Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter (Grain-free Option)
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If you love sourdough like I do, but you’ve gone on a gluten-free diet, I have some great news for you. Yes, you can make gluten-free sourdough from this Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter and there are no special ingredients to buy!
And that’s not all: you can make a grain-free sourdough starter too. Read on to get all of the sourdough-loving life-changing info you’ve been waiting for.
I’m convinced that gluten is a big health concern for many, but I still love good bread. And while this flax bread is super tasty, there’s just nothing like a good sourdough.
We LOVE the tangy flavor of sourdough, and since there are so many people who can’t tolerate gluten, I’ve been meaning to try my hand at making gluten-free sourdough bread. I am now that much closer to my goal!
In order to prepare myself for this post, I wanted to put myself in the shoes of someone who is gluten-free.
When most people think “gluten-free,” they think that bread is no longer an option–particularly breads like sourdough.
So in order to be able to empathize with them in their struggle to balance nutrition with their allergies or intolerance… I did some “research.”
Basically, I wanted to think about what it would be like to be gluten-free.
And bread-free.
So I ate bread.
Homemade bread.
Two pieces, actually.
With a lot of butter.
And I realized how much I would miss it if I weren’t able to eat bread like this on a regular basis.
I’m not trying to rub it in anyone’s face – quite the contrary! I know how fortunate my family is to be able to eat whatever we want without breaking out in hives or keeling over in digestive pain.
It saddens me to imagine what it would be like to:
– not be able to walk into my kitchen and slice off a piece of bread whenever I want
– request the waiter to remove the basket of bread instead of refilling it
– worry about being sick for days because someone accidentally contaminated a cooking spoon!
I think I can understand your pain.
That’s why it truly brings me joy to share with you a way to have your cake–er, bread–and eat it too.
Gluten-free sourdough, baby. Oh yeah.
Imagine capturing wild yeast out of thin air and cultivating it over a period of several days so that, without any help at all, it will magically make the dough rise and become a beautiful (and relatively inexpensive–) gluten-free loaf of bread.
It really isn’t as hard as it sounds!
But it is incredibly healthy! Quite possibly the healthiest bread you can make!
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Benefits of Sourdough
There are many benefits to sourdough including:
Easily Digestible
Sourdough is easier to digest than regular bread (preventing issues like indigestion, etc.)
Beneficial Bacteria
Sourdough contains the healthy gut bacteria lactobacillus (the same major player in yogurt and kefir)
Fewer Nutrient-Binding Qualities
Most of the phytic acid in sourdough is broken down, reducing the effects of nutrient-binders on other foods in your diet.
Lower Glycemic Load
Since sourdough takes longer to digest, it doesn’t cause as much of a spike in blood sugar as traditional bread does.
Functions As a Prebiotic
Sourdough functions as a prebiotic, so it helps support healthy digestion.
Reduced Acrylamide
Souring the dough reduces the amount of the amino acid asparagine which is a precursor of acrylamide formation, and acrylamide is a cancer-causing ingredient found in toasted grains, including bread crusts. So with sourdough, you can enjoy your bread crust with less acrylamide.
Gluten-Free vs. Regular Sourdough
Making a gluten-free sourdough starter isn’t any different than making a regular sourdough starter.
– Both start with flour and water.
– Both take a few days, and both get bubbly.
– The only real difference comes when you’re ready to make sourdough bread and you have to pull out all the various types of gluten-free flour.
Gluten-free sourdough starter can be made in as little as seven days using gluten-free flour, water, and a medium-sized bowl. I personally have successfully made gluten-free sourdough starter with brown rice flour, but I’ve read others have had success with white rice flour, teff flour, sorghum flour, or even a gluten-free all-purpose blend.
Typically, in the same way that using a blend of alternative sweeteners will work best when substituting for sugar, using a variety of flours will work best for your gluten-free sourdough.
Is Sourdough Gluten-free?
While many think that sourdough is already gluten-free, here are the facts.
I have seen this argument many times. People claim that white flour has no gluten in it since all of the gluten is in the hull, and that whole grain flour sourdough bread is gluten-free since the enzymes break down the gluten.
