Easiest Gluten Free Sourdough Bread

In the last year I became obsessed with baking my own gluten free sourdough bread. I discovered that the taste of this bread is divine. A bit tangy from sourdough and with a nice crunchy crust, something I missed so much since I started avoiding gluten. Easy to mix, simple instructions and just a few thin slices satisfy my craving for real bread.

If you are in the search for an easy recipe give this one a try. I even started doing bread making classes. It's a great way of introducing people to the sourdough world and the variety of gluten free flours I never new existed.

Prep

40 min

Time

60-80 min

Serves

16-22 slices

Ingredients

Pre-ferment / leaven

  • 110 g water
  • 140 g active sourdough starter
  • 80 g brown rice flour

Liquids

  • 350 g water at room temp
  • 20 g psyllium husk (not powder)
  • 10 g ground golden flax seeds (or chia)

Dry Ingredients

60 g of each:
buckwheat flour
sorghum flour
millet (amaranth, quinoa, oat or chickpea)
corn starch
potato starch (fine white rice or tapioca)
20g granulated sugar
10g salt
50g of seeds (sesame, flax, sunflower, cumin … optional)

Directions for Gluten Free Bread premix:

Follow step one and prepare your pre-ferment/leaven.
As the psyllium husk and ground flaxseed are added to the premix you just add 350g of water into the bowl with the pre-ferment/leaven.
Place the bread premix (410g) into a big bowl.
Then follow steps 4-14. 

 

Directions

  1. In the evening: mix water, sourdough starter and brown rice flour in a medium-size bowl and cover. Let it sit overnight (8-10 hours) in a warm and draft-free place (ex: oven with a light on or microwave with a hot jar).
  2. In the morning: add to it 350g water, psyllium husk and ground flaxseeds and whisk together.  Set aside until a gel starts forming.
  3. In a big bowl mix all the dry ingredients.
  4. Add the sourdough starter/gel mixture to the big bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon or hand mixer until all the flour is incorporated.
  5. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and shape it into a loaf.
  6. You can place your dough into a basket covered with a tea towel or in a tin sprayed with some oil.
  7. Put the basket/tin with the dough into a plastic bag.
  8. Allow to rise in a warm and draft-free place for 4-6 hours (or 8-10 hours in the fridge).
  9. Preheat the oven for 30 min at 220°C with a baking tray if you used a basket for your dough.  Check Note if you want to use Dutch Oven.
  10. Place another tray with hot water into the bottom shelf to create steam in the oven to help the bread rise.
  11. Before placing the dough into the oven you need to score the dough with a sharp knife or blade to help it rise and release gas.  If you are using the basket, gently flip the dough on baking paper, score it and transfer to the hot baking tray.
  12. Bake the bread in the middle of the oven covered with a tin foil tent for 40 minutes.
  13. Drop the temperature to 200°C. Bake another 20-30 minutes without the foil until the bread gets a nice golden colour. Rotate the bread if needed so you can get a nice colour all around.
  14. Let it cool on a wire rack for at least 2-3 hours, but better overnight. 

Note: If you have a Dutch Oven you can bake you bread in it too. That helps to trap the moisture and it might help with the rise of the bread.  You will need to preheat the Dutch Oven with the lid in the oven at 230°C. Slowly and carefully place the dough with the baking paper into the hot Dutch Oven. Add a few cubes of ice between the pot and baking paper and cover with lid. Place the Dutch Oven into the oven and bake it for 40 min. Drop the temperature to 200°C and bake for another 20-30 min without lid.