How to Make a Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter

Making a gluten free sourdough starter couldn’t be easier. Start with three simple ingredients, a little time and patience, and your starter is ready to make delicious homemade gluten free sourdough bread, pizza, pancakes, and waffles in about seven days! 

A Gluten Free Journey

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How to Make Gluten Free Sourdough Starter
step by step

Note: at about day three or four, your starter will begin to smell unpleasant, like sweaty socks. keep going… it will change for the better!

How to Feed Your Gluten Free Sourdough Starter

To keep your starter balanced and strong, you’ll need to refresh it, or feed it before using it in a recipe.

I feed mine at least every other week, once a week if I remember, when stored in the fridge, but always 8-12 hours before I’m ready to mix the sourdough. Also, I keep the starter in a glass jar with a rubber band around the starting level (after I refresh it) so I can track its progress as it develops.

To Feed Your Starter

• First, in a clear jar you’ll add part of your sourdough starter (throw out or save the leftover to make gluten free sourdough pancakes or sourdough waffles using your discard). Then you’ll whisk in the water and add the flours.
• Next, loosely lid and wrap a rubber band around the jar at the height of the starter. This will give you a visual indication of how much the starter has grown as it grows to double in size.
• Last, allow the starter to develop at room temperature for about 8-12 hours. The time will vary due to ambient temperature.

When is the Starter Ready?

Once your GF sourdough bread starter has doubled in size, is bubbly and has a sweet-sour aroma, it’s ready to use in this gluten free sourdough bread recipe. After measuring out the portion needed for your recipe, refresh the starter, as indicated above and store in the fridge until your next feeding. 

The starter will not stay in this doubled in size state for long. At some point after doubling in size, it will begin to lose its strength and fall. The exact amount of time will vary from starter to starter but I’ve typically observed a few hours window, at room temperature, where the starter will remain doubled in size. On warm days, it’s shorter. But in the refrigerator, it’ll hold for quite a while. I’ve observed at least over eight hours! Once it starts falling back down after doubling in size, you’ll need to refresh (or feed) it and allow it to double in size again before using it in a sourdough bread recipe. 

If your starter is struggling to double in size, you’ll need to go through a few cycles of refreshment to build strength in the starter. You can even refresh twice within a 12 hour period if needed. Doing this builds flavor and will help later in the development of your gluten free sourdough bread. I do a series of refreshments after freezer storage or a long period of neglect in the refrigerator before using it in a recipe. 

How to Maintain Gluten Free Sourdough Starter

Think of your sourdough starter as a refrigerator pet that needs regular attention. There’s yeast and bacteria that make up the starter so it needs to be fed (refreshed) on a regular basis.  Your starter can be stored at room temperature if you’re baking daily.

However, if baking only once every one or two weeks, store your starter in the refrigerator. This will slow your starter down, yet keep it viable for regular feedings and baking weekly or biweekly.

What is That Layer of Liquid?

Sometimes while you’re building your starter and/or after your starter is established, you may notice a layer of liquid that forms on the surface. This liquid is called hooch, a naturally occurring alcohol that indicates your starter is hungry, that it’s a little past time to feed your starter, and is an indication of a weak (hungry) starter. Hooch should have a pleasant sweet-sour aroma. You can pour it off or stir it into your starter and carry on with refreshment. 

If you notice hooch after refreshing your starter, and you’ve missed the doubled in size bake window, you’ll need to feed your starter twice a day, about every eight hours, which will remedy hooch and build strength in your starter. Putting your starter in a cooler area of the house should help too. This will slow down the fermentation process.

Freeze Your Starter to Preserve It!

If you’ll be away from baking for a while and need to store your starter longer than a few weeks, it can go in the freezer, unfed. When ready to use it again, thaw it out in the refrigerator and refresh it a few times within a window of 12-24 prior to baking with it. Be sure to allow it to double in size again.  

Remember, your starter is ready when it doubles in size, is bubbly and has a pleasant sweet-sour aroma. 

Traci’s Tips

• Time is a guide rather than a determining factor for when the starter is ready. Use the cues and your senses to determine when it’s ready. It may take longer than seven days. It’s ready when it’s ready.
• For leftover sourdough starter (discard), you can keep it in a jar for use in other recipes, give some away or throw it out. It can be used in gluten free sourdough pancakes, sourdough waffles or my gluten free sourdough pizza crust recipe without having to double it in size… and it’s absolutely delicious! I keep a jar in my refrigerator and refill it as I discard the leftover starter at refreshment time. The discard can be frozen too. 
• If you see any mold or a layer of pinkish/orange/white slimy color on the top of your starter, throw it out and make a new starter. This can be avoided simply keeping your starter happy and well fed, refreshing it weekly in the fridge or daily at room temperature. 
• Float Test: If you’re a glutenous sourdough baker and have used the float test in the past to observe when your sourdough starter is ready, the same idea doesn’t work for gluten free sourdough starter. So, you’ll need to go on observation alone. Remember: the starter doubles in size, smells of a sweet-sour aroma and has air pockets within the starter (or is bubbly). 

