Gluten Free Friday: Sourdough Bread

One of our favorite foods in this house is sourdough bread.  I make it every year for holiday gifts as EVERYONE loves it and it’s easy to make in large quantities (I made 16 regular loaves this year).  Well, I got it into my head to try a gluten free version.  My google search didn’t bring up much as a basis.  Those who had tried it hadn’t had good luck, which, after my own experimentation, I am forced to conclude is because they used funky starter.  See, sourdough starter is like a child.  It has to be fed.  Sugar and some kind of starch, every 5 days, to keep the yeast alive.  Several of the gluten free versions (and even non-gluten free) used stuff like flour or different kinds of gf flours to feed it.  I have no idea why they would do that as yeast doesn’t seem to much like them and doesn’t produce a happy starter.  I just used my original soudough starter which you feed with potato flakes.  I  mean, this is a no fail starter.  I’ve never had it die on me unless I forget to feed it on time.  Now of course regular sourdough does not have baking powder, but we all know that with gluten free baking you sometimes need a little help to get things to rise enough.  I’ve made four loaves of this so far, with multiple small variations in the gluten free flours and all came out beautifully, so I give to you with confidence, gluten free sourdough bread.  Makes 16 slices at 117 calories and 2.63 grams of fat.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 3/4 cup  warm water  about 115°F
• 1 tbs melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/8 cup nonfat dry milk powder
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1/4 cup milled flax
• 1/4 cup  potato starch
• 1/2 cup  brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sorghum flour
• 1/4 cup sweet rice flour
• 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Add the warm water, sour dough starter, milk powder, butter, olive oil, eggs, and cider vinegar to your mixing bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, mix all remaining dry ingredients and whisk until well combined.
3. Mix the ingredients with your paddle attachment until just combined (about a minute).
4. Transfer dough to a non-metal bowl and cover with a tea towel in a warm place.  I usually turn my oven to warm for 5 minutes, then turn it off and add the bowl.  Allow dough to rise for an hour.
5. At the end of an hour, pour dough into a greased loaf pan (mine is 8x4x3) and allow to rise for another half hour.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Bake for 45 minutes.
8. Remove to wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Printable version.