Sadly, that is not the case.
White flour has between 8-11% gluten so all the gluten is not in the outer hull that is sifted away.
Not enough of the gluten is broken down by the fermentation process. The definition of gluten-free is 20ppm or less. Sourdough is known to have 2000 ppm of gluten. Regular bread has 80000 in many instances, so 2000 is less, but it’s not gf.
Please take care that if you need to avoid gluten that avoid traditional sourdough.
Grain-Free & Paleo Options
Since this post was published, several readers have asked if you can make sourdough starters without grains. Well, the good news is: YES YOU CAN! There are 2 schools of thought on this, however.
Some say that you need at least 1/3 of your flours to be a starch: tapioca, arrowroot, or maybe cassava flour. Starch is what feeds the yeast so that is the reason behind this requirement. If using coconut flour, however, you will need to add more water to the starter. Instead of a close to 1:1 ratio, for every cup of coconut flour that you use, you will need to use about 1 2/3 cups of water.
Coconut Flour Sourdough Starter
Can you make a starter from only coconut flour? Good questions.
There are some who say that you can, while others say that you cannot.
The information is in the recipe card so you can try it, but you might need to add some sauerkraut juice for it to work and not sure what kind of recipes you can make with it.
Sourdough Starter from Only Nuts / Nut Flours
You can make sourdough starter from nuts and likely only from nut flours, but you will need to add a fermented medium to the starter–like sauerkraut.
Sourdough Recipes
Gluten-Free Sourdough Recipes
The following are a variety of gluten-free sourdough bread recipes for you to experiment with. Because in all honesty, all sourdough breads (with or without gluten) are an experiment. A tasty experiment you can top with butter.
Keep in mind that every recipe will be different, calling for different types of flour and possibly using yeast. I’ve included several sources so that you can find something that suits you!
- Gluten-Free Brown Rice Sourdough
- Artisan Style Sourdough
- Sourdough Bread Boule
- Rustic Gluten-Free Sourdough
- Bread Srsly’s Sourdough
- An excellent bread recipe, plus recipe adaptations in Sourdough A to Z by GNOWFGLINS
- Bread Machine Sourdough – note that you can try to adapt regular recipes to the bread machine, but here’s one that is done for you.
Any of these recipes would be great topped with butter or Homemade Nut Butter. Mmmmmm.
Grain-free Sourdough Recipes
This is a grain-free sourdough recipe for you to try after you have your sourdough starter ready to go:
Grain-free Sourdough by It Takes Time
Grain-free AIP Sourdough Recipe
There are other grain-free sourdough recipes out there but those that call for a nut base will need a different method for fermenting due to them needing something to jump start it (like sauerkraut) rather than just the starch. This recipe is an example of that. I hope to have some additional recipes for you in the future.
What You’ll Need
To make gluten-free sourdough starter, you’ll need:
- gluten-free flour (some grain-free options will work)
- water
- a jar (or bowl)
- a cover
- something to secure the cover
How to Make the Starter
Following are some images and some brief info about how to do this. Full instructions are below :).
Combine flour (whatever gluten-free or grain-free flour or gluten-free flour blend you like) and water.
Feed the Starter for several days.
When your sponge looks like photo #8, you’re ready to make sourdough bread!
Recipe Notes and Substitutions
- Ingredient Amounts: The amounts we give in the ingredient list are the amounts you will need if you only feed the starter twice a day, which is the least number of times you should feed it. So if you feed it more often, you will of course need more flour and water.
- Flour: Gluten-free flour blends (just like with alternative sweeteners like stevia) tend to work best when used in conjunction with others. So it’s best not to try to make this sourdough starter or sourdough with only 1 GF flour. Personally, I recommend using a blend of flours. As you can read in this gluten-free baking tips post, using a blend of flours tends to make baked goods turn out better when using alternative flours.
- Grain-Free: For a Paleo Sourdough Starter or AIP Sourdough Starter, just use organic cassava flour or organic tiger nut flour in place of the gluten-free grain flours.
