Texture rich, flavorful and tender, homemade Seeded Multigrain Gluten Free Sourdough Bread is gluten free bread you’ll look forward to eating. Use your Gluten Free Sourdough Starter to make this whole grain gluten free bread and love bread again!
Going Gluten Free
Going gluten free for a trial period in the summer of 2018 meant I had to give up my beloved homemade sourdough. After a few weeks of throwing internal fits, I finally decided to explore gluten free flours, and learn the nuances of gluten free baking. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I finally embraced the challenge.
After much research, creating a gluten free sourdough starter and baking many loaves of gluten free sourdough bread, testing, tweaking and taking notes along the way, I’m sharing my best loaf yet: Seeded Multigrain Gluten Free Sourdough Bread.
Although I’m eating gluten again, this bread remains one of my most beloved recipes on the blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family, friends and V&B readers have.
At a Glance:How to Make Gluten Free Sourdough Bread
This gluten free sourdough bread recipe is simple to make, but you’ll need a gluten free sourdough starter. My starter recipe takes six to seven days to develop, but once you create it and continue to refresh (feed) it, it’ll be on stand-by next time you’re ready to bake!
- First, prepare the soaker by placing the flax, oats, quinoa, and sunflower seeds into a small bowl with temperature water. Allow to sit overnight.
- Second, in a medium bowl, whisk the flours including oat, brown rice, millet, tapioca with psyllium husk powder and salt.Â
- Third, in a large bowl, whisk your fed and active starter, water, and maple syrup or honey. Add the flour mixture to the starter/water mixture and mix with a fork.Â
- Fourth, hand mix in the soaker.Â
- Fifth, transfer the GF sourdough to a prepared loaf pan, while patting and smoothing the top and rounding the edges of the dough.
- Next, cover with a damp tea towel and ferment for 12-14 hours at room temperature.Â
- Last, bake the loaf for about an hour.Â
You’ll notice there is no proof for this recipe, meaning it only rises once (fermentation). Once the loaf is shaped and undergoes bulk fermentation, it’s ready to bake.
After baking, the gluten free sourdough needs to cool completely, at least a few hours before you slice into it! Waiting until the following day is even better as it allows the bread time to cure.
Using Other Gluten Free Flours in this Recipe
You can certainly give it a go! I’ve tried subbing buckwheat and amaranth flour for millet in this recipe but the bread wasn’t as tender and light. I’ve found thorough trial and error that millet helps give loft to gluten free bread without adding more starch. Also, amaranth was a little too strong for my taste.
How Gluten Free Sourdough Bread Tastes
In a word, earthy in such a good way! This GF sourdough bread is texture rich due to the seeds/grains, has a mild oaty flavor, and a chewy interior thanks in part to the binding power of psyllium husk powder, with a nice crisp crust (after toasting).
Because this bread is gluten free, egg and dairy free (yes, vegan gluten free sourdough bread!), mostly whole grain, free of fillers and large quantities of starches, you’ll notice the interior is moist/tacky to the touch. So, it needs to be toasted to bring out its best texture. Sometimes I’ll double toast for breakfast toast, aka, avocado with egg toast.
Storing and Toasting
After the bread is completely cool, slice it with a serrated knife. The slices can be stored at room temperature in a closed container for up to three days or frozen for longer storage. For freezer storage, slices can go from freezer to toaster directly – this is also when I’ll double toast a slice.
Traci’s Tips
- Sourdough discard? Save it, put it in a covered container in the refrigerator and then, make these Gluten Free Sourdough Pancakes, Gluten Free Sourdough Waffles, or Gluten Free Sourdough Pizza!
- Dutch oven? I’ve tested this recipe in a Dutch oven in an effort to make a boule. Without walls of a loaf pan to hold the dough together, it spread way too much and was flat. Stick to a loaf pan ( if not experimenting :D ) .
- Shaping and then transferring the dough to the pan is sticky business. I’ve included two ways in the recipe to get the hardest part of the recipe done: a. shaping prior to putting the dough into the pan or b. shaping the dough after putting it in the pan. I prefer method a. as it produces a better shaped loaf – but it’s harder to do. Note the photos show method b.Â
- With a 119% hydration, this dough is sticky. But I’ve discovered through my testing, gluten free loaves with higher hydration and low starch content have a better rise and produce a more tender crumb.
