus gluten-free sourdough on the right. Enjoy!

* The recipe shared here is modified heavily from this recipe from Meghan Telpner.

Using the leftover starter:
If you're like me, you don't want to waste one bit of your sourdough starter, even when you have some "discard" during your feeding and baking cycle. Just save the discard starter in a jar in your fridge and use it for one of these wonderful recipes we've tried and loved: Gluten-Free Sourdough Pancakes, Best Gluten-Free Sourdough Pancakes (which we do like better!), Gluten-Free Sourdough Apple Cake, or you can try any of the other wonderful recipes at Cultures for Health. They are a wealth of information and a wonderful resource for GF sourdough recipes! I encourage you to explore their site as your continue on your journey of making healthy cultured foods at home!