Do It Yourself: Gluten Free Sourdough Starter

Our recipe generally takes about 5-7 days to complete, but it could take longer. Check to see if bobbles appear and the aroma is sweet.

• Morning day 1:  In a medium glass bowl or jar, whisk1/4 cup or 60 gr sorghum or brown rice flour  and 1/4 cup or 60 ml filtered water. You’re looking for a thick paste-like consistency. Scrape down the sides of the jar and close lightly, not fully sealed but covered. You can also cover it with a tea towel and a rubber band to hold it in place. Leave in a slightly warm place. Set aside at room temperature 12 hours.
  
  
• Night day 1: 

  Repeat at night before you go to bed (about 12 hours later), adding 60g more of each flour and water to the jar. Stir, and scrape down. Twice a day feeding is important for the beginning, to strengthen the starter. 

  Day 2: Repeat this process morning and night for two full days.

• Day 3 We need to start discarding (do not keep the discards, they are not ready yet!) In the morning, keep only 100g to 120g of the starter.
  
  
• For the next five days, you’ll want to discard everything but 100g of starter every feed. Keep feeding 50g each of flour and water. 
  Keep feeding twice a day until you start seeing good bubbles.
   You will notice a pleasant sweet-sour aroma and bubbles begin to form, your initial starter is ripe and ready.. 

• Remember, to keep your starter healthy and strong, you’ll need to refresh it, or feed it before using it in a recipe.
• at about day three or four, your starter will begin to smell unpleasant, but it will change.

Regular Feeding Instructions: if your starter is at room temperature, you will want to feed it every day. You will continue with the 100% hydration feedings. This means you will discard down to 100g of starter every day, then feed it with 100g room temperature filtered water and 80-100g gluten-free whole grain flour. Mix well and cover lightly.

Storing your starter in the refrigerator? you will only need to feed once a week, following the same instructions as above.

• If you are feeding for maintenance: you can feed and return straight to the refrigerator.
• Feeding to prepare for a bake: remove from the refrigerator, feed as normal, and bake at peak rise. Sometimes, two feedings are needed to help the starter to get ripe and ready.
  
  

• Gluten-Free Whole Grain Flour such as brown rice flour, sorghum flour or a mixture of brown rice flour, white rice flour and light Teff flour.
• Room Temperature Filtered Water