Gluten Free Sourdough Bread

I never know where the tanginess in the sourdough bread came from. It just never crossed my mind. I thought it's just one of a characteristic of sourdough bread that's why it's called "sour"dough.😀

I became more serious in gluten free diet a couple of months ago. Ever since I have been searching for different type of gluten free bread. Something that I could actually enjoy. Recently I happened to come across a video on YouTube showing a gluten free bread without using yeast. But instead using some sourdough starter. What ?!

That video was like an eye opener to a different type of bread that I never thought of before. And even better sourdough is supposed to be easier for our digestion. Because the fermentation process yield bacteria that helps predigest the carbs so it's easier for our guts later on.

There are so many blogs and also videos talking about how to start your own sourdough starter. But looking at the amount of materials involved I was a bit worry about doing it. Not until I found another article by Chantal of Fresh Is Real. See the posting here about starting a smaller portion sourdough starter.

Check out her posting and give it a try. It's not as scary as it sounds. And 7-8 days commitment is so worth it ! I finally made my first (gluten free) sourdough bread and it will be easily my go to recipe from now on.

Below recipe was inspired by another video on YouTube. I liked the combination of flour used so I decided to use it though I made by bread using a loaf pan instead of in a dutch oven (I don't have one !)

Ingredients :

200 gr sourdough starter

65 gr buckwheat flour

35 gr arrowroot starch

25 gr sorghum flour

25 gr bajra (fox millet) flour

1 tbs ground psyllium husk 

1 tbs ground flax seed

1/2 ts pink himalayan salt

2 tbs maple syrup

1 tbs coconut oil

200-250 gr water

Putting Together :

Mix 100 gr of water with 1 tbs ground psyllium husk and 1 tbs ground flax seed. Set aside for at least 10 minutes until it gelled up.

In a bigger mixing bowl, put together all the dry ingredients, maple syrup, coconut oil and the gelled up mixture of ground flax seed and psyllium husk. Add about 100 gr water. Use a spatula to mix this combination. 

The end product of the mixture should be the consistency of brownie batter - thicker than pancake batter. But not as thick as a dough. Depends on the combination of flour you use, the amount of water needed may be different. So use that as a guideline. With my combination, I think it was about 230 gr of water (in total - including the 100 gr used with psyllium husk and flax seed),

Transfer the mixture into a loaf pan that has been lined with parchment paper. I used a 9X5 loaf pan. But realized later on that my mixture was way less than that so it didn't even cover half of the loaf. Next time I'll use a small loaf pan.

Set the loaf pan in a warmer area. I put mine in a closed off oven (do not turn on the oven!) I put a bowl of hot water to keep the area warm and moist. It took about 5.5 hour for the mixture to rise.