- One of the flours used in this recipe is oat flour. I DIY oat flour and have a tutorial on the blog if needed.Â
- Substitutions: I do not recommend subbing any other ingredient for psyllium husk powder. It soaks up the water, gives the bread it’s chew like gluten-full bread has and holds the dough together.
- I’ve tried subbing buckwheat and amaranth flour for millet in this recipe but the bread wasn’t as tender and light. I’ve found millet helps give loft to bread without adding more starch. Also, amaranth was a little too strong for my taste.
- I’ve not attempted subbing a different flour for oat flour.Â
- Use a scale. In baking, weighing ingredients is important for optimal outcome. I find that especially true in gluten free baking. I recommend investing in a good digital kitchen scale.Â
Makers Notes
So happy to read y’all are enjoying the bread in the comments below. Please note, I’ve not tried the following substitutions, but want to share what the community has offered. Here are a few community notes that may be helpful when making this recipe:
- Maya commented: “I used sorghum flour for the oats and half buckwheat, half white rice for the millet. It might not have risen as much as your photo, but it still turned out great.”
- Kate said: “It worked great – I substituted the same amount of arrowroot powder for the tapioca flour.”
- Sarah said: “Slice thick and when toasted you get the crusty edges and soft spongy center.”
- Jill said: “…substituted the brown rice, millet, and tapioca for an even exchange of the King Arthur cup for cup gluten free. This loaf came out SOOOOO GOOD!”
- Leah said: “…sorghum for the oat flour and teff for the millet. I got a nice rise and it came out SO good! The teff really gives it a wheaty flavor, almost like pumpernickel. Both times I left out the soaker and it didn’t seem to be a problem.”
Seeded Multigrain Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
For the Soaker:
- 3 Tbs Whole Flax Seeds
- 3 Tbs Whole Rolled Oats, gluten free
- 3 Tbs Red or Tricolor Quinoa, rinsed under running water
- 3 Tbs Hulled Sunflower Seeds
- 1/3 C (80g) Water, room temperature
For the Bread:
- 1/3 C + 2 Tbs (100g) Gluten Free Sourdough Starter, previously fed, and doubled in size
- 2 1/2 C + 2 Tbs (605g) Water, 80F (27C)
- 3 Tbs Maple Syrup, or Honey
- 1 C (145g) Brown Rice Flour
- 1 C (150g) Millet Flour
- 1 1/4 C (130g) Oat Flour, gluten free
- 1/2 C + 1 Tbs (80g) Tapioca Flour
- 2 1/4 Tbs Psyllium Husk Powder, I use Terrasoul Psyllium Husk Powder
- 3 1/2 tsp Fine Sea Salt, or reduce to preference *See note on salt adjustment
- 1-2 Tbs Whole Rolled Oats, for sprinkling on top, gluten free
Instructions
For the Soaker:
- Prepare the soaker by placing the flax, oats, quinoa, and sunflower seeds into a small bowl. Pour room temperature water over the top of the soaker. Leave out at room temperature for about 6-8 hours. If you forget to do this, you can pour hot water (hot to touch) over the soaker before you start preparing the ingredients for the bread.
For the Dough:
- Line the inside of a 8.5L x 4.5W x 2.75H inch loaf pan (23cm X 13cm) with criss crossing parchment with enough hangover on all sides to later help shape the dough and to be used as handles for removing the bread from the pan. If you have clips to clip the parchment to the sides, use them.Â
- UPDATE 5/20: Some makers have commented that they "poured" the dough into the baking pan. Please note that the dough should be of a sticky thickish batter-like consistency where it is scraped into the pan and holds together. The dough should not be pourable. In order to achieve this batter-like consistency, Psyllium Husk Powder is essential. I do not recommend substituting this ingredient. Mix the Dough: In a large mixing bowl, add the starter, water and maple syrup (or honey). Whisk until the starter is incorporated. Set aside.In a medium mixing bowl whisk the brown rice flour, millet flour, oat flour, tapioca flour, psyllium husk powder and fine sea salt. Mix throughly so that when the psyllium husk powder hits the water, it wont clump. To the water/starter mixture add the flour mixture. Use a fork to mix the flour into the water until the dough starts to stiffen, about one minute. The dough will feel like a thick batter. Add the soaker and knead the dough with your hand, incorporating the soaker until the mixture is evenly distributed, about one minute. Use the fork to scrape any excess dough off your hands and fingers. The dough will be very sticky. Set the bowl aside for about 10 minutes to rest. It will stiffen a bit as it rests.
