Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter

 How to make gluten-free sourdough starter from scratch using gluten-free flour. Making your own sourdough starter is easier than you’d think! And yes, it works with gluten-free flour!

Oh hey!

Want to dive into the lovely land of sourdough but don’t know where to begin?? 

This post has you covered!

It is true that regular sourdough bread is lighter in gluten than regular (non-sourdough) bread, but those who are sensitive may still react to it, and those who are allergic should most definitely steer clear.

Thankfully, we can make sourdough starter using a store-bought gluten-free flour blend. Yes, it really does work! 

If you have been a long-time follower, you may know I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to fermentation. I published a cookbook in 2015 focusing entirely on fermented beverages, called Delicious Probiotic Drinks.

It had been many moons since I started a new fermentation experiment, so once I decided to make my own gluten-free sourdough starter, I felt childlike elation. 😀

This post can be used as a guide to make your own gluten-free sourdough starter, know when it is ready to use, how to use it, and how to store it. I hope you find it helpful!

First things first, let’s discuss everything you need to make sourdough starter.

What you Need to Make Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter

Large Bowl or Jar – Choose a vessel that will allow your starter to grow up to 3 or 4 times its volume. Note that after feeding your starter every day, it will always grow. Keep this in mind when choosing the vessel in which your starter will live.

Quart sized wide-mouth mason jars are a great option.

I started in a mixing bowl and am currently using a large glass measuring cup. If possible, stick with the same vessel so as not to disrupt the fermentation process.

Gluten-Free Flour Blend – I use Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour (not sponsored), but from what I have read, King Arthur’s Measure for Measure Gluten-Free Flour works well too.

DO NOTE! The amount of water you use may vary depending upon the flour you use. This is the only tricky part about making your starter (keep reading!).

For consistent results, avoid switching flours while you’re making your starter. Stick with the same flour so you don’t disrupt the microbiome of the starter – it will be fragile at first!

Water – that’s it. Just water. I use filtered water from my Berkey filter, and I do recommend using filtered water if at all possible.

Kitchen Towel – Use a kitchen towel or cheesecloth to cover the vessel you’re using to make the starter. This keeps any bugs out and also protects the starter from too much light (a little light is fine, but you don’t want to cook it with UV rays, know what I mean?

How to Make Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter:

Day 1: Combine 1 cup of gluten-free flour blend with 1 cup of water and stir well until all the clumps are out. Cover with a kitchen towel, and leave untouched overnight (preferably 18 to 24 hours).

Day 2: Discard half of the starter (yes, throw it in the trash. Or if you don’t want to waste it, you can use it for a baking experiment). Add another 1 cup of flour and 1 cup water. If the starter is very thick like pizza dough, add more water until it is thinner.

You want it to be about the consistency of pancake batter. If it appears too thin, add more flour until that pancake batter-like consistency is reached.

Day 3 – 7 (and beyond): Each day, discard half of the starter and add a 1:1 flour to water ratio. This means you can continue adding 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water, or you can decrease the measurement to ½ cup flour and ½ cup water.

Keep noting the consistency of the starter and add more or less water to get it to that slightly thick pancake batter consistency. 

Sourdough Water to Flour Ratio

When using regular all-purpose flour, a 1:1 ratio is recommended to start and then the ratios change over time as your starter matures.

Similar to making regular sourdough starter, I found that I needed a 1 to 1 ratio of gluten-free flour to water, as the flour blend I use has similar absorbency to regular all-purpose flour. 

King Arthur’s recipe for gluten-free sourdough starter specifies 1 cup of flour to 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon of water to start out.

If you’re using King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten-Free Flour, use that ratio and see where it lands you.

However, if you use Bob’s Red Mill’s 1-to-1 Baking Flour like me, you may need a larger ratio of water to flour.

Do note, humidity and elevation may play a role in your ratio!

Here in Reno, we are technically high elevation and it is dry AF here. It makes sense if you live in similar conditions you’ll need a higher ratio of water to flour than 1:1. If you live in a humid area and/or at sea level, 1:1 may be great! 

Again, so long as your starter is the consistency of thick pancake batter, you’re good.

When is the Starter Ready to Use?

You can use your starter as soon as you witness signs of life – this means the starter will have grown 2 to 4 times its original volume and will have lots and lots of bubbles/air pockets.

These air pockets are a signal you have active, living bacteria and yeast and they’re literally breathing and reproducing!

You will also smell a pretty pronounced sour scent! It will smell like bread dough as you walk by your starter – this is another sign it is working!

My sourdough starter was ready to use on Day 4, but I let it go an additional day before putting it to use, just to be sure.

I had read sourdough starters sometimes become very active at the beginning and then seem to die off by day 3. If this is the case for you, don’t fret. Keep proceeding as normal to see if the starter bounces back. 

How Fermentation Works:

Across the board, the concept of fermentation is the same, but the inputs vary.

You need bacteria and/or yeast, liquid, and something to feed the bacteria and yeast.

For instance, when making yogurt, the lactose in the milk feeds the Lactobacillus bacteria strains, and the milk also serves as the liquid environment in which the bacteria live and reproduce.

In the case of sourdough starter, the bacteria and yeast are naturally occurring in the air (you may have heard the term, “native yeast.”).

We continuously feed the native yeast flour, which is jam packed with carbohydrate, and give it a nice moist warm environment to thrive.

The reason we continuously feed the culture is to ensure there is plenty of yeast for leavening our sourdough projects.

As long as you’re able to get a starter going, it becomes forgiving in terms of the amount and timing of feedings.

You can also allow the starter to go dormant by transferring it to a sealable container and refrigerating (I’d recommend using a jar with an airtight lid).

Best Household Temperature for Sourdough Starter.

70 to 80 degrees. Yeast love temps in this range, so if your house stays warm, making a successful sourdough starter will be easy peasy.

Mine has been between 74 and 77, and my starter only took 2 days to show signs of life. By day 4, it was ready to use. If you keep your house cooler, no worries! It could still work, it just may take 5 to 7 days to show signs of life.

When in Doubt, Throw it Out:

If you see any mold at all – pink, white, green, brown, black, throw it out and start over.

There is absolutely no reason to risk it. Note that if you live in a humid area, you may need to keep a very watchful eye over the starter and begin keeping it in the refrigerator after a few days to avoid mold. 

How to Use Sourdough Starter:

So you made a starter! Yaaay, congrats! Now what do you do? You have options: 

1. Use the daily discard in recipes, and continue feeding the starter
2. Give some of the starter to family or friends, use starter for sourdough things, continue feeding starter
3. Use starter for a while, get sick of sourdough, stick the starter in the refrigerator and allow it to go dormant,