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This flavorful loaf of gluten free sourdough bread is made with the simplest homemade gluten free sourdough starter. Once your starter is ready, you can make and bake your loaf the same day!
After writing a whole book on gluten free bread baking, here I simplified the sourdough process down to mixing the dough, letting it rise, and baking it within a few hours. And there's no complicated schedule to worry about!
“The texture is like real (gluten) bread — soft and spongy with a firm crust. This has become my go-to recipe for making bread routinely. I haven’t bought any gluten-free bread since discovering this recipe!”
Why this recipe works
This gluten free sourdough recipe and our simplified gluten free sourdough starter are not a deep dive into all things sourdough. Instead, we're keeping it super simple with a 2-ingredient starter, and a 7-ingredient bread (including salt and sugar). Think of it more like a tangy kind of white bread that's great for lunches.
Here, the rules are a little relaxed, unlike in my bread book where I have a whole chapter on wild yeast sourdough recipes. This process takes less work, and you still get a yeasty, tangy loaf of sourdough bread after a single day of baking (and about 20 minutes of active time).
If you have commercial yeast on hand and you need a loaf of bread today, I recommend our simplest gluten free bread recipe. But if you can be patient, sourdough bread baking is worth the time.
If you are enjoying making bread, you must try out both my gluten free pumpkin bread and gluten free banana bread recipes.
Recipe ingredients
Here's what you need to make this bread, plus a few words about the role each ingredients plays in a successful loaf of bread:
- Gluten free flour blend: Provides the structure in this bread that traps the carbon dioxide gas that the yeast in the sourdough starter release. I recommend a high quality all purpose gluten free flour blend that is made to be used in yeast bread, like Better Batter's original blend, Nicole's Best multipurpose blend (with 3 teaspoons added xanthan gum), King Arthur Flour's Gluten Free Bread Flour, or Caputo Fioreglut flour. Avoid blends like King Arthur Flour's all purpose gluten free flour, which is not appropriate for yeast bread and will not support a full rise.
- Tapioca starch: All of my recommended all purpose gluten free flour blends already contain tapioca starch/flour as an ingredient, but you need to add more here. This bread rises much better and has a softer, more tender crumb when you add more tapioca starch to the loaf by helping the bread retain moisture, especially during its long rise.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar helps feed the yeast and locks in moisture.
- Salt: Brightens the other flavors in the bread.
- Gluten free sourdough starter: Provides all of the leavening in this recipe, in the absence of commercial yeast. This recipe is formulated to be made with a very wet starter. If your starter is different, you can still use it but you'll need to change the proportions slightly as I describe in the substitution/sourdough starter section below.
- Butter: Adds buttery flavor, some moisture, and helps keep the crust from getting too hard.
- Milk: Adds moisture to bring the dough together, and a bit of fat to keep the crumb soft. If you can, use whole milk for maximum flavor.
Equipment
Here are the simple tools you'll need to make this recipe:
- Digital kitchen scale: Measuring everything by weight, not by volume, for the starter and everything else, will give you predictable results the first time, and every time. The simple Escali scale is great; nothing fancy needed.
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment: Creating a smooth dough that rises well works best with a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. If you don't have one, you can pulse the dough a few times in a large food processor (a plastic blade is ideal). You can also try mixing really hard by hand with a Danish dough whisk.
- Loaf pan: You don't need a fancy Banetton basket for this loaf. A standard loaf pan works great. You could also bake this loaf in a hot Dutch oven for a crispier crust. Just shape the dough with wet hands into a dome on a small piece of parchment paper, heat the Dutch oven, place the loaf inside on the paper and bake.
Expert starter tips
If you've been confused by sourdough bread because of an overly complicated starter recipe in the past, stick with me. All that matters is that you can use the right ingredients combined in the right way, and judge when the bread is risen enough for baking.
A sourdough starter is a fermented mixture of flour and water that captures and cultivates yeast from the flour and the surrounding air. It's different from commercial yeast you buy in the store, which is a single, isolated strain of yeast.
If you've come here from our gluten free sourdough starter recipe (a mixture of gluten free flour and water), you're more than halfway there. If not, create your starter using that recipe, then come back in 5 to 10 days. If you'd like to use a different gluten free starter, you may need to use some less starter and more moisture as explained in the substitutions section of the post.
If your starter is active, but hasn't been fed within the last 8 to 10 hours, feed it first according to the instructions in your starter recipe. If you're using the GFOAS starter recipe, discard 1/3 of the volume, mix in 4 fluid ounces bottled water and 70 grams gluten free flour blend without xanthan gum, close the lid loosely, and let it sit for about 2 hours or until bubbling again. Then you're ready to begin.