- Shape and Pan the Dough: There are two ways to approach shaping. a. if you're in a hurry or b. if you have a bit more time and patience. Either will work but I find I get a better shape out of b. (note that a. was used in the images seen above). A. Scrape the batter into the loaf pan. Use a moist rubber spatula (remoisten as needed) to gently shape the top nudging the edges of the loaf inward to produce a nice dome shape loaf bread is known for. This takes a little practice and finessing. Just do the best you can. Use the 'handles' of the parchment and pull opposite sides inwards towards the center of the dough, helping to round and shape the edges. Moisten your fingers or small spatula and smooth the top to rid any lumpy areas. B. A bench scraper for this method is needed. Moisten your work surface with a bit of water (I use a spray bottle and sprits it a few times). With moistened fingers, nudge the dough out of the bowl and onto the moist surface. The dough will be very sticky. Re-moisten your hands and pat the dough into a rough rectangle/log a little smaller than the size of the loaf pan using the bench scraper as needed to move the dough. Pat and smooth the edges as needed using wet hands (no flour here), rocking the dough back and fourth to help shape it, smoothing and rounding the top into a rectangular dome. This takes a little practice and finessing, just do the best you can. Using one swift move, scoop up the shaped dough with a bench scraper and transfer it to the loaf pan. Use the 'handles' of the parchment and pull opposite sides inwards towards the center of the dough, helping to round and shape the edges. Do this several times. Moisten your fingers or small spatula and smooth the top to rid any lumpy areas. Use a moist rubber spatula to gently shape the top nudging the edges of the loaf inward to produce a nice dome shape loaves of bread are known for.Now is a good time to refresh (feed) your starter and store it for next time.Â
- Bulk Ferment: Remove the clips from the pan if using. Cover the dough with a wet tea towel and allow the dough to ferment overnight at room temperature (it's okay if the wet tea towel touches the top of the loaf). Fermentation will take anywhere between 12-14 hours depending on how active your starter is and ambient temperature. In my chilly kitchen at 66F, the dough takes about 14 1/2 hours to rise overnight. There is no proof for this recipe. Go right into baking the loaf after bulk fermentation. The loaf is ready to bake when the dough increases to 1 1/2 times in size and has risen to about 1.1/2" (3.8cm) above the lip of the pan at the center. The dough will spring back when gently pressed on top.Â
- Bake the Loaf: Place a oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 550F (288C). Lightly spray or brush the top of the dough with water and sprinkle 1-2 Tbs of rolled oats over the top. Decrease the oven temperature to 475F (246C) and bake the loaf 55-60 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread is between 200F-205F. If the bread starts getting too dark on top, tent the bread with foil. The bread pictured here is untented. After 10 minutes out of the oven, transfer the bread to a cooling rack. Cool completely, at least for two-three hours, better if cured overnight, before slicing into it. You'll notice the bread is very hard, but will soften as it cools.Â
- How to Store and Enjoy!:Â After the bread is completely cool, slice it with a serrated knife. The slices can be stored at room temperature in a closed container for up to three days or frozen for longer storage. For freezer storage, slices can go from freezer to toaster directly.You'll notice the interior of the bread to be tacky. This is normal. I find this gluten free sourdough needs to be toasted before it's enjoyed… sometimes double toasted to bring out its best flavor and texture.Â
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
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Hi,
I am going to try this recipe and I have a quinoa allergy. Is there something you would recommend ad a substitution for the quinoa?
Thanks, Tiffany
Hi Tiffany! You can easily sub 3 Tbs of flax and/or sunflower seeds (or a mix of the two) for the quinoa. I hope this helps and you enjoy the recipe!
