For the past couple months, I’ve attempted to make the perfect gluten free sourdough loaf. This all started after I ordered an amazing loaf from BreadSRSLY that didn’t taste gluten free! The only thing I didn’t like was the price tag, $11 per loaf! That is not in my budget, so I decided to attempt to make it myself. After checking out BreadSRSLY’s website, I noticed they had a blog section. Lo and behold, there was a recipe for their sourdough. I was excited to make it!
First, I ordered a brown rice sourdough starter from Cultures for Health and anxiously waited for it to arrive. After getting the starter, I followed the instructions for activating. In the meantime, I headed out to buy each type of flour BreadSRSLY uses. These flours are quite expensive, so now I understood why their loaves are $11. Even after the expense of the flours, learning to make it myself will save money!
My first attempt tasted okay but I made the amateur mistake of using a glass bread pan, and DID NOT grease it! It was almost impossible to remove it from the pan. I picked the husband’s brain about bread making (years ago, he worked at a bakery). He suggested I hand shape my loaf, and bake it on a cookie sheet. That loaf was much easier to cut. I had tweaked the recipe slightly, and added coconut oil, that made it to moist inside. After that disappointing try, I put the starter in the fridge, and let it rest. I did some more research on bread making, hoping it would improve my next attempt.
Last week, I was inspired to try again, so I reactivated the starter. I followed the BreadSRSLY recipe exactly. I decided to go back to using my glass bread pan, but this time I lined it with parchment paper. With these changes, it was my best loaf yet! It had a nice crust, and wasn’t too moist inside. The only issue with this loaf is that it was short, only about 3 inches tall! This short loaf still tasted good, however, making a sandwich might not work. I read gluten free loaves don’t rise as much as those with gluten.
After getting more tips from the husband, I think the loaf currently in the oven will be my best yet! He suggested proofing the loaf in the bread pan that I’ll be using for baking. DUH! This seemed so obvious, but something I never would have thought of. He also suggested letting it proof longer because it might it rise higher.
Hopefully, these changes will help this loaf rise more. This current loaf proofed about 18 hours, compared to 12 hours during my last attempt. Another tip from my husband, was to scored the bread, to help it rise. I scored the loaf, and put it in the oven!
Right now, it smells so good, I can’t wait to pull it out of the oven! I’ll soon enjoy a piece with butter, and my homemade peach jam!
Here’s the ingredient list that I used from Bread Srsly, it’s a bit difficult to find on their blog.
- 1/2 cup of millet flour
- 1/2 cup sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup arrowroot
- 1/2 cup of white or brown rice flour
- 1 1/2 tsp of salt
- 2 tsp of xanthan gum
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter
- Water by feel, I found that 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cups gave my bread the consistency I liked
Share your tips for gluten free sourdough, especially if you get it to rise nicely. I need the help!
Honeychick Homestead 