Hello friends,
I totally missed the sourdough craze during the COVID-19 pandemic. Probably because I tend not to jump on bandwagons but also because being gluten-free it just seemed hard. I have a friend locally here in Cromwell (New Zealand) that bakes a lot of sourdough. People always say that gluten-free people can eat normal sourdough, but every time I've tried it, it has not sat super well with my tummy.
A couple of months ago, while we were gardening, I asked her if she would make me a gluten-free sourdough starter. At this point, I was beginning my journey with baking gluten-free bread. I'd had some success with gluten-free focaccia and was ready to venture into the world of sourdough.
I'll admit, going in, it feels overwhelming and really complicated, plus the internet is filled with jargon that, to be honest, I think you can mostly ignore. I've found what I think is the dream recipe after experimenting with a few, and so I've done the hard work for you.
My sourdough starter that my friend gave me is still going strong. When I want to bake, I feed it; when I don't, I put it in the fridge – simple, hey!
Last week I decided to start a starter of my own, mainly because some people on the internet decided that my bread looked amazing and wanted the recipe. Realising that they would need a starter of their own, I decided to see how easy it is and do it for myself. Here is where I can laugh at myself – it's mixing flour and water every day for four days. My starter was already 'active' after day two.
So here is the recipe for starting your own gluten-free sourdough starter. I do want to mention that i'm not an expert and I am just here to share what I am learning as I go. If you have tips or know better please send me a message so I can learn from you as well! We are all in this together trying to get gluten free stuff to just taste better.
Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.
With joy,
Sian Simpson
What you'll need
A clean jar
Piece of breathable fabric or a double layer of paper towel
Hairtie or something to tie your fabric or paper towel on
White Rice Flour (you can also use brown rice flour, and my mum has tried buckwheat flour, I prefer the rice flour).
Filtered / Clean Water (this is super important and impure water with chemicals in it will impact the rise of your bread).
Measuring device
Spoon or something to stir with
Instructions
In your jar place 30g of white rice flour, and 30 g of room temp water (40 degrees if in a cold environment) and stir together well. Cover your jar with something breathable. I use a cut up piece of linen napkin and a hair tie. Pop in a dry / warmish place. I leave mine on the kitchen counter by our stove top out of the way but in a place where it still can breathe a bit.
Everyday for four days at more or less the same time you want to repeat this process. Depending on where you live and your local temperatures it might take longer to develop. Just trust the process.
After day four or at the point you can tell that it's active you will start feeding your starter more, 1/4 of a cup of White Rice Flour and 1/4 a cup of water, stir well.
Using your starter
For the recipe that I use for my gluten free Sourdough Bread you need 265g of active starter for the recipe, and you'll want some left over so that you don't have to start again. So keep building up your starter until you get enough volume to use in your recipe.
For using the starter in a recipe, you'll want to feed it and then wait until it's what fancy people called 'peak active'. What I've found this to mean is that you feed it and wait around 3 hours or wait for it to increase in size quite a bit which it should do with every feeding before using. This helps makes the bread rise.
Take a look at the photos to see what you are looking at and if you are on the right track. Essentially you're looking for bubbles in the starter and if you swirl it around the jar it'll look like it is stretching but holding together. It does feel a bit silly to say you'll just know if it is active or not, but you will. Trust me.
What to do with your Starter when you aren't using it
When you aren't using your starter or baking with it pop it in the fridge with the lid on (a proper lid not just the fabric cover). This essentially makes it go dormant until you are ready to use it again. I've had no issues with mine not working so far.
Things you might wonder
Everyone's environment is different, so you'll need to keep that in mind, what works for me might take a few days longer for you depending on your environment. For context I live in a warm, dry place during summer, and cold, dry place during winter. I've had no issues activating my starter.
Why does everyone talk about discard on the internet? - To be honest I don't really know and have chosen to ignore this for now. When I'm not using my starter I put it in the fridge, when I want to use it I take it out of the fridge one day before and feed it, then I feed it the morning that I want to use it.
I'd love for you to subscribe to my blog so you can get notified when I share new recipes and tips on living bountiful life. Fill in the form below. The next recipe i'll share is Gluten Free Sourdough - exciting!