No daily feedings or discard? That’s right! This Easy Gluten Free Sourdough Starter will have you in the sourdough game in no time.
Some of the items linked in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission.
I was always so scared to start a sourdough starter and make sourdough bread. The way it sounded to me was so confusing and way too much work. Like you had to have all conditions exactly right. No tap water. No metal utensils. A big enough jar to handle overflow and lots and lots of discarding and feeding. Every day. Sometimes twice a day. At least that’s what I thought originally, and some of those “rules” stuck with me when I made my first sourdough starter and bread (such as twice a day feedings and discardings).
But I often found myself forgetting to feed my starter and it’d eventually die. So when I found a different way for beginning and maintaining a sourdough starter, I was absolutely thrilled to test it out and see how it would work in the gluten free bread baking world. And that’s why I’m here now, telling you all about it, because it worked SO well that there was no way I was NOT gonna share it with you!
This method is not my own creation, so I need to give credit where credit is due. The brain child for this fabulous sourdough starter is the “Sourdough Whisperer” herself, Elaine Boddy. In her book (affiliate link), she explains that there is no need for keeping an overload of starter because it will almost grow into a beast, requiring to be fed all the time. If you keep a minimal amount of starter, you only need to feed it a minimal amount of flour and water, and not that often either. So I took her teachings and applied them to my own gluten free practices and here we are. You truly won’t believe how easy it is to maintain this starter (in the fridge!) and feed it only when you need it. Let’s dive right in!!
here's what you'll need
- A medium bowl
- A small jar for storing starter, preferably one with a wide lid
- Gluten free flour (NOT a blend). I’ll explain more on this later.
- Water
THE SIMPLE METHOD FOR creating your SOURDOUGH STARTER
Fun fact about me--I used to brew my own kombucha. I was good at it, too, and it was incredibly cheap to make! I used to make different wonderful flavors, like lavender lemon, tangerine, and chai just to name a few. This was when kombucha first came on the scene and no one really knew what it was. Now, you're probably wondering, "why in the heck is she telling me this?" "Who cares?" I actually DO have a relatable reason. It's the way I "got" the whole sourdough starter thing. Kombucha uses a SCOBY, which is a Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast. It is required for the fermentation of kombucha, which is just sweet tea that's been fermented.
Sourdough starter is basically the same concept. It's simply a mixture of flour and water that grabs the wild yeast in the environment and flour to create a live fermented culture. Sourdough starter takes the place of store bought yeast in bread baking.
To make a gluten free version of a sourdough starter isn't really any different, other than the types of flours you use. And in my experimenting, I've found that there is a WIDE range of flours that can be used in making a gluten free sourdough starter. Of note, there won't be the same kind of stretch in this gluten free sourdough starter as there is in a regular (gluten/wheat) starter. In fact, sometimes the top of the starter looks like cracked leather a little bit, and in order to see the bubbles you may need to agitate the jar (or even stir it gently).
- In a medium bowl, add 50 grams of brown rice flour (or your gf flour of choice--see below) and 60 grams of water. Stir until well combined. It should look like a thick pancake batter. Cover loosely and leave on the counter for 24 hours. I use a paper plate to cover my bowl.
- The next day, feed the starter with 30 grams of your gf flour of choice and 40 grams of water. Cover loosely and leave for 24 hours.
- Continue this method until you get to day 5.
- On day 5, remove the cover and discard roughly half of the starter and feed again with 30 grams of your gf flour of choice and 40 grams of water.
- Day 6, do not discard anything and feed with 30 grams of your gf flour of choice and 40 grams of water.
- Day 7, discard half and then feed as per usual.
- Day 8, feed as per usual.
- Day 9, discard half and feed as per usual.
- Day 10, look for signs of plenty of bubbles, expansion of the starter, and a sour smell in the bowl. If you don't see these signs, continue with the status quo until you do see them. If you DO see these signs, you can now put it in a wide-mouthed jar (affiliate link) with a tight fitting lid and place it in the fridge, where it will stay until you’re ready to use it.
Rather Watch?
What Flours are Okay to Use?
