Sourdough Starter, GF

What is Sourdough Starter?

A sourdough starter is what you use to make sourdough bread. It’s a mixture of water and flour that ferments and is fed regularly to cultivate wild yeast and bacteria. It’s used to leaven bread and is the natural leavening alternative to commercial yeast.

Is Sourdough Gluten Free?

As long as the starter (and bread) is made with gluten free flours, then the sourdough bread is gluten free.

I go over the gluten flours to try and GF flours to avoid in the notes section.

Ingredients

25 grams gluten-free flour (See Notes for details)
25 grams bottled or filtered water

Directions

Note:
It is always best to use a scale when baking.

Day 1

Add 25 grams flour and 25 grams water to your glass jar. Mix well and scrape down the sides the best you can.
Day 2:
No discard. Add 25 grams flour and 25 grams water

Day 3-6

Stir the starter and discard all but 25 grams of the starter. Add 25 grams flour and 25 grams water. Mix well and scrape down the sides the best you can.

Day 7 – 10

Stir the starter and discard all but 25 grams of the starter. Add 50 grams flour and 50 grams water. Mix well and scrape down the sides the best you can.

Day 11 – 14

Stir the starter and discard all but 25 grams. Add 75 grams flour and 75 grams water. Mix well and scrape down the sides the best you can.
After day 14, you can continue to maintain this feeding schedule if you plan on baking with it soon or you can now store and maintain your starter in the refrigerator.

Notes

Tips:

For best results, use bottled or filtered water. Tap water that has been chemically treated will prohibit the growth of (good) bacteria and wild yeast.

Be sure to scrape the sides of your jar as cleanly as possible to prohibit the growth of mold or mildew.

Keep your jar loosely covered. You can cover your jar with a paper towel or cheesecloth and secure it with a rubber band. You don’t want your jar to be airtight.

Don’t save the discard (for discard recipes) until your starter is at least 5-7 days old. It should be bubbling and almost doubling after each feeding.

Discard from immature starters should be disposed of in the trash or composted. Do not pour it down the drain.

Don’t use a metal spoon to stir your starter. I use a small silicon spatula but you could also use a wooden skewer or small wooden spoon.

You can change flours without having to start over from day 1. If you have to switch flours, just discard as you would at a normal feeding and keep 25 grams of your starter. Then feed it with water and the new flour you’re switching to.

Add more flour or water as needed. I like to stick to a 100% hydration starter, meaning it’s made with equal parts flour and water. However, some flours require more or less water for good consistency. If you have to add more water or more flour, always measure it by weight to see how much extra you need to add and take note of it. That way, you’ll know what % hydration your starter is and that will come in handy when you start baking with it.

The older the starter, the better your bakes will be. Ideally, your starter should be at least 14 days old before baking a loaf of sourdough bread with it, and even longer, the better.

An older starter will have better flavor and have a stronger rise. I noticed a change in the quality of my loaves of bread (for the better) when my starter was over a month old.

Gluten-Free Flours to use:

Sorghum Flour – Works well

Brown Rice Flour – one of the most popular flours for gluten-free sourdough starters.

Buckwheat Flour

Teff Flour

Quinoa Flour

Oat Flour – Use certified gluten free oats or Purity Protocol Oats if you have Celiac Disease and you can make your own

Millet Flour

Flours to Avoid Using:

White Rice Flour – it’s ok if it’s in a blend you’re using but I wouldn’t recommend using it as the only flour for your starter.

Starches – again, starches are ok if you’re using a flour blend but don’t use starch as your only flour for your starter.

Nut Flours

Fruit Flours – such as banana flour

Wheat Flour – any wheat-based will mean your starter isn’t gluten-free.

Rye Flour – Rye is a popular choice for sourdough starters but it’s not gluten-free.

Nutrition