Gluten Free Farmhouse Sourdough Whole Wheat Bread Recipes

GLUTEN FREE SOURDOUGH STARTER RECIPE

Steps:

• To make the gluten free sourdough starter, add starter ingredients to a non-reactive bowl or container made of glass, stainless steel or food-grade plastic. Whisk together until no lumps are present and all the flour is incorporated, then set aside with a loose cloth covering the top. The room should be at least 70F, or place it in a warmer location like near your oven or in a warmer room. Allow the starter to sit, loosely covered, for 24 hours then discard half the starter (about 1/2 cup). Add to the remainder of the starter another 1 cup (135 grams) gfJules Flour All-Purpose Flour (or 1/2 cup gfJules and 1/2 cup alternate GF flour listed above) and 1 cup cool filtered water (if your kitchen is particularly warm) or lukewarm filtered water (if your kitchen is particularly cold). Re-cover and allow the mixture to rest for 24 hours. At this point, the starter should show signs of activity, but if not, don't despair, and don't throw it out! Repeat the halving and discarding and replenishing step every 12 hours (or as your schedule allows) until the starter begins to bubble and rise (becomes active). If it does not seem active after 2 days of this feeding cycle, try one or more of these things: stir in another 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar; switch to 100% of whole grain gluten free flours listed above; stir in 1 Tablespoon honey; or try moving it to a warmer location. *Also, be sure your starter is not too thick. It should be the consistency of pancake batter, not dough.* Add more filtered water if necessary -- if the starter is too thick, it cannot bubble and grow. Once it seems to have come alive, continue feeding the starter 2 times a day in the same way (discard + add flour and water). You can place some of the more active discards in a separate container if you're like me and can't bear to throw it away each time! Then you'll have simultaneous starters going. The discard process gives the yeast proportionately more food to digest each time it's fed, so it's a necessary part of the process. Continue this process for 7 days OR until the starter doubles in volume or looks very bubbly and active within 6 hours after feeding. At that point, feed one more time, then allow to rest for 6 -12 hours before using. If not using for a recipe right away, or after using some in a recipe, with remaining starter, transfer to another container that can be covered and placed in the refrigerator until ready to use. If the container has a lid, DO NOT tighten it completely. Feed starter once a week if stored in the refrigerator. As I mentioned earlier, I found it hard to part with any starter by tossing it down the drain, but traditional methods say to feed the starter and then discard all but 1/2-1 cup of starter; many times, I divided it into another container and gifted the starters to ambitious gluten free friends. You could also use excess starter (once active) for other recipes like coffee cakes, scones, muffins, pancakes ... just use your gluten free starter in place of yogurt or sour cream or even milk in many recipes! Every time you use the starter for baking, pull it out the night before to allow it to come to room temperature and feed it again. Ideally it would be fed and sit for 12 hours before using. Once you've added the starter to your recipe, feed the remaining starter again and return to the refrigerator. Note that you may use your gluten free sourdough starter right from the refrigerator, whether you've fed it again or not. If you have recently fed it, it will be more active, but even if not, it should still rise your dough. Allowing it to come to room temperature first will bring faster fermentation though. Now that you have your active starter, you're ready to bake your gluten free sourdough bread! Scroll down further in this post for the GLUTEN FREE SOURDOUGH BREAD recipe.

GLUTEN FREE FARMHOUSE SOURDOUGH "WHOLE WHEAT" BREAD

Steps:

• To make teff starter: combine equal amounts of teff flour and distilled or bottled water in a large bowl, stir well, cover with a dishtowel and sit in a warmish spot. Teff should bubble slightly right away. If it doesn't you can add a tiny bit of yeast. Be sure not to use tap water as the chlorine in most tap waters will kill off the yeast. I often start with 1/2 cup of teff. Feed once or twice a day, stirring with a clean fork and recovering just like a sourdough starter. You can use this to make injera. The longer you let it ferment the more sour it gets-just like sourdough starters. It should be slightly bubbly and sour smelling. Separation is normal. Just stir together before using.
• Combine oat flour, gluten free flour, dry teff, salt, and arrowroot powder in a large mixing bowl.
• In a large measuring cup or mixing bowl, combine water, teff starter, yeast, sugar, oil, psyllium husks, and ground chia. Stir well to combine and let sit 2-3 minutes.
• Whisk wet ingredients again and then pour into dry ingredients. Mix together with a large mixing spoon until combined.
• Optional: turn out on a floured surface and knead, adding oat flour as needed until dough holds together and isn't too sticky. I don't usually knead.
• Place dough in a large oiled bowl or onto parchment paper. Roughly shape into a loaf form. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Once bread has risen, move to baking sheet and cut a shallow tic-tac-toe patter into the top. Optional-scatter poppy and sesame seeds on top.
• Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into it.

GLUTEN FREE SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• Levain Instructions
• Feedings described here are the same weight starter, flour, and water; sometimes referred to as a 1:1:1 feeding.
• If your gluten free sourdough starter is already warm, and it doubles within 4 to 8 hours, simply build enough of it through feeding to reach the amount needed for the recipe.
• If your sourdough starter has been refrigerated, plan to feed it at least twice before baking with it. Take your starter jar out of the refrigerator and let it warm up a bit.
• Discard a portion of the starter if you have excess. Your goal is to end up with enough lively starter or "levain" for your dough, plus about 25 grams extra to feed and then refrigerate for the future. Feed the warmed-up starter in your jar and let it expand until it peaks. If it doubles in 4 to 8 hours you can bake with it. Most likely you will have to feed it at least one more time, though, for it to expand that quickly and be lively enough for baking.
• After mixing the dough, keep about 25g starter in your jar and feed it. Leave it out of the refrigerator until it doubles. Then refrigerate the starter until your next bake. If you don't bake for more than a week, refresh your starter. Additional maintenance instructions can be found here.
• Dough Instructions
• Mixing
• When the levain is ready, whisk it together with the water, honey, and psyllium husk in a bowl.
• In a second bowl, combine the flours and salt, then add them to the wet mix. I use a rubber spatula at first when combining wet and dry ingredients, then switch to hand mixing.
• Once the dough comes together with no dry bits, try to shape it into a round as best as you can. Place the dough in a clean bowl and cover it with a damp towel.
• Bulk Ferment
• Let the dough ferment for at least 5 hours on your counter at room temperature. If you have a cool house, you may want to pop the covered bowl into your oven with the light on to keep it slightly warmer.
• Toward the end of the bulk ferment, you may not see a lot of change. The dough will not double, but I find that the texture just becomes a bit lighter and softer.
• Shaping
• After the bulk ferment, I line a bowl with a floured tea towel (floured banneton would work too), gently reshape the dough into a ball and lay it in the bowl.
• Cover the dough with a damp towel (plastic cover is fine too) and let it sit another hour or so at room temperature and then pop it into the refrigerator for an overnight rest.
• Bake
• In the morning, preheat your oven to 475°F for 30-60 minutes with a Dutch oven or similar baking vessel inside the oven.
• When the preheat is complete, remove your dough from the refrigerator, uncover it, and place a piece of parchment over the bowl. Lay your hand on top of the parchment and turn the bowl upside down, so your hand is holding the dough and parchment in place.
• Gently put the dough and parchment on your countertop and score the dough how you'd like. Transfer the parchment and dough into the Dutch oven and cover it.
• Bake for 60 minutes with the lid on. Place a baking sheet directly under the Dutch oven after 30 minutes (on same shelf with contact) to prevent burning of the base of the bread.
• Take the lid off and bake for another 5 minutes.
• Let your loaf cool for a few hours before cutting into it. It's still working inside.