From what I've researched about sourdough starters, the best flour type to begin with is a wholegrain variety. Here are some examples:
- Sorghum (affiliate link)
- Teff (affiliate link)
- Millet (affiliate link)
- Amaranth (affiliate link)
- Buckwheat (affiliate link)
- Brown rice (affiliate link)
You can also use a combination of any of the above to start your starter. I would NOT suggest using anything other than the above flours for the first few days, until you begin to see activity. Then, if you want, you can add half of the flour you started with and half white or sweet rice flour. The sweet rice flour offers a very slight stretch to the starter that you wouldn't normally have.
When I made my first starter, I used sorghum because I had a bag of it sitting in my freezer just waiting to be used. Then I ran out and needed to feed it with something else, so I used brown rice flour. Not too long ago I bought several bags of Bob's Red Mill wholegrain flours, almost every single one listed above. I stashed them in my freezer for a rainy day. So I've pretty much been experimenting with all kinds of wholegrain flours and teff flour was bubbling within 2 days!
SOURDOUGH STARTER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
No, you absolutely do not need to feed your starter daily! If you aren’t making bread on a daily basis, store the starter in the fridge until you’re ready to make bread again. Only feed it when you need it.
While most people state to use filtered water, my experience is that tap water works just fine. If you feel your tap water is heavy in chlorine, you can fill a container with tap water and leave it on the counter overnight. The chlorine will dissipate as the water sits.
Liquid on top of a sourdough starter is called “hooch.” It’s a byproduct of the fermentation process and indicates your starter is hungry. You can either stir it back into your starter when feeding or pour it out before feeding.
Tips, Tricks, and Rules to Break
- If you stir your starter with a metal spoon, it's not going to die. I know this because for the longest time I used a metal spoon and had the liveliest starter ever. The only reason I switched to a silicone spatula is because it was easier to scrape the sides of the container and I wanted it to look a little neater.
- Shocker--you can actually use tap water!! Again, I know this from experience. I've never used anything other than tap water. Maybe my tap water isn't filled with tons of chlorine, but I've never had a problem with it. If yours is, by all means use bottled or filtered water. Or pour your tap water into an open container and let it sit on the counter overnight.
- If you plan on baking gluten free sourdough often, just keep your starter on the counter and feed it at least once a day. If you don't plan on baking as often, you can store your starter in the refrigerator and feed it once a week.
What Size Jar Do I Need?
Elaine from Sourdough Whisperer recommends going with a smaller jar because you really don't need to keep large quantities of starter at any given time. I personally like these 16-oz wide-mouth jars (affiliate link), but use what you have. You don't need to go out and buy any jars, but especially not ginormous ones!
Don't be intimidated about making (capturing) your own natural yeast. It's so much easier than you might think and the rules CAN be broken. Start your gluten free sourdough starter today and by next week you should be ready to bake my gluten free sourdough bread!!
Gluten Free Sourdough Starter
Ingredients
- wholegrain flour, at least 290 grams (options: sorghum, buckwheat, brown rice, amaranth, teff, millet, quinoa
- water
Instructions
- Day 1--In a clean glass or ceramic bowl, add 50 grams of the wholegrain flour of your choice and 60 grams of water. Stir the mixture. If it's super thick and not like a thick pancake batter, you can add another 10 grams of water.
- Loosely cover the bowl (I like to use a paper plate) and leave it to sit on your counter for 24 hours.
- Day 2--Add 30 grams of wholegrain flour and 40 of water to what's already in the bowl and stir to combine.
- Loosely cover the bowl and leave it on your counter for 24 hours.
- Day 3 and 4--Continue with the previous day's feeding (30 grams of wholegrain flour and 40 grams of water) for both days. Loosely cover the bowl and leave it on your counter for 24 hours each day.
- Days 5--Remove the cover, discard roughly half the starter (no need to measure), and feed the starter as per usual (30 grams of flour and 40 grams of water). Loosely cover the bowl and leave it for 24 hours.
- Day 6--Remove the cover and feed with 30 grams of flour and 40 grams of water (do not discard). Cover loosely and leave for 24 hours.
- Day 7--Remove the cover, discard roughly half the starter, and feed with 30 grams of flour and 40 grams of water. Cover loosely and leave for 24 hours.
- Day 8--Remove the cover and feed with 30 grams of flour and 40 grams of water (no discard). Cover loosely and leave for 24 hours.
- Day 9--Remove the cover, discard half, and feed with 30 grams of flour and 40 grams of water. Cover loosely and leave for 24 hours.
