Gluten Free Sourdough

One thing I really, really missed when we went gluten free was crusty, tangy sourdough bread. The kind you pair with your favorite soup or use when your creating your favorite sandwich. I want to share with you how to make a super easy gluten free sourdough starter you can use when making all your favorite gluten free sourdough recipes including sourdough bread.

Gluten Free

Eating a gluten free diet or being gluten free means avoiding regular flours including traditional bread flours which are the base of most sourdough starters. But this doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy sourdough.

Is Sourdough Starter Gluten Free

Not all sourdough starters are gluten free. In fact, most aren’t. Most are made with regular flours, rye flour or bread flour which are not gluten free.

Gluten Free Sourdough Starter

You can create your own gluten-free starter using rice flour or a gluten free flour blend. Creating your own sourdough starter ensures that you know the ingredients and that it is in fact gluten free. Plus it’s real easy to do. So easy my teenage son discards and feeds our starter regularly.

Can You Make Sourdough Starter With Gluten Free Flour

Yes, you can make your sourdough starter with gluten free flour. Note that every gluten free flour blend is different and that difference in ingredients will change your gluten free starter slightly.

The flavor might be different. You may need to add more water to get the right consistency. It’s a discover as you go, trial and error kind of thing. We use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour Blend. In fact we love this flour blend so much we order it in 25 pound bulk bags.

Ingredients In Gluten Free Sourdough Starter

Gluten Free Flour Blend (we used Bob’s Red Mill)
Filtered Water

How Long Does It Take To Make Gluten Free Sourdough Starter

When you are making a sourdough starter give yourself 7 days to develop the starter and the tangy flavor profiles. The older your starter the more tangy the flavor and the more natural yeast formation.

Can I Feed My Sourdough Starter With Gluten Free Flour

If you are making a gluten-free sourdough bread starter I would feed it with gluten free flour. If you are using a regular flour (non-gluten free) starter I wouldn’t feed it gluten free flour.

You want to feed your starter with the same flour you used to create it. For example my sourdough starter is 100% gluten free and created with a gluten free flour blend. I will continue to feed my starter that gluten free flour blend to ensure it’s healthy yeast and gluten free ingredients.

Gluten Free Sourdough Starter Recipe

Now to the good stuff. Creating a gluten free starter is super easy. You will need about 10 minutes each day for seven days. Give or take clean up.

I store my sourdough starter in a simple wide mouth glass mason jar. It makes it super easy to add the ingredients, stir and discard as I need to. You can use whatever container works best for you as long as you can cover it. For example a glass bowl. Glass is the best choice for containing your sourdough starter.

How To Make A Gluten Free Sourdough Starter From Scratch

Day 1: Starting Your Starter

Mix 1/3 cup gluten free flour (we use Bob’s Red Mill) and 1/3 cup filtered or boiled then cooled water.
Combine these in a glass jar. Mixing well to ensure everything is combined.
Cover with jar lid and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 2: Discard Half And Feed

Discard half of the mixture from jar into compost.
Add 1/3 cup gluten free flour and 1/3 cup filtered water
Mix well to combine.
Cover with jar lid and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 3, 4 & 5: Repeat Discard Half And Feed

Repeat steps from Day 2 for Day 3, 4 &5
Discard half of the mixture from jar into compost.
Add 1/3 cup gluten free flour and 1/3 cup filtered water
Mix well to combine.
Cover with jar lid and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 6 & 7: Discard And Feed Every 12 Hours

Repeat steps from Day 2 for Day 6 & 7 every 12 hours
Discard half of the mixture from jar into compost.
Add 1/3 cup gluten free flour and 1/3 cup filtered water
Mix well to combine.
Cover with jar lid and let stand at room temperature for 12 hours.
On Day 7 your gluten-free sourdough starter will be ready to use in recipes. You should smell a faint sour smell from your starter which is what gives it the tangy flavor.

Maintaining Your Gluten Free Sourdough Starter

After Day 7 your gluten free starter is ready to go. A sourdough starter is live yeast so it needs to be fed and maintained.

Everyday you will want to discard a portion of your starter and add more gluten free flour and filtered water. Keeping your starter at room temperature on the kitchen counter or up on a shelf.

Your adding ratio will vary on your starter amounts. If you have 1/2 cup of starter you will add 1/2 cup gluten free flour and 1/2 cup filtered water.

If you have 1 cup of starter you will add 1 cup gluten free flour and 1 cup filtered water.

If you won’t be baking or using your starter you can place your sourdough starter in the fridge for up to a week. Then it will need to be fed again. Refrigeration slows the yeast growth so less feeding and maintaining is needed.

What Can I Make With Gluten Free Sourdough Starter

You are only limited by your imagination really. We have made sourdough bagels, sourdough bread, sourdough crackers. My son loves gluten free garlic sourdough focaccia bread.

Anything you can make with regular sourdough you can make gluten free. The recipe might need some tweaking but it is doable. My favorite besides crusty sourdough bread is sourdough cinnamon buns with maple drizzle.

Where Do I Store My Gluten Free Starter

Storing your gluten free starter is as simple as making it. If you are regularly using it as in everyday or every couple of days store it at room temperature on the kitchen counter or on a shelf.

If you are only using it once a week for the odd recipe store it in the fridge. Taking it out 12 hours before you need it to feed and refresh it.

Gluten Free Sourdough Discard

Every time you feed your sourdough starter you have either discarded a small amount of the original or used a portion in a recipe.

The discarded amount is called sourdough discard and this can actually be saved and used in recipes or discarded to the compost. You can find tons of sourdough discard recipes online.