Learn how to make a gluten free sourdough starter to bake up delicious sourdough goodies like vegan gluten-free sourdough pancakes, vegan gluten-free sourdough waffles and vegan gluten-free sourdough sandwich bread.
Some of you have been asking me for a gluten free sourdough starter recipe, so here it is.
You know I love to bake with sourdough and although I've largely cut gluten out of my diet because of my struggle with hypothyroidism, I do continue to consume foods with sourdough because I think their benefits outweighs the risks. (While I do not have celiac disease and therefore am not gluten-insensitive, recent research shows that sourdough made with wheat flour can actually be tolerated by some with gluten insensitivity.)
But I do love baking gluten-free too, and that's why I decided it was time to take the plunge and try a gluten-free sourdough starter.
Besides, if you eat gluten-free yourself, all the time or occasionally, I'm sure you'll agree that it's worth making your own gluten-free goodies. That is because storebought gluten-free foods present two big problems: sticker shock and carb overload.
The good news with sourdough is, it reduces carb overload in any food -- the probiotic bacteria digest the starches and reduce the glycemic index of the baked food. And although gluten-free flours tend to be much more expensive than wheat flours, making your bread or other gf goodies at home is definitely way more economical than buying them pre-made.
Besides, I don't really see gluten-free sourdough breads available at any of the stores I go to.
You can use any gluten-free flour for the starter -- preferably an all-purpose flour. I went with the King Arthur Measure for Measure GF flour, because that's what I had. But as I fed my starter, I used up all kinds of all purpose gluten-free flours I had on hand, including one from Trader Joe's, and another that had sat in my pantry, probably for years. It all worked.
For this sourdough starter, I am including -- as I did with my wheat sourdough starter recipe-- photos of how it looked over time. Here are a couple of things I noticed, and you probably will too.
The gluten-free starter appeared to start developing almost immediately. It began to bubble and rise after the first day of sitting, and that could be for two reasons -- it was really warm here when I started it, and also my kitchen is probably full of wild yeast, because I use sourdough just so much. But it started to cool down by day 3 or 4 and at that time the starter appeared to slow down, with little evidence of any activity other than the sourdough scent and a few bubbles.
One piece of good news for those of you who, like me, think frugally, I found ways to use up my sourdough discard -- the portion you remove from your new sourdough starter to "feed" it -- from day one. I used the discard from the first couple of days to make a sourdough flatbread, and then collected and used the discard from days four and five for these buckwheat oat waffles that were out of this world.
Top tips
- Use any kind of all purpose gluten-free flour. I haven't tried using flours like buckwheat or millet or oat to make the starter and I can't attest if these will work, but what I do know is that an all purpose gluten-free flour will.
- Keep your sourdough starter warm. When it's cold here, I put the starter in the oven with the pilot on. In warmer weather, leave it on your countertop.
- Make sure you feed your gluten free sourdough starter every day for at least a week to make it strong so it can work for you.
- Gluten free flour tends to be thirsty, so I used a 1:0.75 flour to water ratio. For one cup of flour, use ¾ths cup of water.
- Always use filtered or distilled water for your sourdough starter and baked goods, for the best results.
And now for the recipe. Happy gf sourdough starter making! And I'll be back with the photos of the final starter in a day or two, and recipes.
Here's the GF sourdough starter on day 8. You can see the bubbling in the side shot of the bowl below, and also how puffy it has become after eight days of feeding. The unexpectedly cool weather hereabouts has slowed me down a bit, so I'll probably keep this going with feedings for another couple of days, before I can refrigerate it and feed it once a week.
I made an amazing glutenfree sourdough multigrain bread with the starter yesterday, after day 7. It had amazing flavor and texture, and I couldn't be happier with how this starter has shaped up. I'll share the bread recipe with you soon too, so stay tuned.
More vegan sourdough recipes
Recipe card
Gluten Free Sourdough Starter
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten-free all purpose flour
- ¾ cup distilled or filtered water
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and water. Cover with a kitchen towel or cling wrap and place in a warm spot in your kitchen.
- The next day, your starter may or may not look a little bubbly. Discard half a cup of the starter, and feed the starter with ½ cup of flour and ⅜ths of a cup of water.
- Repeat the process for a week. Your starter will gradually take on the typical, tangy fragrance of sourdough and you should see some bubbling. Depending on how frequently you bake, you might find that this happens sooner.
