Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread Recipe
Description
Before we dive into the recipe, let's address the recipe time frame.
It takes 2 days to make sourdough bread. Now, this time frame can make some people a little nervous. But don’t worry, fermentation takes up most of this time, so you will be relaxing while the dough does its thing.
Now let's move on to tips for making sourdough bread and, finally, the recipe.
Gather Your Tools
A few minutes before you start mixing the main dough, gather your ingredients and tools. Take a look at the equipment list below:
- Large glass mixing bowl
- Lined banneton bread basket or another large glass bowl
- Kitchen scale
- Dutch oven
- Liquid measuring cup
- Tea towel or plastic wrap
- Bread lame (or a really sharp knife)
- Pastry brush
- High-heat oven mitts
- Thermometer
Ingredients
Instructions
Feed Your Starter
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Uncover the starter (it's best to do this a few hours before baking).
Mix 100 grams of starter with 70 grams of brown rice flour in a different bowl. Add 62 mL of water, and mix until combined.
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Cover the starter and let it sit for 2-3 hours until it doubles in volume and has a bubbly texture.
Mixing (Around Noon)
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Place a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl. Add the brown rice flour, millet flour, buckwheat flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, psyllium husk, and kosher salt to the fine-mesh strainer and sift them into the bowl.
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Mix the dry ingredients with a Danish dough whisk until well combined.
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Alternatively, if you do not have a Danish dough whisk, place a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl. Add the brown rice flour, millet flour, buckwheat flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, psyllium husk, and kosher salt to the fine-mesh sieve and sift it into the bowl. Mix it with a wooden spoon or whisk until it's incorporated.
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Place the sourdough starter, water, and maple syrup into a medium bowl and mix until combined. Pour it into the flour mixture and mix it with the Danish dough whisk until there are no dry bits of flour.
Kneading
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Use your hands to mix the dough until it has a uniform structure. Alternatively, you can place the dough into a stand mixer and mix it with the dough hook until it is thoroughly combined and uniform in structure
Proofing
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Dust a lined or unlined banneton with brown rice flour. Alternatively, you can line a glass bowl with a clean, lint-free tea towel and dust it with brown rice flour.
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Next, shape the dough into a smooth ball. If it feels too sticky wet your hands with water, then shape it into a ball.
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Place the dough into the center of a banneton or glass bowl with the smoothest side facing downward. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
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Let it rise in a warm area for 3-5 hours until it rises 1 inch in height. Additionally, you can gently press the dough. If it springs back, it is ready to bake.
Preheat The Oven
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An hour before you plan to bake the sourdough, place the rack in the center of the oven.
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Place the covered Dutch oven on the rack. Next, place a baking sheet on the lower rack directly beneath the pot.
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Preheat the oven to 220°C/ 425°F.
Shaping
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Cut a sheet of parchment paper that is slightly larger than the banneton using a pair of kitchen shears.
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Place the parchment paper on top of the banneton, then place a large cutting board on top of the paper.
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Carefully flip the dough over, holding both the banneton and the cutting board. Gently lift the banneton and set it aside.
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Place a few Tablespoons of brown rice flour into a fine-mesh sieve and dust the dough lightly with flour.
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Gently brush the excess flour away from the sourdough using a pastry brush. Score the dough using a bread lame (or very sharp knife), making 1 vertical slit down the center that is 1/4-inch. Cut a horizontal slit in the center of the bread to make an X-shaped pattern.
"Scoring" the dough simply means making a small cut into the top surface. This encourages the top of the loaf to open slightly during baking as steam escapes.
Baking
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Take the Dutch oven out of the oven. Remove the lid. Carefully place the sourdough bread into the Dutch oven.
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Arrange the ice cubes under the parchment paper, then cover it and place it in the oven.
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Bake it covered for 40 minutes, then remove the cover and bake it for another 20-30 minutes until it has an internal temperature of 100°C/ 210°F and the crust sounds hollow when tapped with a finger.
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Take the sourdough bread out of the Dutch oven and place it on a cooling rack. Let it cool for 6 hours or overnight.
Serving
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se a bread knife to cut the sourdough bread into 1/2 or 1-inch thick slices.
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Serve it toasted or untoasted with softened butter, honey, jam, or jelly.
Storing
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To store the gluten-free sourdough bread, place it in an airtight bag and store it on the countertop for 1-2 days.
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If you prefer to refrigerate the bread, place it in an airtight bag and place it in the fridge for 5-7 days.