- THM: This recipe is an “E” for those on the Trim Healthy Mama plan.
Troubleshooting Your Starter
Here are three of the most common things that you might notice while watching your starter and what they mean:
Too Much Starter
If after a few days the starter begins to outgrow the bowl, pour some off to make a batch of sourdough pancakes. Leave at least 1/2 cup of starter in the bowl to continue feeding.
Liquid At the Top
Liquid may or may not collect at the surface of the starter. Either case is normal. (FYI: the liquid contains more lactobacillus and gives the bread its sourdough taste.)
No Bubbles – If you do not see bubbles at the top or at the sides of the starter, add a third feeding. Try to keep the feeding intervals equal. For example, 6am, 2pm and 10pm are all equally apart at 8 hours.
Boost Your Starter
One thing you can do is to add one to two tablespoons of water kefir, dairy kefir, kefir whey or kombucha in place of the water for just one feeding. Since you are adding more bacteria “goodies” to the mix, you are boosting fermentation action.
FAQs
How Long Should You Feed Your Starter?
After the initial period of making the sponge, etc., your starter is officially in maintenance mode. Then you can feed it as often or as little as you like.
- At the very minimum, you can keep it in the fridge and feed it weekly. However, it’s not recommended to have it in the fridge until after it’s 4 weeks old.
- You can keep it on the counter and feed it daily, and use anything you don’t need for recipes.
- You could feed it daily with as little as 1 tablespoon of water and flour to keep it fed but not produce a lot of starter.
How Long Can You Store Your Starter?
You can keep it for quite a while provided you feed it daily. You will, however, need to revive it when you want to use it again.
- Three and a half days before baking, remove the starter from the fridge and bring it to room temperature (let it rest for about 1/2 a day.
- Feed with equal parts flour and water.
- About 1/3 of a day later, feed the starter again.
- Once you have foam and liquid rising to the top of the starter, you can use the starter for bread. If you don’t have that after 4-6 hours, keep feeding daily until you do.
Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter
Ingredients
Gluten-free Sourdough Starter
- 6 cups gluten-free or grain-free flour
- 5 1/4 cups filtered water
Coconut Flour Sourdough Starter
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- filtered water
Instructions
Gluten-free Sourdough Starter
- Combine 1/2 cup flour (whatever gluten-free flour or gluten-free flour blend you like) and a scant 1/2 cup filtered water in a medium to large bowl.Whisk until smooth and cover the gluten free sourdough starter with a cheesecloth or clean dishtowel to allow air to circulate but prevent particles from falling in.Set the bowl in a warm area where it will not be disturbed. A kitchen counter, pantry cabinet, or patio can all be good options.
- Wait 12-24 hours.
- At least twice a day for the next six days, at regular intervals, add 1/2 cup of flour and a scant 1/2 cup of filtered water to the existing starter. Mix until smooth, and cover.This is called feeding the starter.Make sure to watch your starter carefully.
- When your gluten-free sourdough starter is very bubbly and creates a dome on top 2-3 hours after each feeding (like the above picture), you are ready to make bread. This is often called the sponge and typically it takes 5-7 days for this to happen.
- Use your starter for making the sourdough bread of choice. See above this recipe card in the post for some great options!
For Coconut Flour Starter
- Cover the bowl with a plate or other air tight cover, making sure there’s at least a 1/2-inch gap of air at the top.
- Approximately every 12 hours add another 1/8 cup of coconut flour and ½ cup purified water. Stir well and cover.
- In 24–48 hours the mixture should get bubbly and smell fermented. If no bubbles form, try increasing the frequency of feedings to every 8-10 hours.
- If at any time there isn't a 1/2 inch gap at the top of the starter, move it to a larger bowl.
Notes
- Ingredient Amounts: The amounts we give in the ingredient list are the amounts you will need if you only feed the starter twice a day, which is the least number of times you should feed it. So if you feed it more often, you will of course need more flour and water.
