Adventures in Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread baking (pt 2)

A few weeks back I posted about my desire to conquer gluten-free sourdough bread baking.

That day I set out my first batch of sourdough starter and the following week attempted my first loaf of bread. I wanted to go traditional so that first batch consisted of the starter, gluten-free flour, salt, eggs. Um, no. lol. Not unless my goal was to create bread bricks for building purposes.

After feeding the starter and setting it aside, I let the colonies in there bubble away while I thought about my next loaf.

I decided that I needed to do two things this time – break with tradition and add a packet of yeast and use less flour so the starter and yeast could give the dough a better rise.

So it was with great excitement as I viewed the rise of the sponge as it did its thing in a warm oven. A bit more flour, salt and a few eggs later and it was back in the oven to rise before baking.

This time – success. Not nearly as heavy as the previous loaf and with a more pronounced sourdough tang. This came out of the oven just as we sat down to eat home fries and bbq chicken so I was able to try it out on my family. One of my sisters and her husband were here and she gobbled down her fair share. At one point I asked her if she thought it has enough sourdough flavor and she looked at me and responded with a very sarcastic… “this reminds me of something. What is it? Oh, I know. sourdough bread.” Haha. Guess that answered my question.

This loaf has a nice texture, is soft and a bit dense. Think rustic sourdough. Sister commented that she could barely tell it was gluten-free and that it would be *perfect* with cheese fondue. Good thing to know since I’m making fondue this weekend.

Unfortunately, I did not really measure when I made this loaf. That being said, I think that it’s not really necessary. This is more about using your hands and going by feel. Adding flour until things feel right. This might take some practice but I’m not master bread baker and if I can do this, so can you.

Creating a sourdough starter
start this a good 3+ days before you want to make your bread

2 cups gluten-free flour
2 cups warm water

Mix flour and water together until smooth and well-blended. Place in sterile glass container – I like to use wide mouth quart jars. I have a plethora of these for canning purposes and they are super handy.

After pouring into jar, cap with plastic wrap and the outer ring. You don’t want this sealed shut. Set the jar in a warm place (I keep mine in the laundry room. it’s a small, closed room and warmer than the rest of the house, especially when the dryer is running.)

Once a day, you’ll want to remove approx 1 cup of the starter and discard it, replacing with another 1 cup water/1 cup gluten-free flour blend.

After 3 or more days, the starter should be smelling tangy and yeasty and you should be seeing some bubbles. Maybe it’s separated and there is some “water” in there. That’s fine! Give it a stir. Don’t be drinking this… yurgh.

The longer this is allowed to “sour”, the better the end result will be. Patience is like the third ingredient here…

Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread
this will make one round loaf, approx 1.5 pounds

2 cups sourdough starter
gluten-free flour
salt
1 cup warm water
1 Tbl yeast (or 1 packet)
3 eggs

Measure sourdough starter into a good size mixing bowl. Add 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of warm water and the yeast and mix well. Set aside in warm oven or area and cover with a towel. Let rest an hour or so. This should rise up and develop some nice bubbles throughout.

Remove towel and add 2 eggs, salt, and enough flour (1/2 cup at a time) until the dough is thick and *just* holds it shape. You only want enough flour to maintain the shape of the loaf – no more. Adding too much flour will result in a heavy brick. Remove small pieces of the dough as you’re adding flour and see if it will maintain a shape. Once it does, you’re good to go.

Grease a pie plate or round cake pan. Scrape dough into prepared dish and shape into rounded loaf. Cover with wax paper and a towel (wax paper keeps the dough from sticking to the towel) and set in warm over to rise. Approx 30-45 minutes. Loaf should rise up a bit.

Remove from oven and set to 350F. In small bowl, beat remaining egg with a few tablespoons of water. Brush on top of loaf – this will help it to brown. Return to oven and bake 40-45 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. If using a clear pie plate, you’ll be able to see if it’s browning underneath. Give it a nice push and see how it feels. If not sure, bake at 5 minute increments until it reaches desired doneness. Mine went for 45 minutes.

Let cool a few minutes and then slice and serve. We enjoyed ours with butter and honey. Yummers!

You should have some leftover starter left. Perfect! Feed it again (1 cup gluten-free flour/1 cup warm water), cover and place in frig. It’ll keep in there for a very long time. If you remember, pull it out and remove a cup or so and feed every few days or week. This can be used in biscuits, pancakes, and more!

I’ll be creating this again and next time I’ll make an attempt to record exact measurements. Unfortunately, I am not a by-the-book baker so I typically remember after the fact that I was supposed to be keeping track of how much of a specific ingredient I was using. Whoops. lol.