- Day 10--By now, your starter should look very bubbly and have a sour aroma to it (in a good way). Spoon it into a wide-mouthed jar with a tight fitting lid and place the jar in the refrigerator until you're ready to bake with it.
Notes
Gluten Free Sourdough Starter was originally posted on June 9, 2020 and has been updated with an entirely new method for creating and maintaining the starter, as well as new pics and a video.
Faryn Sand says
Hi, I am trying to make a starter using brown rice flour, and followed your exact measurements by converting to cups (since I don't have a scale), and something isn't right. If I only use 40 g water (1/4 cup) to 30g flour (1/2 cup), it is totally not enough water at all--it's just crumbly, nowhere near like a thick pancake batter consistency. What am I missing here? Thanks!
Kim says
Unfortunately, my suggestion will be to get a scale. For instance, how fine is your brown rice flour? If it's superfine, it will weigh differently than something like Bob's Red Mill. Also, water usually measures at 60g per every 1/4 cup and 30g seems very low for 1/2 cup of rice flour (something more like 70g per 1/2 cup is more reasonable). So again, a scale is really the only way to go. They are so cheap, there's no reason not to get one. I got all three of mine from my local Lidl for probably $6 a piece.
DD says
I think the math is wrong. 40g water is more that 30g flour, but then 1/4 cup water is less than 1/2 flour, so the cup conversion might be switched
Anna Brooks says
Hi Kim! My starter is thriving and I’ve made a couple loaves now that were GREAT! Including one I took to Thanksgiving last week and wildly impressed my gluten eating family! Still learning the rhythm and my starter’s “personality” and this and your bread recipe post have been so helpful! Does it matter when in relation to feeding my starter I put her in the fridge?
Karen says
Kim, your instructions seem to indicate you use the whole starter for a loaf. But I thought the starter has a shelf life in the fridge? How much do you actually need to make a loaf?
Kim says
It's actually 60 grams and it is listed within the recipe, but I have to admit that it does seem a bit confusing the way I worded it. I'm going back now and will try to word it so that it makes more sense. Thank you!
Kim says
Not really. I keep mine in the fridge, where it will keep until you're ready to use it again (and feed it). If it's active and you're not ready to use it just yet, pop it in the fridge, where it will keep for actually a week or more, until you're ready!
Lynda K says
I have a GF starter I started with millet flour. It definitely isn’t smooth like pancake batter, more like a cottage or ricotta cheese. It still works, at least I’ve used it and made bread -it may not be the perfect loaf but it sure is good!! Just for the heck of it I added more water and stirred really good, it still seperates and I’m wondering if I’ve missed doing something
Lynda K says
I meant to say that I used your sourdough starter recipe
Victorianna says
Hi Kim!
I’m on Day 7 and I see some slight bubbling. I have to keep pouring off the hooch every couple of hours though. I started feeding it every 12 hours instead and now it seems to be doing a little better. If I’m feeding it twice a day, do I need to do something different? Adjust the measurements maybe? And why so much hooch?
I’m using organic brown rice flour and local spring water for reference. 30g and 40g respectively. Thank you for the help!!
Marcella says
I’m trying to get a starter going, and I think I followed the directions correctly., but not sure if things are going well. I used only brown rice flour for the entire 10 days. The whole thing took on an orange tint on about day 7, got very thick, and I’m afraid it might be mold. We have something in this area of CA called pink mold which makes a pink ring in water like the toilet or dog bowl, and I wonder if that’s what turned it orange. On day 10 I put it in a jar in the fridge. I took it out to make bread, but fed it with buckwheat flour that time and it barely rose during the 10 hours at room temperature. I have transferred it to a bowl like before to continue feeding it, but now I’’m not sure it’s safe. I’m wondering if I could just purchase a gf starter, but I guess it would probably still pick up that mold if that’s what’s going on. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Ashley says
Try using only bottled or filtered water if theres ANY chlorine or other similar chemicals in your tap water you chance it killing your starter as chlorines job is to “prevent” bacteria and may cause a bad bacteria to form instead
Connie says
Kim, I am anxious to try your recipe as I have been trying other recipes for the past month, without success. My question is the list of your GF all purpose flour blend. I'm mainly making this for my daughter and she is extremely allergic to dairy. How important is it to add 98 grams nonfat dry milk powder. She definitely can't have that ingredient. Can I just leave it out?