- Once your sourdough starts to visibly rise about three to four hours after feeding, it's strong and ready. At this point you can use it to make your favorite baked goods. Store the starter in the refrigerator in a jar with a lid, and feed at least weekly to keep it going.
Nutrition Information
To print recipe card without images, uncheck "instruction images" after clicking the "print recipe" button.
Vasudha says
Hi Vaishali, could you please share your gluten-free multigrain bread recipe. I am going to try your gluten-free starter recipe. It is my first time to make a starter. I am looking for the adventure. Thanks
Izzy says
I bought a gluten free sourdough starter 2 weeks ago at a market and am trying to learn how to care for it and use it. I think that I might have taken too long to use it. Do you think it should be tossed? Its been in the fridge. Id love to keep it going if I can have just been confused about how to care for it
Barbara Carr says
I am on day 7 and still no bubbles and it looks dry, almost like cement. It's spongy though. I am using an all purpose gluten free flour.. It looks like your day 1. Am I doing anything wrong?
Vaishali says
Hi Barbara, gf sourdough starter does tend to get rather thick because gf flours are so thirsty. If you feed it regularly it should be fine. You can add more water, but that would affect the hydration of your starter in the long term and you'd have to make adjustments each time you make a recipe. It does sound odd that you have no bubbling on day 7. Are you keeping it in a warm spot?
Anonymous says
I'm keeping it on top of stove with light from fan on 24/7.
At first I was covering it with a clear plate not a cloth, could that be the problem?
I switched to the cloth after about 4 days.
I was running out of all purpose flour so I mixed it with buckwheat flour.
Should I keep feeding it?
This morning the top has crust, very dry on top.
Thanks for walking me through this
Carolan says
We have been feeding our starter for 6 days and it has gone mouldy on the top. How does one avoid this. Should we have put it in the fridge before the sixth day? We think we will have to discard the lot ??
We still have some of the discard in the fridge from last week. Can we use that to start another one and please let us know if there is any way to avoid the mould. A few days last week it was very hot here but we thought that would be a good thing.
Thanks and love your recipes.
Shilpa says
Can I begin the starter with 1/4 cup of flour instead of 1/2 cup to minimize the waste?
Vaishali says
Yes, absolutely. Adjust water proportionately, and you can feed more when you have a recipe planned. Good luck!
Beth says
During the first seven days, can you use the discards?
Jessica says
Is there anything I can make with the discarded starter during those first 7 or so days?
Vaishali says
Pancakes and waffles are my favorites to make with discard — the recipes should be linked in the post above.
Cher says
Thank you for sharing this I’ve been looking for something like this for a while. I had a hard time finding it. I can’t wait to try it!
Katie says
Hi! I’m on day 4 - it started bubbling day 2 and is regularly puffing up. It’s quite a thick, spongey consistency. It smells sour and yeasty but today I noticed a nail polish remover-type smell. Is that normal? Also, given how much it’s been bubbling since day 2 I’m wondering if it may be ready sooner. I’m using Cup4Cup flour, and find it requires a closer to 1:1 ratio of flour:water.
Vaishali says
Hi, the acetone smell usually happens when your yeast have not been fed enough. You should continue discarding a portion and feeding it, probably a little more frequently than you're doing now.
Katie says
Fab - just fed it 6 hours before I normally would. Thanks!
Emily says
So excited to try and bake GF Vegan Sour dough bread. When you are creating the starter do you keep the starter in the frig or out on the counter? ( for daily feedings) Once you get an amount of starter your comfortable with does it go in the frig? and then feed it weekly? if you dont feed for a couple weeks( leaving in frig) and then want to bake again, do you have to feed it first for a couple days, and then use? Thank you
Vaishali says
I keep it on the counter during the seven-day feeding at the beginning. And yes, in the fridge after that. Also always best to feed the starter before baking if you haven't done so in a few days, but there are some recipes like waffles and pancakes you can make with starter that hasn't been fed for a week.
Jan says
Thanks for this great recipe. Can one use just one flour (ie, rice flour, or oat flour) to make the starter? If not, do you know what gf flours need to be in the blend to get the best results? I sometimes make my own flour mix with rice, tapioca, sorghum and a bean flour.
Thank you for your tremendous website. It's become my go-to source, above all others!
