Gluten free sourdough starter is a great way to use natural yeast in baked goods! With only a few ingredients and a couple of days of monitoring, you’ll have the best addition to gluten free breads and baked goodies!

The options are pretty much endless when it comes to using a gluten-free starter. Pizza, bread, waffles, pancakes, muffins, you name it!

There are mutliple different options for creating a gluten free starter that’s perfect for baking, but I’m going to share my favorite with you today! This one isn’t too tangy or sour like common gf starters.

When making a starter, there’s tons of different flour options to use. brown rice, sorghum flour, buckwheat flour, or a blend of our gluten-free flour, and there’s even the option of using a commercial gluten-free cup for cup type of flour, but I don’t personally recommend it. So let’s talk about why you need your own gluten-free sourdough starter…

Why do you need a gluten-free sourdough starter?

If you’re like me, and have celiac disease or maybe you have a very severe gluten allergy or gluten intolerance, it can be hard to find sourdough or other baked goods that are safe to eat and taste good.

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That’s why we use a TRULY gluten-free sourdough starter recipe. It begins with gluten-free flour and never has anything else added.

I also personally wanted the benefits of sourdough like my friend Kelsey from Simple Life by Kels shares about HERE. For me with celiac disease though, I knew I needed an entirely gluten-free starter.

The thing that caught my attention most with what Kelsey said was how it has the ability to not only decrease the glycemic index of the food you are putting your GF sourdough starter in but also, everything else you eat for hours AFTER eating something with sourdough in it! Amazing!

Why you’ll love this sourdough starter

It calls for pantry staple ingredients
It’s super easy to make with a little maintenance and patience.
You can use it in so many different recipes.
It’s not tangy or sour which gives the perfect flavor and texture to whatever you’re baking.

What is wild yeast?

Wild yeast or sourdough starter is created by fermenting gluten-free flour and water. This fermentation process happens when the natural bacteria floating in the air of your home combine with the GF flour and water to create this cultured beauty! It’s a natural starter culture made right in your own home.

As I learned from my friend Laura Lives the Good Life, just one teaspoon of sourdough starter contains 5 billion lactobacilli bacteria or active cultures! Like you can also find in yogurt or kefir, this strain of probiotic is great for the body. It’s so much better than anything you could buy from the grocery store.

How to make a gluten-free sourdough starter

Day 1: Prepare

Step 1: Fill a clean, quart sized jar with 1/2 cup gluten-free flour and 1/4-1/2 cup water (not chlorinated tap water).

Step 2: Start with 1/4 cup flour then add a little as needed to get a consistency of pancake batter. The amount of water will vary depending on what type of flour you use.

Brown rice flour being poured into a jar

Water being poured into gluten-free sourdough

Step 3: Gently place the lid on top but DO NOT screw it tight. Leave some space for air to flow.

Now, just let it sit out at room temperature (being in a warm place definitely helps) until tomorrow when you will go onto the next step…

Day 2: Rest and remove

Step 4: Remove the lid and discard half of the starter. Feed it another 1/2 cup gluten-free flour and 1/4-1/2 C filtered water then stir.

Day 3-7: Repeat

Step 5: Repeat the above step until day 7. Scrape down the sides of the jar using a spatula to prevent molding.

Pro Tip: Chlorinated top water will kill your starter. If you don’t know if yours is chlorinated simply leave a glass of water out on the counter overnight and the gas or chlorine will dissipate and then you can use that.

Can I make one with gluten-free all-purpose flour?

The best results are made by using single flours like brown rice, teff flour, white rice flour or sorghum flour or our blend of our gluten-free flour. Similar to other great recipes on our site like gluten-free pop tarts and gluten-free cinnamon rolls, following the recipe exactly yields a more “spot on” end result. However, we’ve also used a commercial GF all-purpose flour and it works ok, not great.

Make sure if you use commercial GF all-purpose flour, you avoid ones with bean flour, xanthan gum, or guar gum. Starches like tapioca starch, potato starch, corn starch or even cassia flour and nut flours like almond will not work either.

Gluten-free flour & starches in plastic jars

What is the BEST gluten-free flour for making a sourdough starter with?

Ok, are you ready for it? My family’s favorite was the brown rice starter for sure! It has great consistency and makes the most amazing gluten-free recipes. Our next favorite is the one we made using sorghum flour. The one I made with our blend of our gluten-free flour was also great good but not as good as the other two.

I didn’t personally like the one I made with commercial gf flour blend. It didn’t taste as good nor did it work as well in recipes.

How long does it take to get a mature starter ready to use as a leaven?

When your starter doubles in size and you see large bubbles within a few hours after a feeding, it is ready to bake with! Bubbly starter lets you know it is live and active.

The discard can easily be used in recipes like gluten-free zucchini bread and gluten-free biscuits that don’t call for yeast.

Why do you have to discard during the first week?

It may seem wasteful but if you don’t discard, your starter would get too large. You have to feed your starter AT LEAST what you have in the jar so if you never discard, it would get huge really fast.

How often do you feed and store your starter to maintain it?

“Feed” your starter every 24 hours for the first seven days. After that, if you plan on baking often, keep it on the counter and feed it daily.

If you’d like a bit less maintenance, store it in the refrigerator and feed it once a week at least. You can also take it out and feed it anytime you are ready to use it.

How do I make sourdough more mild or stronger in flavor?

To make sourdough baked goods stronger in sour taste and flavor, stir in the hooch or liquid that has collected on top of your starter. When you go to feed it you will see this on top.

Most consider this the waste product but the more often you stir in the hooch each time you feed your starter, the stronger sourdough flavor you will get.

If you want a more mild sourdough flavor that you can hardly taste, pour out the hooch before feeding and using the starter. The more you pour it off before feeding, the more mild tasting your sourdough starter will be.

Jar of gluten-free sourdough starter with hooch

How to use a gluten-free sourdough starter

When you are ready to use your gluten-free sourdough starter, simply feed it 1/2- 1 cup of flour and 1/2-1 cup of water depending on how much you need. Then leave it out on the counter for at least thirty minutes to get live (active starter) and happy before using it.

Then you will use 1 cup of gluten-free sourdough starter in most recipes that call for dry yeast with 1 C warm milk or water.

I love using my sourdough starter in everything from our homemade sourdough bread recipe and gluten-free pancakes to gluten-free stuffing with our leftover gluten-free bread. The bread dough can be made in a loaf pan or in a dutch oven or cast iron skillet lined with parchment paper for a more rustic loaf.

gluten-free sourdough crescent rolls unbaked on a cookie sheet

How do you increase your starter for a large recipe?

To increase your starter for larger recipes, simply feed your starter the wet and dry ingredients you need for the recipe plus a bit extra to have something left.

As long as you have at least a tablespoon of your starter left, you can start a new starter or build yours back up. You can also do a bulk fermentation by using larger doll and 2-3x quantities of ingredients as you follow the directions.

If you love this recipe, please let us know below. Consider leaving a comment, a rating or sharing on social media. We are so grateful for wonderful readers like YOU! Here are some other great recipes perfect for using your sourdough starter and discard in…

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