Gluten Free Sour Dough Bread, WOW!

Learn how to make perfect gluten-free sourdough bread with this easy-to-follow recipe. No gluten, no problem! Yes, this deliciously chewy crusty sour dough bread can be made in the comfort of your own home! I DID it! Sour dough toast, melted butter, and a crispy crunchy crust… it WAS heaven at first bite!

I have been on a gluten free bread baking kick all through 2024 with my dear friend and student Marci. Marci loved baking regular wheat sour dough bread because she didn’t feel it wasn’t hurting her Crohn’s disease, nor was she having immediate symptoms. However, there is a myth going around that people with gluten intolerance, or Celiac disease can eat regular wheat or Einkorn sour dough bread and it won’t affect their body. Here’s the bottom line truth, if your body can’t break down gluten, no wheat sour dough bread will magically allow it to happen . It will cause problems on the inside, regardless if you don’t feel any symptoms.

After I convinced Marci to join my winter’s gourp Reset, she eventually felt and saw where eating gluten had indeed been causing problems. So we found an amazing bread baker blogger that we binged baking all kinds of deliciously satisfying gluten free breads; Ciabatta, English muffins, pita, challah, and artisan boules. Our first gluten free bread muses were bloggers Aran Goyoaga, Cannelle et Vanille and Kat from The Loopy Whisk.  We learned by practicing our skills and developing confidence that it was amazing and fun to bake delicious gluten free breads.

However, in the back of our minds was the illustrious SOUR DOUGH bread. I didn’t really want to embark on making a starter again, because taking care of a starter…was just too much with the daily feeding, with the potential for problems… it was easy to talk myself out of it. UNTIL, my daughter Annie decided she wanted to bake a loaf of sour dough! Watching her go for it, and talking with her, made me jump on in. I must admit, having a partner in crime really did make baking sour dough so much more fun!  

I was impressed as Annie continued to inspire me! It had been a couple of years since I baked my last sour dough boule from Cannelle e Vanille and Aryan Goyoaga’s Bakes Simple cookbook. It felt a bit more robust that still felt a lot of taking care of. And to be perfectly honest, I found an artisan loaf at Gjusta Bakery in Venice who made an excellent artisan gluten free loaf that satisfied my need for a “sour dough-esq” bread for sandwiches and toast, even though it wasn’t a sour dough… it satisfied on all levels!  

Annie though took it on. She didn’t want all the fluff of using all the different flours or starches in her first attempt. She found a recipe to fit her needs. She also used a bread blend the first time out the gate, and her bread came pretty good for her first attempt after creating a beautiful sour dough starter. Her first sour dough bread tasted good, but the crumb was a little dense.  Her success gave her confidence to keep going and improve. So my Annie blessed me with some of her starter she named Betty, after her Gma Betty Ann Curry. My starter I named Noodles after Annie. And now my game was on! 

Now I was invested. I researched and read a lot of blogs, before baking my sour dough. It was unanimous by bread bloggers NOT to use a bread blend when baking sour dough. I landed on Bakerita by Rachel Conners. Rachel had the clearest and easiest recipe directions and method for baking sour dough. She made it simple to follow, and helped clarify the fear around baking a gluten free sour dough bread. Rachel expressed, although baking bread is a science, you can’t really go wrong baking this gluten free sour dough bread. I found truth in her words, as ease in following her recipe. I can attest to her truth! I messed up the first time and thought, ugh it’s going to be so dense and wont taste like sour dough, because I didn’t follow her directions exactly. I didn’t make a preferment. AND… my gluten free sour dough bread still came out, amazing! And every time after, it keeps getting better! Its been amazing!

Annie my rebel, trying to keep it simple, baked her second sour dough loaf using only 1 type of flour, but still no starches. Again it tasted good, but didn’t have the characteristics of a sour dough we were looking for. Her crust was good and crunchy, but still a bit dense. Bottom line for me, and all the bloggers I read, you must use the starches to give the bread its chewy, holy, and tasty structure for a true sour dough character. It IS the REAL deal folks. 

I brought Annie over the loaf that felt like the best one yet and that won our hearts. She was the perfect loaf on the 2nd maybe 3rd try. Tasting it, convinced Annie to follow the recipe.

So here is my version of combining 2 awesome bread bloggers recipes and the recipe I used combining both of their brilliance that helps me continue to bake weekly an amazing loaf of sour dough bread! 