Hi, I’m celiac and very allergic to psyllium too. How can I substitute the 3 tbsp of Psyllium in this recipe?
Thanks, Elsa
Hi Elsa… thank you for your note. While I’ve not made/tested this recipe with a binder other than psyllium, I did a quick search and found that ground flax or chia seed (1 to 1 replacement) may work. If you do give it a go, it’ll be a bit of an experiment. Please let us know if it works for you! I hope this helps.
It looks amazing and I can wait to try, but I think I will need to do a couple of changes. I am having trouble finding millet flour so I’ll sustitute it with sorgum, and I am intolerant to flax seeds so I was thinking to either put a spoon more for each of the other three ingredients for the soaker or maybe substitiute it with sesame seeds. What would be your suggestion? Also, I might go for buckwheat oats, as I do not have regular oats at home at the moment. And one last question: would it be ok to spray the baking loaf pan instead of using baking paper?
Hi Simona! Your subs sound just fine. I think sesame seeds would be a nice addition, but you can sub more of any of the other three ingredients in the soaker if you like. I tested this recipe without parchment, using coconut oil instead to grease the pan. The result was a darker, crispy crust where the oil met the dough. So it will work, but the bread will not be as soft and it will be darker in color. I hope this helps Simona and that you enjoy the recipe!
I just made this for my family. My daughter has celiac disease, and I am allergic to bakers yeast, so gluten free sourdough is perfect for us!
I adjusted the recipe though because she can’t have oats, and I can’t have millet so I thought I’d share: I used sorghum flour for the oats and half buckwheat, half white rice for the millet. It might not have risen as much as your photo, but it still turned out great.
My daughter bit into it and said it’s the best bread she’s had since we found out that she had celiac disease 5 years ago. Thank you so much!
Hiii Maya! Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for sharing your adjustments and notes. I’ll add a few notes to the recipe for others. This is Super helpful! And I’m thrilled to hear your daughter is loving the bread. Hooray!! Thank you again, Maya!
Hi there, as a coeliac I cannot eat oats, as most coeliac’s can’t. You might want to include a disclaimer about this somewhere in your recipe incase someone makes it for a coeliac friend. What do you suggest as a substitute for oats?
Hi Lauren, thank you for your note! For the oat flour (in the same quantity – volume, not by weight), I’m thinking buckwheat could work just fine although the flavor will be a stronger. When I was testing this recipe, I used buckwheat in place of millet and it worked, but the flavor is very buckwheaty :D Not a bad thing, but something to be aware of. I’ve not tried subbing any flour for oat flour, so please let us know if you give it a go. It will be a bit of an experiment. I hope this helps!
Have you ever tried a light buckwheat flour? I know of two brands, Bouchard Family Farms and Haldeman Mills. (Bouchard is a little lighter.) They are as much different from the Bob’s Red Mill dark buckwheat flour as white wheat flour is from dark rye flour. Anthony’s is somewhere in the middle (works well for French-style buckwheat crepes).
I’ve not heard of light buckwheat flour, but will be on the lookout for it! Thank you for sharing those brands!
I am currently making my first gluten free sourdough starter and can’t wait to try to bake my first loaf of bread with it when it finishes! I have celiac disease and have not yet tried reintroducing quinoa or oats (some people with celiac disease have sensitivity or reactions to these grains too). Could you please tell me what I could substitute for quinoa and oats in this recipe and at what quantities? I look forward to hearing from you!
Hi Rebekah! I hope your sourdough starter is coming along. Thank you for your note. For the quinoa, you can leave it out or add any of the other soaker ingredients in its place. For the oat flour (in the same quantity – volume, not by weight), I’m thinking buckwheat will work just fine although the flavor will be a stronger. When I was testing this recipe, I used buckwheat in place of millet and it worked, but the flavor is very buckwheaty :D Not a bad thing, but something to be aware of. I’ve not tried subbing any flour for oat flour, so please let us know if you give it a go. It will be a bit of an experiment. I hope this helps!
