December 29, 2024 - 3:19pm
Regular starter, gluten free flour to bake
Crazy idea here, has anyone ever tried using a regular starter but bake a loaf with GF flour? I hated a true GF loaf because of the psyllium husk makes it not true sourdough.
I’ve had fresh sourdough from SF & didn’t get sick until I ate 2 large slices in a day, but I never tried again because then I got sick after each slice the following days.
My idea is the flour would be GF so I wouldn’t be as sick from the fermentation..? I really want an authentic sourdough but can’t stomach eating true sourdough that’s 100% gluten / wheat. I also cannot do the GF wheat flour as I technically do not do wheat either. I’ve cut both out, but I am willing to try a real starter mixed with GF for a bake if someone has a recipe! :)
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Here’s a post about making a GF starter. Here’s another version, including a bread recipe.
I’m not sure why you think that “psyllium husk makes it not true sourdough.” Psyllium husk is just a binder that enables the GF dough to retain gas while it rises. It in no way invalidates the sourdough-ness of a bread. If the GF sourdough bread that you’ve eaten previously was unpleasant, that was most likely due to a different cause.
While I’ve made GF breads previously, I haven’t made GF sourdough bread. Consequently, I can’t offer any advice or pointers about dealing with the (naturally) longer fermentation times that come with using sourdough as the leavening.
As another possibility, you might want to check out sites that are focused on people with celiac disease to see what information they might have.
Paul
You can convert your regular starter (by which I assume you mean a wheat or rye based starter) to gluten free by using a small amount of it and feeding with rice flour. I use a fine brown rice flour. After multiple feeds it will be gluten free. Alternatively you could make the starter from scratch using rice flour.
It looks like the one in the post Paul shared - a bit strange looking if you're used to a wheat flour based starter.
Psyllium husk (and often flaxseed and chia) is used to help the loaf retain shape, as you don't have gluten to do that for you. Some of the gluten free recipes will use xantham gum to achieve similar. I think psyllium is healthier.
When it comes to recipes using the GF starter there are many good ones out there. I prefer Aran Goyoaga's from her excellent book Cannelle et Vanille.
Good luck!
-Jon