How to Make a Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter From Scratch

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This homemade gluten-free sourdough starter recipe makes it easy to make gluten-free sourdough bread. You only need a few ingredients and one week to make your gluten free sourdough starter from scratch.

Does Sourdough Starter Work With Gluten-Free Flour?

Yes! You can make a sourdough starter from scratch or adjust your regular starter to gluten-free flour feedings. Changing a starter fed with gluten-containing flour works well, but it won’t be safe for people with celiac disease.

The main differences you can expect with a gluten-free starter vs. a regular starter:

• The starter will be thicker and chunkier after feeding & fermentation. Gluten-free flour is not as smooth.
• There are more funky smells when first getting a GF starter going. Just keep discarding and feeding in the beginning; the smells get better.
• There is always a semi-thick dry layer on top of the starter after feeding & fermentation.

Sourdough Starter for Gluten-Free Bread

When it comes to sourdough, everyone likes to focus on the wild yeasts, but a sourdough starter isn’t all yeast; it’s a mix of yeasts, lactic acid-producing bacteria, and acetic acid-producing bacteria.

In wild sourdough starters, yeasts ferment wheat carbohydrates into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Then, bacteria in the sourdough starter metabolize the alcohols produced by the yeasts into acetaldehyde and then into acetic acid… making it sour. 

There are many ways to feed a sourdough starter, and no one way is “correct.” Sourdough starters can be thicker and drier or thinner and more hydrated. You can also use almost any type of flour to feed a sourdough starter, but here we will focus on feeding a starter gluten-free flour.

Microbes in Gluten Free Sourdough Starters

Sourdough is fascinating because so many different types of microbial metabolism and fermentation are happening simultaneously.  Yeasts make bubbles and visible expansion in a starter, but bacteria make all the flavor. When more good bacteria are present, they can help boost yeast populations by feeding them usable acids and eliminating waste products (alcohol).

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “discard and feed.” The point of discarding and feeding your sourdough starter is to replenish the microbe’s food source so that the accumulation of waste products does not kill the yeast and bacteria.

Ingredients and Tools to Make a Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter

1. Flour: I use a mix of gluten-free flours that I developed based on my best flavor results in GF bread tests.*See GF sourdough starter flour mix discussed in the section below*
2. Water: Filtered water is best, but you can use tap water if you have good tap water, and I use tap water that I filter through our water filter pitcher.
3. Glass Jars and Cheesecloth: I like to use a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar with some cheesecloth on top to grow my sourdough starter. The mixture needs access to air to increase, so you cannot use a traditional mason jar lid. I just secured the cheesecloth to the jar with a rubber band. I use two jars and switch back and forth between feedings, so I always have a freshly clean jar.
4. Kitchen Scale: If you frequent our blog, you should already have one of these on hand. If you’re going to experiment with different flours for your GF sourdough starter, you should use your kitchen scale for measurements. Some flours are denser, so you must weigh them for recipe consistency.
5. Environment: Temperature is critical when growing healthy yeast and bacteria in a sourdough starter. Your kitchen temperature should be between 68-78 degrees F, and it can be warmer or cooler, but the rise time will be affected.

How to Feed a Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter (thinner, hydrated)

When starting your sourdough starter, in the first seven days, it’s best to start with a thinner starter. You may not see your starter hold a rise for long, but it’s better for getting the microbes established.

The best ratio to get things going with a gluten-free starter is 1:2. For example, that would be 50 grams of gluten-free, 100 grams of water, and 50 grams of established starter.

Gluten-free sourdough starters fed 1:2 flour to water will usually rise and bubble up in 4-6 hours, then fall back down to look flat. Some may form a watery layer on top.

How to Feed a Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter (thicker, dry, that holds a rise)

So many people email me saying things like, “I fed my starter 8 hours ago, and I see bubbles, but it didn’t rise.”

It most likely did rise; it just fell back down.

If you want to feed your starter before bed or work and see it 8 hours later, still risen and bubbly, you need to make a thicker starter. If you want to snap pics of your starter and expect it to look like the ones on Pinterest and Instagram, you need to make it thicker.

For a thick bread flour starter, you can feed a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of flour to water. So, for example, for a very thick starter, that would be 100 grams of gluten-free flour, 50 grams of water, and 50 grams of established starter. It will be very thick and may dry out a little on the top, but you can see it hold a rise.