- Flour: Gluten-free flour blends (just like with alternative sweeteners like stevia) tend to work best when used in conjunction with others. So it’s best not to try to make this sourdough starter or sourdough with only 1 GF flour. Personally, I recommend using a blend of flours. As you can read in this gluten-free baking tips post, using a blend of flours tends to make baked goods turn out better when using alternative flours.
- Grain-Free: For a Paleo Sourdough Starter or AIP Sourdough Starter, just use organic cassava flour or organic tiger nut flour in place of the gluten-free grain flours.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
A Great Gluten-free Sourdough Starter You Can Buy
I know how it goes. It’s exciting to think about doing everything yourself, but then you just might not get around to it.
If that’s how you’re feeling after reading this post, you can just buy this Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter and have it all done for you. This would make a great backup to have in your pantry too!
Cultures For Health Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter Culture
Cultures for Health is a trusted brand for all things fermented. Make tangy, fluffy sourdough bread indefinitely with this heirloom-style starter. Non-GMO and and easy to follow recipe!
This is a fabulous jumping off point for tons of healthy creativity in the kitchen. So many options from breads to biscuits and more.
Tiffany is a frugal foodie, balancing the desire to feed her family healthy food while being a good steward of her finances. She realized it was possible to eat nourishing, traditional food on a budget if she made baby-sized changes in the kitchen. She continues to work hard at mastering real foods without going broke and shares her journey at Don’t Waste the Crumbs.
Top of fridge isn’t warm so I don’t think that would help
How about a seed starter warming pad, then? Here’s one that is almost identical to what I have (this is an affiliate link): https://amzn.to/2VvrnTg
hello ive tried to make starter twice now , once with oat flour then with brown rice flour but with no success I’m on day 5/6 now and its doing nothing liquid on top but no bubbles or growing 🙁 i think my tempeture is the issue as its not cold enough for heating but not warm enough for the starter to sit on a counter
Hi there – the best temperature for sourdough starter tends to be between 70 and 85 degrees F, so that could very well be your issue. You could use a heating pad (like the ones used for starting seeds) or try putting it on your fridge. Hope that helps!
Curious about how long you can leave in fridge then after reading other comment from someone. How long can you leave in fridge and not feed and it will keep alive. It’s thus in a “frozen” state this way? And will keep for… weeks without feeding? Then taking it out and reviving it like you said that’s it? Then can also you make bread with what you “discarded” to get down to the 1/2 c base? I’m guessing not cause it was stagnant in fridge for all that time ..?
I have read different things about starters in the fridge – that they have to be fed weekly and that they will stay for a month unfed.
Can you explain what you mean by “to get down to the 1/2 c base” please? I’m really not an expert at all w/ sourdough so please bear with me. I don’t think the post author is going to answer but I will do my best and hopefully I can become an expert :).
So once you create the starter and it’s ready to be used for bread, do you store the leftovers in the fridge? And how would I go about preparing it if I want to use it again? Do I just set it out so it gets to room temperature and start the feedings again?
Also, I made a huge batch of dough with part of my starter and am storing it in the fridge. Would you suggest taking it out to get to room temperature before kneading it and letting it sit out?
You can let it rest in the fridge and revive it later.
This is how to revive it:
Take the starter out of the fridge, discard all but 4 ounces (1/2 cup). Then feed it as you would normally. Let rest at room temp for about 12 hours, until it’s bubbly. Repeat as necessary, every 12 hours, until you notice the starter doubling or tripling in volume in a 6 to 8 hour time period.
As for your dough…did it rise or no?
Thanks for getting back to me!
The dough did rise a little, though not much. Should it rise quite a bit?
I made a loaf which tasted awesome though it was pretty flat in shape. What would you suggest?
Sure! Are you talking about the same loaf?
I have a very strong regular sourdough starter, containing wheat. Do you think that I if I would start to feed it with gluten-free flour, it would be OK to make gluten-free bread or it would be better to start all over? (I would like to give it to a gluten sensitive person, not suffering from a cealiac illness.
Hi there – actually homemade sourdough is never considered to be safe for celiacs so I would not recommend that. There is no way to verify that enough of the gluten was removed from the bread. Definitely start over. Thanks for reading!
