
If you’re looking for a DIY alternative to store-bought gluten-free bread, making your own sourdough starter is a good first step. The fermentation process uses naturally occurring wild yeasts and lactobacilli, the gut-friendly bacteria that give sourdough its tart flavor; these organisms also support your body’s absorption of magnesium, zinc, iron, and other nutrients.
Once mature, your starter can serve as a natural leavener in homemade bread, or you can use it to add a trademark tang to your favorite muffin, waffle, or brownie recipes.
Most types of flour will work with this method, but we like brown-rice flour because it’s a gluten-free whole grain. The process is simple: All you need is some filtered water, flour, and time.
Directions
Day 1: In a medium-size glass bowl, stir 4 ounces of brown-rice flour into 4 ounces of filtered water. Cover loosely with a dish towel and let sit at room temperature (about 68 degrees F) for 24 hours. If your home is cooler than that, your starter may grow more slowly; place the bowl in a warm spot (like on top of a refrigerator) to speed up the process.



Bread Srsly’s Gluten-Free Sourdough
San Francisco’s first gluten-free sourdough bread company shares their flagship recipe — a perfect use for your first starter!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup millet flour
- 1/2 cup sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup arrowroot starch
- 1/2 cup white rice flour
- 1 1½ tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp xanthum gum
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter
- ½-1 cup water, as needed
Directions
- In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
- Mix in sourdough starter, then add enough water so that the dough resembles pancake batter. Stir to combine.
- Let the dough rise for 12-24 hours at room temperature.
- Bake at 375 in a greased loaf pan until the top is golden brown, about 1 hour.
- Cool completely before slicing.
Looking for other ways to use your sourdough starter? Check out our Pinterest board at https://www.pinterest.com/explifemag/baking-with-your-sourdough-starter/ for some of our favorite recipes!
— by Sadie Scheffer
Should I be discarding any of it the first week, or just keep feeding it and letting it get bigger and bigger?
Am I supposed to be discarding any of the starter for the first week, Or do I just keep letting it get bigger and bigger?
I have been searching for a recipe using a starter and millet flour. Had some incredible bread in Portland, OR, listing these ingredients…best bread I have ever eater…farewell saw-dust! Is there a cookbook that you would recommend with similar recipes? Many thanks for sharing!
How will I know if my starter gets moldy?
Hi, just wondering if the quantities stated are correct in this starter recipe? I work in grams and have been adding 113gms (4ounces) every eight hours and am going through a huge amount of flour. I’m not sure why this much is needed to make a starter? Please can you confirm that I am doing the right thing.
Many thanks
Sarah
The bread this recipe makes, looks fantastic. Is there a way to substitute out the xanthum gum in this recipe. It tends to irritate my gut.
Thank you!
Everything worked like a charm…until I went to bake it. Your instructions say to put all ingredients in a bowl ✔️…and let it rise for 12-24 hours room temp … ✔️ Then it says to bake it in a greased pan at 375 in a greased pan 😲. Something is missing in the instructions. How big a pan?? Do you pour it into the bowl and bake it immediately or let it rise in the pan like most breads? This is a very loose dough so…I’m going to put it into the LOAF pan and let it rise just a little, . Please this is such a great recipe…please make some edits! Plus your picture shows an artisan round , not a LOAF,shape.
How do you know that the active species are yeast and lactobacilli and not just Leuconostoc? Since you don’t initially acidify the starter, what prevents Leuconostoc from becoming the dominant species? What is the pH of the starter when you mix it, and when it is mature? And what is the total titrateable acidity (TTA) of the mature starter? Do you get the same result if you start with a single type of flour? Or do you need more than one? If more than one, what combinations work? And at what mixture ratios?
Doc
Someone mentioned the water on the top and it never getting crusty. I noticed water on the top too, that’s not right and the pick shows a nice smooth creamy texture which really is not accurate with rice flour. Rice flour batter is very grainy. Bu about the water on top: so I added enough more flour to make that go away. It is now day three for me and I am definitely getting sour dough signs. Some crust is forming too! I am experienced with wheat based sough doughs and this is so exciting for me, as I had to give up gluten and miss baking so bread so much . The only question I have (and worry) is that I am feeding this sucker twice a day? Every 12 hours? For 5 days????? That is like way too much sour dough starter! Something doesn’t sound right there, so I am feeding it according to my gut as I look and smell and stir. Thank you for this recipe
Wondering if any of you have has success with this recipe. Or can pass on tips! Thanks!
I followed your recipe for the sourdough starter and mine never got a crusted top. The liquid settled at the top. The temperature in my home is 72 degrees; it may get a couple degrees cooler at night. What do you consider filtered water? I bought water from the grocery store refill machine. Was that ok or do you mean distilled? I am trying the bread recipe that you mentioned in this article even though I did not get a crusted top. I had to add a lot of water to get the consistency of pancake mix. I really want this to work because I am gluten intolerante and really miss a good piece of bread. What might I have done wrong?
This sounds great but would anyone out there know if this sourdough starter can be safely done with a grain free flour such as cavassa, coconut, or almond and if so, any other different treatment? Also is the xanthum gum a necessary ingredient and what does it do?
Thanks for any feedback!
I am allergic to sorghum…is there another root flour (can also not use teff, tapioca, wheat, rye, barley) that will substitute nicely?
Love Bread Srsly’s sour dough bread. It is delicious! Can’t wait to try this recipe.