Thanks, Connie
Kim says
Everything serves a purpose or I wouldn't put it in the mix, but that being said, on all of my flour blend pages there are paragraphs within the post listing substitution suggestions so please go through those and see what can be substituted/etc. Of note, the sourdough and any other bread recipe uses my BREAD flour blend, not my all purpose blend.
Doreen says
I'm on my second try at making the Starter and the same thing is happening again. The first 2 days the Starter is growing and bubbling like crazy then on day 3 it ceases to do anything. It just sits there. I'm following your instructions exactly. With the 1st batch I went to the 8th day of instructions with nothing happening then threw it out and started the 2nd busing a combination of organic brown rice flour and organic sorghum flour with distilled water. It is warm where I live also. I don't want to give up but I don't know what to do.
Doreen says
I'm on my second try at making the Starter and the same thing is happening again. The first 2 days the Starter is growing and bubbling like crazy then on day 3 it ceases to do anything. It just sits there. I'm following your instructions exactly. With the 1st batch I went to the 8th day of instructions with nothing happening then threw it out and started the 2nd batch.. I'm using a combination of organic brown rice flour and organic sorghum flour with distilled water. It is warm where I live also. I don't want to give up but I don't know what to do. Please help
Kim says
Sometimes it just takes more time. I would continue alternating discarding and feeding every other day as described, even if it takes to day 14 or more. No two sourdough starters are exactly alike and some take less time than others, some take much longer. Don't give up yet. I have total faith it will happen by just giving it more time.
Caro says
I'm on week 3 and it's not bubbling yet :/ Would feeding it twice a day help? Or should I throw this batch out and start over?
Valerie says
How's it been going, Doreen? Mine is very slow as well. I get bubbles, but no rise.
Kim, I left a comment on one of your videos recently. I've been feeding every other day, as prescribed, for a month. I have also tried troubleshooting with buckwheat when there is hooch. I could use some insight, please.
Jan says
Kim, you are a ROCK STAR! Thank you for all of your hard work; you are so kind to share it ! I have started with the sourdough "starter" and used sorghum flour. I am now on day 8. I have never had any liquid or hooch. It looks like a paste, and it's not bubbly. It is the farthest thing from thick pancake batter that one could get. It has the sour smell but not the other attributes. What do you think is going on? Should I start over with a different flour?
Thank you, my friend!
Kim says
Nope, I would just keep going. Different climates take longer or shorter. If you've got the sour smell, you're heading in the right direction!
Guadalupe sanchez says
Hey Kim
I'm on day 1 of my starter and there are pink blotches on it. I read online that that means it went bad. Is it because the climate in my house is to hot?
Im using the brown rice flour for it.
Valerie says
Silly question I know. What am I suppose to do with the discarded ? Toss it? Make more starter?
Helen says
Big fan of your recipes! 2 Questions on using the starter- once you have a successful starter in the fridge , do you need to feed it weekly? Second. Once you use it to make your amazing bread, how do you feed it to get it back to be ready to put in the fridge for next use. Thanks. H
Kim says
Hi, Helen! You do not need to feed it regularly. When I feed it and use it in my recipe, I put the lid on and put it right back in the fridge as is. It stays in there until the next time I make bread and I do absolutely nothing with it until then. I once left the starter in there for literally months and when I finally got around to baking sourdough again, I pulled it out, fed it, and repeated the same process. It worked beautifully!!!!
Pamela Price says
Kim- my starter is going nuts !!!! A loaf of your artisan bread is baking now.
I’ve got so much starter I was hoping you have several more ideas if what to do with this monster I’ve created🥴😳🤣🤪
Pamela
Kim says
Ha! That's a great problem to have I guess!!
You could try making any of the other bread recipes using the starter versus yeast. I explain how to do that in my sourdough bread recipe 😍
Lynn Groom says
This worked like a charm. Bless you.
