If you have considered making gluten-free sourdough, you need to give gluten-free sourdough starter a try.
Long before I started eating gluten-free back in 2009, I made sourdough. It was back in the early 2000s when sourdough had a resurgence of sorts. I say of sorts, because sourdough has been around for generations and generations. I don’t think it has been unpopular, but it does seem to have periods where it is more popular.
My mom actually did sourdough back in the 1970s, so I have been acquainted with sourdough for years.
I loved making sourdough bread, pancakes, and more. I had so much fun experimenting with sourdough recipes. I even ground my own wheat for quite a few years.
And then I went gluten free.
When I went gluten free in 2009, it was not nearly as popular as it is today. There were very few gluten-free products available at my local grocery stores, and even online, there were very few gluten-free flour blends.
Gluten free baking was totally different than regular baking, especially when it came to yeast breads, so I assumed my years of making sourdough were done.
That is, until about 2021. Sometime in 2021, I started thinking that I might want to try sourdough again, but this time gluten-free.
I started a gluten-free starter from scratch and spent several months experimenting with gluten-free breads. My starter was great, but I had quite a few failures when it came to making gluten-free sourdough bread.
Then my health took a turn for the worse, and my gluten-free sourdough started suffering. It didn’t just suffer, it died due to a lack of care.
I gave up gluten-free sourdough for a while, but in 2024 I decided to give it another try.
After over a year of experimenting with my gluten-free sourdough starter and quite a few gluten-free sourdough recipes, I am ready to start sharing my experiences and recipes.
Today I am starting by sharing how I started my gluten free sourdough starter.
Over the last few years, I have started several gluten-free sourdough starters from scratch; some have been more successful than others.
My favorite way to start a gluten free starter is to follow Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Sourdough Starter Recipe using brown rice flour.
It has been my tried and true favorite way to start and feed my sourdough starter, so this is one of the times, instead of sharing my recipe, I am sending you to the recipe I think is best.
I think most people overcomplicate sourdough, especially the starter. That goes for gluten free sourdough starter as well.
Sourdough and sourdough starter have been around for centuries. Back a hundred-plus years ago, people weren’t using scales or exact measurements for their sourdough.
They were using what they had where they were. People on the Oregon Trail, or pioneers on the prairie, or chuck wagon cooks on cattle drives, were not using scales to measure out fancy flours.
Yet, they still made sourdough day after day.
So, yes, I think modern-day bakers and social media influencers complicate sourdough to stand out and be unique.
Yes, gluten free sourdough is a little more complicated than regular sourdough, but it doesn’t have to be complex.
If I can make gluten free sourdough without fancy tools or ingredients, so can you!
I have several gluten-free sourdough recipes to share over the next few months, so get your gluten-free sourdough starter going!
Try starting your Gluten Free Sourdough Starter with Bob’s Red Mill’s Sourdough Starter recipe, and stay tuned for my recipes for using it soon.
And in case you are wondering what the rubber band on the jars in the pictures above is for, it is so that you can tell when your sourdough has risen enough. I put it on the jar, and then after I feed the starter I move the rubber band to where the starter is. Then you can tell how much it has risen.
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