Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread

Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread Recipe

This gluten-free sourdough bread recipe is straightforward and simple, but requires some time and patience. When it comes to sourdough baking, many factors determine how your bread is going to turn out—weather, humidity, temperature, flour brands—but the more you make it, the more you’ll start to understand and adjust. So even if your first loaf doesn’t turn out perfectly, take the lessons you’ve learned and apply it to your next loaf.

This post includes step-by-step instructions and photos to help take the guesswork out of making gluten-free sourdough bread. Although there are just a few steps, each one is very important in the process. Read this post in full before you get started so you know what ingredients and supplies you’ll need and how to plan out your timeline for mixing, proofing, and baking.

Ingredients

• Active Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter: Your gluten-free sourdough starter must be active and at peak rise (lots of bubbles and almost doubling in size). If your starter is stored in the fridge, let it sit out at room temperature for 24 hours first and give it a feeding or two to bring up the activity level.
• Filtered Water: Tap water may contain chlorine that inhibits the growth of good bacteria, so we recommend using filtered water. Do not use distilled water.
• Brown Rice Flour: The flour needs to be superfine in order to work nicely in this recipe. You can substitute another whole-grain gluten-free flour, but this recipe has only been tested with brown rice flour. If you use a different type of flour, you may have to adjust the quantity of the flour or water. Do not use a gluten-free flour blend.
• Psyllium Husk: This gives the dough elasticity and helps to bind everything together. Use whole psyllium husk and not the powder.
• Honey: Adds a slight sweetness that balances out the tanginess.
• Potato Starch: This helps to add lift to your bread so it bakes up nice and fluffy.
• Sorghum Flour: Adds a nice flavor to gluten-free baked goods.
• Tapioca Flour: Another leavening agent.
• Salt: Enhances the overall flavor.

Necessary Supplies

• Food Scale: Making sourdough bread is a science and a food scale is a must to help measure ingredients precisely.
• Glass Mixing Bowls: Glass bowls of various sizes are needed for combining different ingredients throughout the mixing and proofing processes.
• Wooden Spoon: For mixing the ingredients together.
• Silicone Spatula: Use the spatula to transfer ingredients from one bowl to another and to combine them. Remember, quantities matter here, so make sure you’re scraping every last bit out of each bowl.
• Electric Mixer with Dough Hook: You can use your hands for mixing the dough together, but it can get quite messy. I recommend an electric mixer with a dough hook to do the majority of the mixing, then just get in with your hands at the end when it needs a little extra kneading to bring it all together.
• Clean Tea Towel or Food-Safe Plastic Wrap: When choosing a tea towel to line your bowl and cover the dough during the proofing process, be sure to find one that’s free of inks, colors, and lint. If you don’t have tea towels that will work, food-safe plastic wrap will work. Just remember to place it on gently to allow airflow.
• Large Bowl with Round Bottom: When proofing your dough, it’s going to start to taking on the shape of the bowl so it’s important to select one with a round bottom.
• Dutch Oven with Lid: A Dutch oven is going to help keep the bread at a high, even temperature during the baking process. Make sure you choose one that’s around 5 quarts in size and can withstand heat up to 450°F. Watch out for plastic handles that aren’t designed to be oven-safe.
• Parchment Paper: Used to create a sling to gently lower the dough into the Dutch oven. Dropping the bread in will limit the bread’s ability to rise.
• Sharp Knife or Lame: You’ll use this to create cuts in the bread that allow steam to escape. If you don’t cut lines in the bread, the bread will split and make its own lines.
• Food Thermometer: This isn’t a requirement, but it does help to take the guesswork out of determining when the bread is fully baked.

Tips and Suggestions

• The gluten-free sourdough starter should have a thick, paste-like consistency, similar to a thick pancake batter or Greek yogurt. If your starter isn’t there yet, try feeding it more flour and less water during its next feed.
• As your starter matures, you’ll get better results. Although a starter that’s just two weeks old can be used to make sourdough gluten-free bread, a starter that’s over a month old will be more active and produce better bread.
• This recipe has been tested with brown rice flour. Although you can use other gluten-free whole-grain flour, you may have to adjust quantities of flour and water a bit. All flours have different absorbencies.
• The longer your preferment sits, the more sour your bread will be.
• Start checking your dough after it’s been proofing for 3 hours. If the dough is overproofed, a hole will form at the top of the loaf between the top crust and the bread and the bottom will be gummy. If you underproof the dough, there will be little to no bubbles inside and the bread will also have a gummy texture.
• Don’t skip the step of preheating your oven with the Dutch oven in it. This helps give the sourdough a better rise.
• If you want to prepare everything ahead of time, once your dough gets to the proofing stage you can cover it and place it into the fridge overnight.
• Let the bread cool completely before slicing. If you cut into it too early, you’ll release the steam and the bread will turn out dense and gummy.
• Making sourdough bread is a science. Things like weather, the temperature in your home, different brands of ingredients, etc. can affect how it turns out. Your perfect loaf may need more or less ingredients or require less or more time to proof. If your bread doesn’t turn out perfectly the first time, don’t give up! Make notes on what didn’t work for you then come back and read these notes so you can make adjustments and try again.

Why Isn’t My Dough Rising?