Nicole Shaw says
I've been so excited to do this but something is not going right. After watching your video on making the bread, I noticed that your starter was gooey, while mine is consistently rising/falling and bubbly after 25 days it isn't gooey or creamy like I saw yours. I've been faithfully feeding it by 1/3 discard, 50 grams sorghum or fine white rice flour + 50ish grams of water every 12 hours. What am I doing wrong? I tried, at about 15 days to make bread following the recipe with your prescribed bread 'flour' and got a lump of concrete dough, it never rose. Argh..I would love some help figuring out what I am doing wrong? My daughter and son are now 15 months GF with a Celiac's diagnosis and she is so craving 'real bread' my heart aches for her. Thank you so much! ~ Nikki
Kim says
I'm here to help, Nikki! First off, I'll ask if you substituted anything within the flour blend itself, such as using a different rice flour instead of the superfine rice flour, or a different protein instead of the whey protein isolate. Can you send me a pic of your starter? My email is [email protected]. We can go from there and see what else could be wrong. Also, if you want to try something that uses yeast and not a sourdough starter, try my regular gf artisan bread. It's easy and is a wonderful loaf that everyone really enjoys. Another is my gf Italian bread, which is a little more enriched with some butter and milk, but is one of my favorite breads I make.
Sven Van de Casteele says
Hello,
I am allready trying to get my starter going for more than 10 days and the problem is that every time when i feed it now, it rises 1-2 centimeters in the first 2 hours but after that it falls and doesnt rise more. Any tips? In the beginning the starter was very active rising more, in my impression. I started with brown rice four andnow feeding with white rice flour. Thanks!
Kim says
It might be the cold that's causing the problems, but I would also try a more hearty grain, such as buckwheat or teff, to bring it back to life. Once it's rising more, then you could switch back to white rice flour.
Judy D. says
Do you HAVE to discard some of the starter if you have a big enough container & plan on making a few loaves?
Kim says
Nope, you certainly don't have to discard all of it. Eventually, if you don't discard some of it, it will just continue to multiply and outgrow its container, no matter how large the container is, however. But it's not necessary to discard all of it.
Judy Deckling says
Hello,
I just started my 1st batch a few minutes ago. I used sorghum flour. My question is, can I use masa harina (corn flour) as a partial addition down the road when I'm feeding my batch?
I am not celiac but I do follow an autoimmune protocol due to being diagnosed with MS and since cutting out all gluten & dairy 5 years ago, I haven't suffered a flare since and I'm keeping my symptoms in check fairly well.
Looking forward to making this recipe as I really miss having sourdough bread.
Kim says
That's a good question! I honestly have never tried masa harina in it before, but I'm hopeful that it would work if you want to give it a go 🙂
Sasha Kay says
I'm sure someone has asked this but I cannot seem to find the answer. which flours can I use for feeding the starter? I seem to remember brown rice, sorghum, teff ....
Kim says
Yep, any of those will work. Check out the section "Flours for Feeding" in the sourdough starter post and you'll see what I used 3 different times and got great results every time 🙂
Helen says
Hi Judy, I am on day 7 of making the sour dough starter, it's my first attempt with gluten free organic Teff flour and so far it seems to be going well.
It's chilly on my kitchen worktop here in the UK but that doesn't seem to have held my starter back.
Today my kitchen has a slight sour sweet aroma.
Hannah Bridge says
Hi, a few questions I’m afraid!
I have a regular starter that works well, I want to go gluten free because of a thyroid problem not celiac. If I start replacing the feeds with one of the approved gluten free flours from your list will the gluten slowly get less and less or is it something that continues to multiply and exist?
And,
Does the float test work/apply with your gluten free starter. I find this so helpful when making a normal sourdough loaf.
Many thanks and sorry to be difficult!
Xx
Kim says
You're not difficult! That's what I'm here for! Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to your question about using your own starter. If you were Celiac or gluten intolerant, I would probably say start over. I personally wouldn't trust anything that started with any kind of gluten in it already.
To answer your second question, I believe I tried the float test the first time I made my starter and it didn't work so I wouldn't go by that test. I wish gluten free had helpful things like that to determine readiness, but the only thing that I've ever used to determine it is when it's predictably rising and falling after feedings.
I wish you much luck in your gluten free baking endeavors, and hope that you are able to find something on my site that suits your needs 🙂
William Herbert says
Hannah—have you or are you trying what you asked about? I want to try the same, to “convert” my healthy gluten full starter to GF. Since I’m not worried about Celiac, a bit of gluten that diminishes with each batch doesn’t bother me. Looking forward to your reply [please].
Catherine Aberle says
Hi Kim. Thank you so much for all your great recipes. At what point can the starter be used to make loaf of bread?
Kim says
Whenever it's predictably rising and falling. I apologize for not having the link to my sourdough bread on this post, but I'm putting it on there right now 🙂