How to make gluten free sourdough bread (step by step photos)
Once your starter is ready for baking, making the bread dough is quick and easy. Here's how you'll make it in your own kitchen, but for full ingredient amounts, scroll down to the recipe card below:
Whisk dry ingredients
Whisk together the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer (gluten free flour blend including xanthan gum, add tapioca starch, some sugar and salt) to prevent clumping.
Beat in wet
Add the wet ingredients (sourdough starter, milk, and butter) to the bowl of dry ingredients, and beat with the paddle attachment until very well combined. It should stick to the sides of the bowl and take on a somewhat whipped appearance, which means that you've added enough to give it a head start in rising.
Let the dough rise
Transfer the raw bread dough to a prepared loaf pan, and smooth the top. Cover and let rise until it's about 50% bigger than when it started. It won't double, and rising will take at least 3 hours, and often up to 6 hours or more. Sourdough always rises more slowly than commercial yeast since it contains less active yeast than commercial, which is highly concentrated in isolated baker's yeast.
Bake the bread
Cut a 1/4-inch deep slit down the middle of the risen loaf to avoid uneven rise and splitting of the loaf. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes to create “oven spring” or a rapid final release of carbon dioxide by the yeast before they die.
Finish baking at 350°F so the bread doesn't burn before it's finished baking all the way to the center. The internal temperature will be at least 200°F when it's done.
Let cool on a wire rack, then slice the loaf and serve!
Ingredient substitutions
Sourdough starter
This recipe is written to use the flour and water gluten free sourdough starter recipe on this blog, a very wet starter with a a “hydration ratio” of 160%. That means that, for every 1 gram of flour, there are 1.6 grams of water.
To try making this recipe using a different sourdough starter, you only have to rebalance the amount of water to flour in the starter. For example, if your starter has equal parts gluten free flour and water (a 100% hydration ratio), add some water (or more milk) to increase the hydration. Instead of the 165 grams of starter called for in this recipe, try 100 grams of that equal-parts water-and-flour-starter and 65 grams of water in this recipe.
Dairy free
Milk and butter add richness and tenderness to the bread. If you're dairy free, the milk can be replaced with unsweetened and unflavored nondairy milk (my favorite is almond milk). For the butter, try a vegan butter alternative like Melt or Miyoko's Creamery brand or Earth Balance buttery sticks, not oil, which is all fat instead of a combination of fat and moisture, like butter.
Tapioca starch/flour
In place of tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour), you can try using glutinous white rice flour, which also has similar stretchy qualities. You can also make this recipe with 3 1/2 cups (490 grams) all purpose gluten free flour, replacing the tapioca starch/flour with more of your chosen flour blend, but it's a better bread with 3 cups all purpose and added tapioca starch.
Storage instructions
Fresh homemade bread is always best the day it's baked. Once cool, you can wrap this loaf tightly in plastic wrap and it will stay fresh at room temperature for 1 to 2 days.
For longer storage, you can wrap it tightly unsliced, or slice it and place it in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag and freeze the bread for up to 2 months. Remove as much air as possible from the bag, since air creates freezer burn. Defrost the whole loaf to slice if unsliced, or defrost by the slice in the toaster oven.
Refresh bread that's begun to go stale by sprinkling it with lukewarm water and baking in a 300°F oven for about 10 minutes. It will taste fresh as the day it was baked.
Gluten Free Sourdough Bread Recipe
Equipment
- Stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or try pulsing in a food processor)
- Glass jar for starter with loose-fitting or cloth lid
- Nonreactive (no metal) spoon or spatula silicone, plastic, wood all work
Ingredients
- 3 cups (420 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, (See Recipe Notes)
- 3 teaspoons xanthan gum, omit if your blend already contains it
- 9 tablespoons (68 g) tapioca starch/flour
- 2 tablespoons (25 g) granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons (9 g) kosher salt
- ¾ cup (165 g) gluten free wild yeast sourdough starter, fed within previous 12 hours (See Recipe Notes)
- 1 ½ cups (12 fluid ounces) warm milk, (about 95°F), plus more by the tablespoon
- 4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- Melted butter, for brushing on top to help browning (optional)
Instructions
- Grease a standard 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper. Set the pan aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large bowl with a hand mixer fitted with dough hooks, place the all purpose flour, xanthan gum, tapioca starch/flour, granulated sugar, and salt, and mix or whisk to combine well.
- Add the starter, 1 1/2 cups of milk, and the butter, and beat on medium speed to combine. This is a batter-style bread dough, so it won’t resemble traditional bread dough, but rather a soft cookie dough.
- Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat until the dough has taken on a whipped appearance (about 5 minutes). The dough should be tacky to the touch, but should hold its shape when scooped.
- If your dough feels at all dry to the touch, add more milk by the tablespoon, beating it in until well-combined, until the dough reaches the proper consistency.