Grind your own buckwheat flour from raw groats (in your blender) and you will have a much milder flour than the purchased flour. I believe that the commercial buckwheat flour may be from roasted groats, and so is much stronger. My buckwheat pancakes are a hit with everyone and they are very mild.
Thank you for your tip Jeanne!
I have made this bread twice now. We just love it. Your instructions are detailed and clear. This time around I doubled the recipe so that I would have two loaves and not have to bake as often. My two loaves are cooling on the counter. Can’t wait to cut into them. Thanks for this great recipe. Definitely a keeper. Have you tried freezing an unbaked loaf?
Hi Pat! Thank you for your note and five star review! So happy to hear you’re enjoying the recipe. I’ve not tried freezing an unbaked loaf, but I’m thinking it could be frozen then thawed in the fridge then for it’s final rise, at room temperature. if you do give it a go, will you let us know how it goes? Thank you again!
This is a fabulous recipe. It works for me. Finally a gluten-free bread that tastes great. Plus it’s easy to make. Thank you very much for publishing it!
Hi Simone! Thank you for coming back and leaving a note. I’m SO happy to hear the recipe worked for you and you’re enjoying the bread! And easy FTW! Yessss!
Hi,
We tried both your sourdough starter and multigrain bread recipes gluten free. The starter is alive but is not doubling in height. The bread did rise but it caved or there’s a hole throughout the between the crust and the top. Any thoughts or recommendations? I can send you a picture of need be also. Thank you
Hi Michael! I’m sorry to hear the recipe didn’t work for you. If the starter isn’t doubling in height, then it’s not ready to use in a recipe. It needs to double in size for it to be strong enough to rise and support oven spring. Give it more time to double in size. If that doesn’t work, give it a few more refreshments/feeds before testing for doubling in size again. Did you use different flours then what the recipe called for? Did you use a scale to weigh the ingredients? How many hours are you waiting to see if the starter will double in size? How does the bread taste otherwise? It’s hard to tell what went wrong without more information. Please let me know!
Hi Traci. I had the exact same issues as Michael Kagan described. I used the recipe exactly as is weighing all ingredients. I have a big hole under the top crust which I think might be due to very high oven temperature. I used a thermometer to check for doneness but it was nowhere near ready after 1 hour in the oven. So I ended up with a gummy/wet crumb and a big hole throughout. Next time I’ll bake it at lower temperature and see how it goes. I do like the taste of this bread. I bake GF sourdough breads weekly and I usually bake them at 375F for 1.5 hours. I hope it will solve the hole and gumminess. What do you think?
Hi there… oh no.. so sorry to hear about the gummyness and a hole, but happy to hear you like the taste of the bread. This gumminess issue could be due to over fermentation. Watch your dough carefully during the end of bulk and measure the rise (at the edge of the pan) as indicated in the recipe. I tested this recipe extensively, but didn’t bake it at a lower temperature. If you do give the lower bake temp. a go, please let us know how the bread turns out for you!
I also had this result! The caverning may be a result of over-proofing the bread, which is especially easy (and tragic) with gluten free loaves. What happens is when the bread is rising before the bake, huge holes develop inside that are so big, the crumb structure collapses once in the oven. Since there isn’t a gluten network, the bread can’t hold together to accommodate the air. This is my best guess. The sweet spot between underproofing and overproofing is quite small especially with gluten free things, so its best to just try, try again and make notes of all the small tweaks you make.
If you google “bread cavern overproofing” or “flying crust bread” you can read more about it!
Ohhh nooo! Thank you for your detailed notes and resources, Alejandra! I’ve not experienced this before in gf sourdough – but have with glutoneous sourdough. Please let us know if you give the sourdough a go again and any additional tips you can share from a successful loaf?!
I followed the recipe for the starter and I refreshed it last night and it’s been 12 hours but it hasn’t grown at all:( what would you recommend?
Hi Bella! In order to make a recommendation, I need a bit more information. How many days have you been feeding your starter? How does it smell? Are there any bubbles present?
I’ve been feeding it for seven days, it smells sour, and there are no bubbles.
Thank you Bella, give it a few more days to develop, feeding it once per day. The presence of a sour smell tells me something is happening, but it does need to be puffy before preparing it to use in a gf recipe. I hope this helps.