You need to start over for the GF bread because of cross contamination.
Can this gluten free sourdough starter be used to make wheat bread?
Or should one use a wheat sourdough starter to make wheat bread??
I don’t see why not! Good question!
Thank you for the article on gluten free starter! My daughter can not eat any kind of bread, so I feel this approach towards gluten free baking will be very beneficial for us. God bless you!
You are so welcome and I really hope this works for her! Perhaps she would like recipe for flax bread as well? https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/focaccia-flax-bread/
So how do you make dough with the starter?
Hi Celia, there are a number of sourdough recipes in the post. Let me know if you can’t find them. I hope to add some to my blog in the future!
Thanks for the recipe. I am excited to try it. So when I have the starter ready to make into bread what comes next? What do you put the dough in, what are the cooking instructions?
You are so welcome. There are a variety of recipes linked to in the post–let me know if you need more assistance. Thanks!
When the starter is finished,then what?How do you make the bread?Very confusing.
Hi Karen–there is a list of sourdough recipes in the post for you to use. I hope to include some on the blog in the future. Thanks and hope that helps!
For us lazy people can you make it and get it into stores to purchase… please???
Hi there! Thanks for reading! I had a link in the post before but it wasn’t working–it’s fixed now. You can get a great starter and do this easily!
The link to purchase the sourdough starter isn’t working. It just reopens the page to make the starter
Hello Sylvia! Thanks for reading and thank you so much for alerting me. Not sure what happened but I just put the links back in. Thank you again!
I can’t wait to try this!
Hope it goes well for you!
I’m excited to make some gluten free bread. After you’ve made your starter, then what? Do you have a recipe to bake the bread once the starter is done?
Hi there–there are links to several recipes in the post. I hope to update my blog with some in the future so stay tuned–thanks!
Oh my, I just started yesterday with my sourdough starter. Today I am about to feed it the second time and it is puffed and has small bubble on the side and bottom of the bowl. It does not have bubbles on the top serface yet. I am starting to get an odor. Do I need to wait the six days? Thanks, Toni
Hi there. I’m not the best sourdough person but what type of odor do you mean? Your house might be a bit too warm making it grow too fast?
Hi Adrienne, Perhaps, it does seem to slow a bit at night. I don’t have a good spot that is consistent for warmth except…I have my bowl sitting on top of the microwave, which puts the bowl a few inches away from some undercounted lighting. It smells a little better I would say today. Yesterday it had a bitter smell, today it’s more like milk going sour. I am thinking maybe I could bake bread sooner than the 6 days (next Tuesday 2/19). Maybe on the fourth day (Sunday 2/17). But not really sure, since it’s my first time. Thanks, Toni
Well milk going sour would make sense since you are making sourdough.
I use a gluten-free flour blend that is primarily white rice flour, brown rice flour, tapioca flour. What is your favorite sourdough bread recipe (easy) that I can begin with? I’ve made regular sourdough, but would like to make gluten-free bread. Thank you.
Hi there. I don’t have a favorite–actually the fact is that this was a post written by a guest writer and I have been reworking it but I have never made GF sourdough. I need to do it. We have been avoiding a lot of starches so it hasn’t been on the radar but I think we can handle it now and in the future so I can try. Might take me awhile to have a fave though! The comment just above yours (or close) recommended one.
Hi, I need some help please! How do I know when my starter is ready? It doesn’t have that dome shape on top, it’s rather flat. Smells ok though and it’s bubbly all through. It’s a week old today. I’ve made 3 batches that ended up in the bin already because the bread didn’t rise 🙁 so I want to make
Sure I get it right this time! I used 50-50% all purpose gf and brown rice flour. Please helppp
Thank you 🙂
Hi there – sounds like you are having issues–is the temperature of your kitchen warm enough?
Sorry that I’ve sent this twice.
Yes it’s summer here in Australia’s So the temperature is between 25-30C most of the time. If the dome shape comes after a few hours post feeding, is it meant to stay that way? I just realised I never see it a few hours later.