Note: Through testing this recipe I found sweet white rice flour or Bob’s Red Mill AP 1-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour to be an essential component in developing a strong and consistent gluten free starter. Mixed with buckwheat or brown rice flour yields consistent results.

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Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter (Beginner Friendly!)

4.94 stars (from 43 ratings)

By Traci York

Total: 7 days d

*The blog post above has more tips and information!*

Making a gluten free sourdough starter couldn't be easier. Start with a few simple ingredients, a little time and patience, soon you'll be making delicious homemade gluten free sourdough bread, pancakes, and waffles! This recipe is gluten free and vegan.

This process generally takes between 6-7 days to complete, with only minutes each day to prepare it. Be aware that it could take longer. This is the nature of sourdough.

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Ingredients

• ▢ Buckwheat Flour, or Brown Rice Flour
• ▢ Sweet White Rice Flour, or Bob's Red Mill AP 1-1 gluten free baking flour
• ▢ Water, room temperature **see note

Instructions 

• Day One: 

  In a medium glass bowl or jar, whisk together 2 T (20g) buckwheat or brown rice flour, 2 T (20g) sweet rice flour and 1/4 C (60g) of water. Cover with a damp tea towel and rest at room temperature for 24 hours. 
• Day Two: 

  In a clean medium glass bowl or jar, whisk 2 T (40g) of mixture you made yesterday (throw out the leftovers), 2 T (20g) buckwheat or brown rice flour, 2 T (20g) sweet rice flour and 1/4 C (60g) of water. Cover with a damp towel or loose fitting lid and rest at room temperature for 24 hours.
• Day Three Through Day Six or Seven (or beyond): 

  Repeat step two using the previous days starter until the mixture becomes puffy, has a pleasant sweet-sour aroma and bubbles begin or air pockets are visible under the surface. This process takes about six to seven days (as this has been my experience) – but it may take longer.

  Time is not a determining factor for when the starter is ready, it's simply a guide. It's ready when it's ready. Use the cues and your senses to determine when your starter is ready. This is the nature of sourdough.

  Before using your new starter in a recipe, you'll need to refresh (feed) it. 

How to Refresh your Gluten Free Sourdough Starter:

• Once you have an established starter, you'll need to feed it.

  In a clean lidded jar, add 1/4C (60g) of sourdough starter (throw out or save the leftover 'discard'). To the starter, mix in 1/3 C (80g) room temperature water. Add 3 T (30g) buckwheat flour and 3 T (30g) sweet white rice flour to the water mixture. Mix well until the flours are hydrated.

  Wrap a rubber band around the jar at the height of the starter. This will give you a visual indication of how much the starter has grown. 

  Put a lid on the jar (it doesn't need to be loose – just regular) and allow the starter to develop at room temperature for about 8-12 hours* or until it doubles in size. The time will vary due to ambient temperature.

  If your starter is struggling to double, place it somewhere warm, like inside a turned off oven with a light on. You can also try feeding twice a day to nudge the starter along.

  Once the starter has doubled in size, is bubbly, and has a sweet-sour aroma, it's ready to use in your gluten free sourdough bread recipe.

  After measuring out the portion needed for your recipe, refresh the starter, as indicated above and store it until ready to use again.  

How to Store Your Starter:

• Room Temperature: The starter can be stored at room temperature if you bake daily, which also means it will need to be refreshed daily. Store it in a glass jar with a lid.

  Refrigerator: Ideally, you'll want to refresh your starter (feed it) each week if stored in the refrigerator. When preparing for mixing, and after pulling the starter from the fridge, you may need to refresh it twice within a 12 hour period to get it going again. This is not always the case, but sometimes the starter can be sluggish. Store it in a glass jar with a lid.

  Freezer: For longer storage, place your starter in the freezer. It will revive after it thaws in the refrigerator and goes through a few refreshments. Store it in a glass jar with a lid.

How to Store Your Discard if Saving:

• Once you have an established starter, you can use it for bread, and your discard for pancakes, waffles, pizza and other recipes to add that tangy sourdough flavor. Store it in the fridge, in a lidded glass jar, for up to two weeks. You may see a layer of hooch, and this is not unusual. You can pour it off or stir it in.

  If you see any white, orange or pink film or mold, toss it.

  You can also store your discard in the freezer for longer storage. Thaw it in the fridge before using in a recipe.

Video

Notes

Sourdough discard? Save it, put it in a covered container in the refrigerator and then, make Gluten Free Sourdough Pizza Crust, Sourdough Waffles and Gluten Free Sourdough Pancakes! 

*If you’re in a hurry and have an established starter, you can increase the speed at which the starter doubles in size simply by heating the water to 80F before refreshing the starter. When I do this, my starter typically doubles in size in about four hours.

**Filtered vs Tap Water: I’ve tried both and haven’t experienced a noticeable difference in activity in my starter or bread. Chlorine and hard water can be a problem for your starter and bread development, however, and tap water quality varies widely. So, if in doubt, use filtered water.

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