Gluten Free Sour Dough Bread

Before you start, here’s what you’ll need to bake sour dough bread:

Starter Recipe is from Aran Goyoaga

  • 140g brown rice, superfine
  • 170 g filtered water room temp

Method:

  1. 32 oz Ball glass jar with a white lid.
  2. Blend both ingredients together in the jar and keep it in a warm spot on your kitchen counter or in your oven with the light on. The oven is a perfect warm spot. Just put a note on the door to remember she’s in there. Oh, and name your starter. Talk to her and she will love you back! 
  3. Repeat every day FEEDING your starter for 5 days. 
  4. Remove and discard enough to keep 100-125g of your starter. If baking a double batch keep more. Use discard gluten free sour dough starter to give to a friend, (its still a starter), or make yummy focaccia or pizza crusts.
  5. Add into your jar
    • 45 g brown rice flour
    • 55 g purified water
  6. On day’s 3, 4 and 5 you can discard 1/4 cup or 75grams of starter if you like, I did not.
  7. DAY 5
    • Add 70g brown rice flour
    • 85 g purified water
  8. You are ready to use your starter, AS long, as she is active and bubbly. 
    • When you use the 150g of starter to make your preferment or sponge, feed your Starter and set her out or in the oven for a few hours. If making bread soon, leave her out and continue feeding her until ready to use. If you aren’t going to use her again for a week or longer, put her in the fridge to store. You wont need to feed her, but once a week or until you are ready to use her again.
    • When ready, take your starter out of the fridge, and feed her again the 45 brown rice:55 water ratio to get her bubbling .  

Instructions:

If you are using your gluten free starter that’s been out on your counter, meaning its already “active” and at room temperature,  OR if your starter has been stored in the fridge, unfed, you’ll need to feed your starter at least once, maybe twice, to get her good and bubbly aka “active”. 

First feed:

A bigger feed for your starter, if making a larger loaf or 2 small loaves, feed her 140g of brown rice flour and 165g of filtered water NOT tap. (chemicals our cities add to our water can affect the outcome). A smaller feed is 80g flour to 100g filtered water if she’s not been in the fridge.

If starter needs more fuel, feed again after 4 hours: the 120-140g brown rice flour and 120-140g filtered water. Wait until she gets active, doubeling in volume and very bubbly before using her. 

This is important, as an active starter with lots of bubble action and nearly doubled in size is what you want to happen. #goals.

Ready Set, HERE WE GO!

STEP 1: Preferment AKA Sponge (allow 4-12 hours rest)

  • 150g active gluten-free sourdough starter, it should be at peak rise and super bubbly
  • 100g filtered water
  • 80g superfine brown rice flour

Make your sponge from your active starter.

  1. In a glass bowl add 150 grams of your starter.
  2. Add 100 grams of filtered water
  3. Whisk in 80 grams of brown rice flour
  4. Cover Sponge with a light towel. Set her in a warm spot or oven for 4 hours, all day or overnight

My starter really liked being cozy in an OFF oven with the light on. It was a perfect solution to my cold kitchen. The longer you allow the sponge to ferment, the stronger the souring occurs. 

NOTE: I didn’t make a sponge the first time I baked this bread. I simple used just the starter. The bread still came out fine. It just was more dense and not as sour as I’d like. Then I made a second loaf, made the sponge, and WOW! Let me preface, by saying, making the sponge made the bread not only more amazing, I felt like a professional bread baker and my bread looked it too! 

Bread baking CAN be a fun, enjoyable and a Zen ride! Truly you do what works for you! 

After you make your sponge, FEED YOUR STARTER. I then put her back into the fridge until I was ready to bake again.

I used the 100g brown rice to 100g filter water measurement. I’m baking a double batch once a week to share with my family, so this method works well.  I feed the starter at least once a week if I’m not going to bake. I LOVE THIS method of storing the starter in the fridge so much! I”m using way less flour and it takes up way less of my time baking just once a week!

Let’s get baking! TO MAKE YOUR DOUGH

TIMG FOR BREAD BAKING and WHEN to Cut your Loaf.

  1. Your sponge has been resting all day or over-night. I put mine up at sometime during the day so I’ll make my dough, and then proof her in the fridge overnight and bake in the morning. OR I’ll bake her after the sponge is ready and she proofed for 4 hours.
  2. Remember you need a couple hours for your bread to rest and cool before cutting. Gluten Free bread needs time to rest after baking so it doesn’t get gummy hot from the oven. Patience. Its worth the wait.

Liquids

In a medium bowl or in your mixer bowl, whisk the first 4 ingredients together. Once the psyllium is gelled, whisk in the preferment/sponge. Blend it all together.

  • 20g psyllium husk, I used psyllium husk powder it worked fine…
  • 20g maple syrup or honey or agave
  • 300g filtered water 
  • 12g olive oil
  • 150 g sponge/pre-ferment 
  • Like it more sour? Add 1 tsp. Apple cider vinegar!

Flour Mix 

In a large bowl, combine all of the flours, starches, and salt. SET THIS aside. This is also where you’ can add any fresh minced herbs, think rosemary or thyme,  chopped  pitted kalamata olives or other dry seasonings like an Italian blend to add an herby flavor to your bread.