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If you plan to freeze the sourdough bread, cut the loaf in half on the day it is baked. Place it into an airtight bag.
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To serve the frozen sourdough bread, remove it from the freezer and let it defrost on your countertop. Toast the bread until it is warm.
Note
Congratulations, you've finally made your first gluten-free sourdough bread.
Tips & Secrets For Baking The Perfect Loaf
Here are a few more tips to ensure your sourdough bread comes out perfectly when you start the basic recipe.
1. Use an active starter. Your starter should be at peak activity. It should double in size and have a bubbly texture. If it isn't at peak activity, the sourdough bread will not rise. You will end up with a flat puck that has a dense texture.
2. Make your own flour blend. Gluten-free all-purpose flours are convenient. But they are not the best option for making sourdough bread. This sourdough bread recipe uses a mixture of brown rice, millet, and buckwheat flour. The starches and the psyllium husk hold the bread together. There are many more flours and binding agents you can use to make sourdough bread (see our substitution guide in Chapter 6). This combination of ingredients gives the sourdough bread the right texture.
3. Use a digital scale to measure dry ingredients. A digital kitchen scale is more accurate than dry measuring cups or spoons. If you scoop a cup of flour and level it off using a knife, it resembles a perfectly measured cup of flour. However, if you tap the cup of flour on your countertop a few times, it won't look so perfect. The flour will start to shrink. This is why a kitchen scale is more accurate.
4. Sift the dry ingredients. Gluten-free flour, particularly starches, can clump up. The dry ingredients need to be mixed really well before you add the wet ingredients. If there are lumps in the dough, the final product will have clumps of dry ingredients.
5. Add the psyllium husk to the water. If you add it to the dry ingredients, it may not be fully incorporated into the flour and starches. Adding the psyllium husk to the water allows it to absorb the water and thicken up, so you don't have to worry about it not being mixed properly when you add it to the dry ingredients. You can weigh your dry ingredients in a few small bowls or 1 bowl. However, if you use 1 bowl, don't forget to press the tare button before adding a new ingredient to the bowl.
6. Handle the dough with care. Gluten-free sourdough is more delicate than its wheat counterpart. There is no need to stretch or pull the dough. It's best to touch the gluten-free sourdough as little as possible. If you touch the dough too much, it could deflate the air pockets, which helps create a light texture.
7. Bake the sourdough bread until it loses 15% of its weight. This reduces gumminess and aids in determining when it's fully baked. Weigh your bread before baking: first, when you turn it onto the parchment paper, and again after dusting it with flour. Record these weights to track how much your bread weighs before baking.
8. Add More Steam. Steam helps the dough rise more, creating a rich crust with the perfect golden color. You can spray the loaf lightly with water once you place it into the Dutch oven. Alternatively, you can place a few ice cubes underneath the parchment paper once you've added the bread to the pot and then cover it.
If you are not using a Dutch oven, place a baking dish on the rack beneath the sourdough bread and add water or a few ice cubes. It will create the same effect as misting the bread or adding ice to the Dutch oven.
9. Preheat your oven. To create the perfect hot and steamy environment, the oven and the Dutch oven need to be super hot before you add sourdough bread to it.
10. Say bye-bye to burnt bottoms. When you bake sourdough in a Dutch oven, there is a high chance that the bottom of the loaf will become scorched and burn.
To prevent this, you can place a baking sheet on the lower rack directly under the Dutch oven. The baking sheet will disrupt the heat transfer in a good way, preventing the bottom of the bread from being exposed to too much heat and burning.
Alternatively, you can also place a trivet in the Dutch oven. The trivet stops the bottom of the bread from touching the bottom of the pot and becoming burned.
11. Use lukewarm water. When making sourdough bread, the water should not be too hot or cold. If the water is too hot or cold, it can decrease the starter's activity and even kill the yeast. Make the dough with lukewarm water to ensure your starter remains at peak activity.
12. Use a thermometer to determine if the bread is done. Sometimes sourdough may look done on the outside, but it's undercooked on the inside. This is why you should use a digital thermometer to take the temperature of the bread before you remove it from the oven. The bread will have a temperature of 100°C/ 210°F when it's fully cooked
13. Let it cool. I know it's tempting to cut the sourdough bread the second it comes out of the oven, especially when you get a whiff of that beautiful aroma. If you cut the loaf immediately after it comes out of the oven, it could have a gummy texture. Let the sourdough cool down for at least 6 hours or overnight before you slice it.
User Reviews
This recipe is great–It’s hard to find gluten-free sourdough bread recipes with detailed instructions online!