Hello there – first of all, so sorry for responding late to this. I’m literally wading through hundreds of comments here. This could be that your starter is young and/or hungry.
Also, are you using a whole grain flour or no? Whole grain ones tend to be more sturdy since their substance is stronger. Do let me know about this and how it’s coming along. Happy to help with other things and I will answer quicker this time :).
What is the ideal sour dough starter temperature? I have been playing with salt rising bread and finding it is very fussy about temoerature. I’m aiming for 110-115° for the salt bread starter and sponge.
I’m reading 70-85 degrees F. You are keeping yours at 110?
Virag,
Check the ingredients in your GF all purpose flour. If it has xanthan gum, that may be why your starter is not cooperating. The xanthan inhibits the necessary biotic growth that a starter needs.
I had not heard that. I read in one place online not to use it but that is so interesting. Thank you!
Thank you too! I’ve only just seen this comment. I should check it more carefully next time. But!! I’ve just had a massive success and finally a loaf (2 actually, from 2 different recipes) turned out beautifully!! I’m so very happy ?
I’ve let it rest in the fridge for a couple of days then took it out for a feed and made the bread the next day. Noticed a little dome so I though I’d give it a go. Hurray!
Yay!!
What recipes worked well for you?
That’s fantastic, Virag! I’ve yet to get that far! LOL! Good luck to you on future loaves! I hope to get there one day soon.
🙂 good luck to you too Sigrid!
Adrienne- I’ve used one of your recipes above, this one: https://www.artofglutenfreebaking.com/2010/10/sourdough-bread-boule-gluten-free/
And the other one was a Hungarian recipe so can’t share it here sorry! But
This one is actually a huge loaf? my partner can’t have yeast and has lots of allergies so this is a huge success.
How great!!! I’m so happy to hear this!
Do you use ONLY brown rice flour in your starter? At one point in you article you say you use brown rice flour, but then later on you say using more than one gluten free flour is best. I am trying to make a gluten free sourdough starter for a friend and have tried before with the AP blend and it didn’t work.
Hi there – I just updated the post with additional information. The author of the post stated what she used, but I personally think that a blend will produce better results. What happened w/ your All Purpose Blend? Perhaps the troubleshooting tips will help?
It didn’t grow like the sourdough starter I make with regular flour and it went bad, it solidified and smelled rotten.
Could something else have been off?
Could have been, I will try it again.
Let me know and hope it goes well!
I think I messed up my starter somehow. It hasn’t seem to form a sponge and started to smell like glue instead of yogurt. My husband thinks it’s ok and wants me to make bread with it. My sense of smell could be off and I really don’t know what I’m doing, so you think I should try to make bread with it or just toss it and try again another time? Thanks!
mmm…glue doesn’t sound good to me. I wouldn’t personally use it. Is your smell typically off or is your husband’s?
I followed the instructions very closely, and I put my sourdough starter in a warm place on the kitchen counter. It is day 2, I have only fed it once, and already it has formed a sponge. Why did it do this? I do not have enough to make bread, so is it okay to keep feeding it in this stage?
Hi there. I think you are fine. I can’t find information otherwise! Sorry for the delay. Did it turn out OK?
Unfortunately , it didn’t turn out well. I decided to make some bread with it that night, but when I measured it I found it had solidified and had a hard crust on top. My mom said it didn’t smell like a sourdough starter is supposed to smell. Thank you for answering! Do you have any idea what might have gone wrong and what I can do next time?
Hmmm. Can you explain what you mean by “when you measured it” please? Thanks! We’ll figure it out.
By measuring I mean I measured out a half a cup of sourdough starter for the bread recipe. I stuck it in the the bowl and it hit a solid crust. I did use an all purpose gluten free flour blend that had brown rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, white rice flour, and xanthan gum in it. Did xanthan gum affect the sourdough starter?
Hi there. So sorry for the delay in responding. I was chronically ill for years and am finally getting back to the more complex comments. I think either it’s the thickness of your starter and/or the gum. Starter should be like pancake batter and although xanthan gum isn’t likely the problem here, it’s best to avoid in the starter. Hope that helps!