- Transfer the bread dough to the prepared loaf pan. Using a moistened spatula, press the dough into every corner of the loaf pan and spread the top into an even layer.
- For a more traditional loaf shape, pile the dough a bit more toward the center in a dome.
- Cover the loaf pan with lightly oiled plastic wrap and allow it to rise in a warm, draft-free place until it’s reached about 150% of its original size, at least 4 hours. It will not fully double in volume, and will rise more in the oven than it does raw.
- Even traditional yeast bread dough will take longer to rise properly in colder, drier weather and less time in warmer, more humid weather.
- This wild yeast sourdough bread will take longer to rise than any other, and will depend in part upon the age of your starter.
- This bread dough is much less likely to overproof and take on that pock-marked appearance than bread made with conventional yeast. If you’re unsure about whether the bread has proofed enough, allow it to keep rising.
- When the bread is nearing the end of its rise, preheat your oven to 400°F.
- Remove the plastic wrap and, using a sharp knife or lame, slash the top of the loaf from one short end to the other about 1/4-inch deep.
- Brush the top of the risen loaf generously with melted butter before baking as an optional step to aid the loaf in browning.
- Place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and allow to bake for 30 minutes.
- Reduce the oven temp to 350°F, rotate the pan 180° around, and continue to bake until center of the loaf reads 200°F on an instant read thermometer (about 30 minutes more).
- The crust may not darken as much as you expect, but the loaf should sound hollow when thumped quickly with a finger.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the bread to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.
- To freeze the bread, cool the loaf completely, then slice, wrap tightly and freeze the slices. Defrost as many slices at a time as you need in the toaster.
Video
Notes
- Discard 1/3 of the volume
- Mix in 4 fluid ounces spring or distilled water and 70 grams gum-free gluten free flour or another gluten free flour blend without xanthan gum (Nicole's Best works great) with a stainless steel or wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Avoid aluminum.
- Close the lid loosely
- Let it sit for about 2 hours or until bubbling again
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
FAQs
This recipe is for a batter-style bread, not our bread recipes that call for the more complex gluten free bread flour so it has only one rise. It produces an everyday, but flavorful loaf of bread with a crisp crust and a soft crumb.
This rise takes quite a bit of time. In all of my recipe testing, I'm yet to see a rise that took less than 3 hours, and have even let it rise for 8 hours without overproofing. If you’re unsure about whether or not the bread has proofed enough, allow it to keep rising unless you begin to see pockmarks or uneven holes breaking through the surface.
The dough should rise to about 150% of its original size when it's done proofing. That means that it should be 50% bigger than when it started. Unlike conventional bread, this loaf will not double in size, or rise to 200% its original size.
Yes, since this recipe rises so slowly without overproofing, you can make the dough before bedtime, shape it in the loaf pan, cover the pan, and set it to rise during the night. When you wake up, bake the loaf and enjoy. You can also start the process in the morning, let it rise and bake about an hour before dinnertime.
Try adding 20 grams of psyllium husk powder to the milk and letting it gel first, then adding it when the instructions say to add the milk. You can reduce the xanthan gum called for in the recipe, if you're adding it separately, to 2 teaspoons, but without any xanthan gum, the bread will sink as it cools.
Yes. All yeast bread takes longer to rise in cool, dry environments than in moist, wet environments, but it will rise. Just be sure you've covered the dough as it rises so it doesn't dry out, and be patient while it rises, however long it takes.
I have a regular sourdough starter and have made things with it. My question is this: can I use my starter and then add GF flour to make things like focaccia bread and pizza dough? I can’t find info on adding GF all-purpose flour to a regular sourdough starter. What are your thoughts please?
I absolutely do not recommend that at all, Sue. I cannot provide you with anything approaching medical advice, but anything made with conventional gluten-containing flour is not gluten free by any measure. I would never take that chance for my son, and I don’t recommend you do that either.
I just baked this this morning, struggled to let it cool completely before slicing into it, but it was soooo worth the wait! No sign of a rise after a few hours yesterday so I actually let it rise overnight and it almost doubled. I’m in the UK and use Doves Farm GF bread flour which has gum and tapioca flour already in the mix. I’ll try another loaf tomorrow to check it’s not just beginners luck! Really delicious recipe, thank you!
It’s not beginner’s luck, Chloe! It’s the patience of a saint. That’s the secret to baking with a wild yeast sourdough starter. Well done!! I’ve heard nothing but good things about Dove’s Farm flour, and wish I could try it! Years ago I asked them if they wanted to send me some since it’s not available for purchase in the U.S., and they declined.?♀️
Is it possible to make this bread in a bread machine?
I don’t use or recommend use of a bread machine, Diane. They vary so significantly from brand to brand that instructions for one brand will not work for another.