Cristi Sala says
GF Sourdough Starter.
1) I am on Day 4 and noticed that the top of the dough has little pinpoint gray dots all over it. Is this mold?
Throw away?
I can furnish a photo.
2) Also, there is a discrepancy in your notes and the recipe to print. Do you add 3/8 C OR 3/4 C water with the daily 1/2 C Flour?
The GF Flour I used was Open Nature brand, which contains: White Rice flour, Brown Rice flour, Potato Starch, Tapioca flour, Xanthan Gum.
Thank You!
Vaishali says
Is it bubbling? You will have to follow your instinct on whether it's moldy--if it is, you should throw it away. I don't think which flour you used should matter.
And there's no discrepancy--3/4ths cup water when you add 1 cup four and 3/8ths when you add 1/2 cup flour.
Cristi Sala says
Ok, don't know why it is growing stuff. Not bubbling yet on day 4. So, I followed the recipe directions correctly for the water addition. Thx much!
Vaishali says
If it looks moldy it is spoilt. Discard the entire batch.
Michele Swingle says
Have you ever tried to make G/f bread with potato flakes sourdough starter?
Corinne Furnice says
When I feed it, do I just add the newly mixed together flour and water or do I need to leave it out in a warm spot before adding it?
Crostina says
Hi,
I have in the house gf flour that contains baking soda and xanathan gum.
Would it be ok to use it for sourdough?
Thank you!
Katherine says
Hi there. I followed your directions religiously for 10 days and the starter is now moldy and no bubbles ever really formed. I just threw it away and would like to understand what happened before trying again because that was a lot of flour to waste! Thank you so much for any help.
Vaishali says
What flour did you use?
Lia says
Hi. I have fed my starter for 7 days now. It has a tangy nice odor and it grew at first and was spongy but now it is a bit watery and when I fed it yesterday it didn't rise much. What should I do?
Vaishali says
It doesn't always puff up after each feeding, but if it looks fine and doesn't smell moldy but like sourdough I wouldn't worry.
lisa says
after the starter is ready do you have a recipe to make sourdough bread?
Vaishali says
Yes! Just search for gluten free sourdough bread.
Gina Larkin says
Thanks for the gluten-free recipe! Can't wait to make my starter and plan to store it in my refrigerator. I've read a few blogs where they include instructions to remove it from the fridge a few days before using it in baking. What is your advice? Can you give specific instructions? Thanks!
Heather says
Thanks for your postings and for your detailed responses to people’s questions. To that end, I have a few questions:
How long does the GF sourdough starter last in the fridge if it’s being “fed” weekly?
Also, as a few others have mentioned, discarding a portion of the starter each day leaves a bit of a “sour” taste in my mouth (pun intended;) ). Would you be willing to post a recipe with smaller quantities of ingredients that would yield a smaller, more manageable starter to maintain? Gluten free all purpose flour is very expensive and isn’t always in stock where I live. Thanks!!
Vaishali says
The sourdough will last forever--you could gift it to your grandkids, and they to theirs :). So long as you keep it fed and healthy, of course.
You can certainly make a smaller quantity of the sourdough. Just halve the amount, and feed it a larger quantity of flour when you need to make a recipe. You can also use discards in flatbreads and sourdough pancakes and waffles. My recipes here: https://holycowvegan.net/vegan-gluten-free-sourdough-pancakes/
https://holycowvegan.net/vegan-gluten-free-sourdough-waffles/
Randi says
Thank you for adding me!
I’m a thrifty baker and it would break my heart to discard part of the starter each day. Can I just add to it each day and grow a very large starter after 8 days?
Thanks Randi
Vaishali says
Great question, and yes, you can feed your sourdough without discarding it. To keep your sourdough quantity from getting out of control you can maintain a smaller amount of starter and feed it as soon as you use some up. Or you can just have a huge container. 🙂
If you're looking for recipes with sourdough discard, here are a few: https://holycowvegan.net/five-delicious-vegan-recipes-for-sourdough-discard/
Roy says
As my small glass bowl is becoming overwhelmed by the swelling of the starter, I need to move to another, larger size bowl. May I use a non-glass bowl? Will plastic or stainless steel work just as well?
Vaishali says
I wouldn't use plastic but stainless steel should be fine.
Lauren says
Great tips! I’m inspired to make my own starter and get baking! I like to bake both gluten and gluten free recipes....will a gluten free starter work to make a regular wheat flour sourdough?
Vaishali says
My wheat sourdough starter recipe is here: https://holycowvegan.net/make-sourdough-starter/
Wendy says
I am new to bread baking, even newer to sourdough making. I've been eating it for years though. I am so happy you have made an almost fool-proof recipe. Until me.? Questions, questions, questions!
In making the starter, every day you take out some starter and add new ingredients. Then what do you do with the removed starter? And when using the starter for your sandwich bread recipe, does the 1 cup of starter deplete what you have? And then you have to start again in order to make more the next week? What if you need bread more often? I kinda just want to move in with you and see how you live this gf, vegan life. It looks so tasty and organized.
Vaishali says
Hi Wendy, as soon as you remove some starter for a bread, add in three-fourths the quantity of flour (if you take out 1 cup starter, add 3/4th cup flour) and water to the remaining starter--that's feeding the starter. You can take more out of it the following day, if you're making another recipe, and feed it again. Hope that's helpful.
Wendy says
Thank you so much! So far the starter is doing its thing and i am sor happy about that! All of this is helpful!
Wendy says
I took my bread out of the oven about 7am! it is sooo tangy and good! The chew is perfect!
User error, I didn't oil the pan enough and it stuck but who cares? the bread smells like the sourdough I grew up with in CA. I now live in TX and its just not the same.
Thank you for being willing to work hard for yourself and then sharing the results with the rest of us! Blessings!!!❤️❤️❤️
Vaishali says
Awesome!! Yes, sourdough can stick, especially if there is very little or no oil in the dough. Sprinkling on some cornmeal on the surface of the pan is also useful.
Wendy says
I forgot to feed it before I put it in the fridge. Will it be ok? Do I need to start over?
Vaishali says
You'll be fine! No need to start over.
Wendy says
Awesome! You are just awesome! Thank you so much for all the help and reassuring through this. Next up, vegan, gf sourdough pancakes!
Vaishali says
Excellent! ❤️
Helen says
Thanks for sharing all your lovely recipes!
I can’t find the recipe for the gf multigrain sandwich bread. Is it called something else? Can this be made from starter after 5 days?
Also I can’t find the recipe for flatbread, are they gf too?
Vaishali says
Hi Helen, I made my multigrain sandwich bread for the first time about 5-6 days after beginning my starter, and it worked very well. If you think your sourdough starter is strong enough and you've had some good bubbling and puffing at least in the first few days, go ahead and use it to make the bread. The recipe is here: https://holycowvegan.net/gluten-free-multigrain-sourdough-sandwich-bread/
I haven't shared my sourdough flatbread recipe yet, but I will soon.
Brian says
When you say feed it weekly, do you mean the process of removing 1/2 cup, adding 1/2 cup flour and 1/3 cup water or some other method? Thanks.
Vaishali says
Yes!
Bea Wood says
I am just getting started on making your gluten-free sourdough starter. Having read through the instructions for your "regular" sourdough starter, I have a couple of questions. The instructions for the regular start say to leave the starter out for awhile each week after feeding it before returning it to the refrigerator. Should this also be done with the sourdough starter?
My second question has to do with the cooler weather versus warmer weather. In the regular starter instructions, it said to feed it twice a day after day 3 in colder weather to help it develop more strongly. Is that advice applicable to the gluten-free starter, too? Thanks for your help!
Vaishali says
Yes, on both! Hope you enjoy the gf starter.
kim Davies says
You mean to say no yeast! Is this true? if so I am happy!
Vaishali says
Yes, no commercial yeast, but there's natural yeast here captured from the air, so it's not yeast-free.
n says
Any way we can use the discarded starter? Hate to throwing away the starter, it is such a waste nearly 3 cups of starter.
Vaishali says
I just posted two recipes for discard -- gf sourdough waffles, and a gf multigrain sandwich bread.
Lukhimai Suchiang says
yes,can be used for making pancakes,pizza base,bread,rotis etc.
Marjorie says
Quickly, quickly please print waffle recipe. Love your recipes
Vaishali says
Hi Marjorie-- on Friday! Stay tuned. 🙂
Anita Guglielmino says
Can't wait to try the gf sour dough starter, thanks for sharing!
Vaishali says
Hope you do -- you'll love it, I know.