Notes:

Starches work to keep gluten free breads texture soft and less dense. Also helps the “crumb” chewy.

Yes you can substitue more tapioca flour for the potato starch. Just remember potato starch will weigh more than the tapioca flour. Annie made it using all the ingredients, but omitted the potato starch. She used 80g of the tapioca, 110g sorghum flour and 110 g brown rice flour. It worked great. I will also be testing this too, as I prefer not to use potato starch.

Method

Making the sour dough bread dough

  1. In the large bowl of your stand mixer, combine the flour mixture in with the sponge mixture..
  2. Use your dough hook to mix all of the ingredients on medium to low speed until a smooth dough ball forms. It can take about 2-3 minutes in the stand mixer. 
  3. Once your dough is soft and smooth, turn it out onto a clean, smooth work surface.
  4. If your dough feels sticky, add a pinch of flour – less is more here. I haven’t needed any flour.
  5. Knead dough for a minute and form into a smooth ball or if using a loaf tin, shape into an oval.
  6. Use rice flour and dust your 8” banneton (a proofing basket) for 1 recipe. If doubling the recipe, it will make 2 loaves or 2 small 8″ rounds.
  7. Place the dough smooth side down into the dusted proofing basket if you want the horizontal lines you see on round loaves, or you can use the liner for a smoother look.
  8. If making loaves, proof in the metal loaf pan. If using a loaf pan put seam side down.
  9. Cover, and let the dough proof for about three to four hours at room temperature. Our home runs cool, so I had it in the oven with the light on and it worked great for 4 hours. It nearly doubled in size.  
  10. OR place covered dough overnight in the refrigerator. I loved THIS method, as In the morning you bake it after allowing the oven to pre-heat for an hour letting the dough to come to room temperature.
  11. If baking in a 5-6 quart dutch oven, preheat the pot before you carefully add the dough top facing up.
  12. Once dough is ready to bake, use a Lame, (a razor), or a sharp knife to slash a couple of cuts into the bread. Its purposeful as it allows the bread to release steam so not to create holes inside the bread.

When you’re ready to bake

  •  If you did an overnight proof in the refrigerator, take the bread out to proof at room temperature for about 1-2 hours.  Your loaf should look fluffy when going into the oven.
  • After 1 hours of proofing, preheat your oven for an hour. Put your dutch Oven inside the heating oven too.
  • When your oven is preheated and your dough is well proofed, carefully flip the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper top side up.
  • Score the bread using a Lame. Making sure your cuts are deep enough, otherwise, you’ll still have cracking where you didn’t cut through.
  • Carefully lower your loaf, seam side down, scored side up, into the hot Dutch oven. Be careful not to drop the bread in, which can cause gumminess and reduce the loaf’s rise.
  • Add a few ice cubes directly into the Dutch oven. Put the lid back on, and put your bread into the oven for 45 minutes.
  • If using a loaf tin, you won’t need to preheat it. SEE NOTES FOR BAKING.
  • After 45 minutes of baking, remove the lid and let it finish baking for about 40 minutes to get the golden brown color. It all depends on your oven and it’s temperature.
  • Once your bread is golden brown, remove it from the oven. Very carefully lift and remove the bread from the Dutch oven.
  • Let bread cool completely on a cooling rack at room temperature for 3-4 hours before slicing into it. The hardest part is the wait, but essential for the crumb to set and not be gummy.

NOTE: Using a Metal Loaf Tin

  1. If you’re wanting to bake your sourdough in a loaf pan, shape the dough to a longer oval shape and place the dough seam side down in the metal loaf pan. I used a 8.5″ x 4.5″.
  2. Allow the dough to rise in the loaf pan. When ready to bake, bake for 1 hour.  
  3. Remove the loaf of bread and set it directly onto the oven rack to continue to bake for another 20-30 minutes until the top gets golden and feels hollow when tapped.
  4. Follow the same directions for cooling. this part is very important or a gummy loaf is possible.

Storing your Sour Dough Bread

Your loaf has no preservatives. It will keep well at room temperature for two or three days. Store in a bag. After 2 days put in a zip lock baggie and keep in the drawer of the fridge. Lasts about a week.  I use an air tight container and store in the fridge drawer. I also slice half and place in the freezer if I don’t eat sliced bread everyday. If your loaf gets a bit stale, put it in a 300°F for 10 minutes to refresh the crust. It also is works to toast directly from the freezer!

    Enjoy a slice toasted and slathered in butter and jam👏🤤❤️

    For troubleshooting, check out Rachel Conners, Bakerita.

    Happy baking!

    If you ever need to reach me, DM me on Instagram or email me your questions at Peggy@currygirlskitchen.com and subject it, “ Help with sour dough”. You can always leave a comment below too. 

    Love, Momma Pegs

    Leave a Reply

    Back to top