The Best Gluten-Free Flour for Sourdough Starters

I make my mix of gluten-free flour for feeding my GF sourdough starter. It’s a simple mix of:

• 300 grams blue corn masa flour or yellow corn masa
• 300 grams Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten-Free Flour
• 150 grams sorghum flour (or buckwheat)

NOTE: Cornmeal is not the same thing as corn masa. Masa is a finer grind made from corn that has gone through nixtamalization (a process where you soak corn with lime before grinding). Masa is used for dough, while cornmeal is more like polenta and you must cook it for it to absorb water. You must use corn masa in this recipe, not cornmeal.  

I usually make this mix, then store it in an air-tight glass container specifically for sourdough starter feedings. This sourdough starter recipe does work well with feeding 100% Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten-Free Flour.

Can Gluten-Free Flour Rise with Yeast?

Yes, gluten-free flour can rise with packaged yeast or wild yeast in a sourdough starter. And with the right bread recipe, the rise is beautiful!

Here’s the thing about gluten-free flour rising with yeast, though: you MUST shape the bread before allowing it to rise. This is NOTHING like glutinous bread dough. There is no punch-down, no stretching or folding, no pre-shaping then shaping, and only one rise.

I chose the loaf-pan method for our gluten-free sourdough bread recipe, and it allows for higher water content and no need to try and shape something that includes no gluten to hold everything together.

How to Discard and Feed Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter

You discard and feed a gluten-free sourdough starter like a regular one. See the section above on the best gluten-free flour for sourdough starters.

The feeding ratio is adjustable in these instructions. I suggest following the 1:2 ratio for the first 7 days; then you can adjust to a thicker starter that holds a “photo-worthy” rise longer.

Step One (Day 1)

1. In a bowl combine:
   • 50 grams of gluten-free flour
   • 100 grams of water
2. Use a spatula to combine the flour and water. Stir until there are no clumps and the mixture is smooth.
3. Scoop the mixture into a clean glass jar.
4. loosely set a lid on the top or secure a breathable covering to the jar (i.e. cheesecloth) and leave the mixture on the counter for 24 hours.

Step Two (Day 2)

1. Stir sourdough starter mixture.
2. Add in 50 grams of organic gluten-free flour
3. Add 100 grams of water.
4. Mix and scrape down the sides. Replace a breathable lid. Leave the mixture on the counter for 24 hours.

Step Three (Days 3-7, Feeding and Discarding)

1. to a clean bowl add:
   • 50 grams sourdough starter mixture from day 2
   • 50 grams of organic gluten-free flour
   • 100 grams of water
2. Stir until evenly combined, and scoop into a clean jar.
3. Replace the breathable lid and allow it to ferment for 24 hours.
4. Discard any remaining original starter mixture. Or you can find fun ways to use sourdough starter discard, like this muffin recipe.
5. Repeat every 24 hours through day 7.

Step Four (The Night Before Baking)

You can feed your starter however much you need to here. If you plan to bake five loaves, for instance, you can feed your entire starter 150 grams of flour and 300 grams of water in a large bowl and cover it.

1. 8 hours before starting a baking recipe, in a bowl, combine:
   • All of the starter
   • 100 grams of organic gluten-free flour
   • 200 grams of water
2. Stir until evenly combined.
3. Scoop the starter into a large jar.
4. Place the breathable lid on the jar and allow it to ferment for 12 hours.

Day 8 (Baking Day)

1. If your starter is bubbly and smells sour, it’s ready to use.

How to Make Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread

CLICK HERE for the best and easiest gluten-free sourdough bread recipe

I developed our gluten-free sourdough bread recipe with four priorities in mind. I wanted this bread to be:

1. Soft but sturdy and easy to cut
2. Full of sourdough flavor
3. Extremely easy to make with minimal ingredients
4. No eggs

I can say that I nailed it. Our gluten-free sourdough bread recipe checks off all my standards. It is delicious, soft yet able to hold together, egg-free, and straightforward.

Seriously, this gluten-free sourdough comes together in just 5 minutes. Then, let it ferment and rise before baking.

Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter Problems

With gluten-free sourdough starters, the troubleshooting is about the same as regular sourdough starters.

If you encounter any issues with your gluten-free sourdough starter, check out this article: The Most Common Sourdough Starter Problems and How to Fix Them.

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