I have the same problem as Nicole above. I can tell there is promise. There are holes in the bread, there is a lovely crust. Using a thermometer I took the bread out after approximately 90 minutes at 200F in the middle. The bread is still doughy. I only have a hand mixer, no bread paddles. People made bread before mixers. What to do??
Sharon, yes, people certainly made bread before mixers, but this is gluten free yeast bread, and it’s quite different than conventional bread-baking. It sounds like you took it out too soon, since it must sound hollow when thumped on the underside, as directed in the recipe. You also may not have let it rise long enough in the first instance, overmeasured liquid, or undermeasured flour. I’m afraid I just don’t know, without being there.
Hi Nicole. Just wanted to say thanks so much for this recipe. I’ve made it twice now with my sorghum + teff starter and it’s been great both times. For anyone in the U.K. I’ve been using Doves Farm plain gf flour in place of the the Better Batter and tapioca starch. Proofing took ages (7 hours the first loaf and 5.5 hours on the second) but it did get to 150%. I found that it didn’t rise much more in the oven but I haven’t had the gummy texture issue a few folk were mentioning so I am happy! I’ve also been making crackers out of the discard to reduce waste. Thanks again!
Thank you for letting us know that Dove’s Farm plain flour worked well for you. From everything I’ve heard, it’s an appropriate replacement for Better Batter, which is great. And yes, the proofing does take a long, long (long) time. Your lived experience will help others be brave!
Hi Nicole!
Just wanted to let you know that I substituted your yeast bread flour blend and it turned out great! It also had a lovely browned crust. I didn’t use any additional yeast, but I did put the loaf into a warm humid microwave to raise. Will definitely be making more sourdough bread in the future.
Your sourdough starter instructions were so well done and easy to follow!! Turned out perfectly. Being in Sudbury, Ontario, we unfortunately don’t have the flour blend that you recommended .Made this loaf with PC GF all purpose flour and it worked beautifully. Thank you for making this Covid time a more tasty learning journey!!
That’s so awesome, Kim! Thank you for reporting back with your results. There is something so empowering about making a loaf of wild yeast sourdough bread, isn’t there?
Hey! I tried making this with my bubbly, active starter, and it just didn’t rise properly. I even left it overnight after waiting 8 hours and nothing. I am following the recipe exactly, the ONLY difference is that I don’t have a mixture (a stand mixer OR a handheld) so I am mixing/kneading by hand. Could the mixing process be whats stopping it from rising properly? I am admittedly not that experienced with kneading dough. I am fairly certain its not my starter, which seems healthy. I also had a similar problem making yeast bread, again with mixing by hand and not with a mixer. Thanks in advance with answering this! Other than the bread loaf recipes (I ordered your books and I am eagerly awaiting their arrival) every other recipe I’ve tried on your website has been AMAZING. I am obsessively mixing all your flour blends, my partner is so shocked that I am suddenly making empanadas and the 2 ingredient dough rolls and bagels and such. She’s thrilled lol. Anyway, thank you!!
It sounds like you’ve been super busy, Kimberly, in a very good way! I’m afraid you really do need some sort of mixer, at least in my experience. Do you have a food processor? I haven’t tried that, but it might help. I’m sorry that I don’t have any other suggestions!
It. Worked. Perfectly.
The step-by-step starter instructions (and Q&A from readers) helped alot for a newbie.
Baked this recipe today with a Day 6 starter. Added a little instant yeast to help as per your tip. Started in the morning as per your advice and it was ready for the oven before dinner time. Such priceless advice.
Our kid was and still is super happy.
His first reaction, “Mama, I have missed this kind of bread”.
Thank you Nicole.
Aw, Samantha, that comment from your son is truly priceless. You can’t buy that sort of satisfaction—for mom or child! I’m so glad you did well. Thank you for letting me have a peek inside that happiness.
I was so excited for this, and have followed the recipes meticulously. We tried the bread on day 6, and it turned out a little dense so i figured it was because the starter wasn’t mature enough. Tried again today, day 9, and same result! It definitely rose more during the 8 hour rise than the last time, but it’s heavy, dense and just a little gummy. I was expecting it to rise more, like yours, and look more like sandwich bread. I’ve done gluten based starters before which worked great, so I thought the transition to gluten free sourdough starter wouldn’t be much different. The starter looks healthy and bubbly as I expected, smells yeasty, sour and a little sweet. I’ve relooked a the steps a million times with my husband, and can’t figure out what’s wrong. I miss eating good bread so much :(
It sounds like your starter is nice and active, so the issue that is happening is later in the process. Are you making substitutions, especially in flour blend? You cannot use anything other than the blends that I recommend. King Arthur Flour, Bob’s Red Mill, blends will simply not work. Are you measuring by volume instead of by weight? And where are you setting the bread to rise, and are you baking the bread until it sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom?