I am fully aware that it has been actual YEARS since the last time I blogged, but, life came at me fast. In the past two years I’ve dedicated myself way more fully to my day job (co-director and teacher at a Montessori school). I was pregnant and then found out at 20 weeks we had lost the baby. I lost my dad to a heart attack. And now, I’m pregnant again, at the end of my second trimester, due this summer. I wrote another cookbook, which will be out this summer. And of course Everett has continued to grow and change and be his weird intense amazing self. It’s been… a lot.

I’ve also struggled with how people’s interactions with blogs changed. There’s a lot of “ugh story skip to the recipe.” Which… I get. But I did this thing for free for a lot of years, and the story telling was a part I loved, and a part that let me have genuine connections with people. For a while, at least. But I get it, the internet changed, instagram killed blogs, etc.

AS IT WERE. I am back because I have something to share that needed a more permanent home than my instagram stories. Along with the rest of the world stuck at home, I decided to try my hand at sourdough. Since I have celiac disease this would have to be, of course, gluten free. I read every gf sour dough recipe I could find and was overwhelmed by all the speciality flours. I’m still working from home full time, plus parenting, I don’t have time for 5 flours. Then! I happened upon a King Arthur Flours recipe for a gf starter using their measure for measure flour. This is my favorite gf flour, so I decided to give it a whirl.

It is now important to note that KA does not have a gf sourdough recipe to go with it. I decided to see if I could wing it with a rough understanding of wet/dry ratios gleaned from recipes with too many flours and tried my hand at a gluten free sourdough using KA measure for measure flour. AND IT WORKED. Y’all it is light, fluffy, has a great crumb, tastes good, and is seriously magic. It’s so good that if someone served it to me in a restaurant I would think they messed up and it was regular bread.

I decided this recipe was worth sharing since I honestly couldn’t find a gf sourdough recipe that was low maintenance and the world deserves one. Here it is, folks, the first recipe on B&S in two years. Enjoy!

Gluten Free Sourdough Bread

Starter:

• 1 cup King Arthur Gluten Free Measure-for-Measure flour (this is the only recipe I have tested this with, I cannot ensure that it will work with other flours).
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon water

Starter Directions:

• Day 1: Mix together flour and water until fully incorporated. Cover lightly with a towel and then put in a warm, dark place in your kitchen.
• Day 2-4: Divide your starter in half and discard half (or make it into pancakes!). Add 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp water to your starter and mix to incorporate, making sure to get all the clumps of flour. Cover loosely and keep on your counter.
• Day 5: By day 5 your starter should be doubling in size and getting nice and fluffy. This might take an extra day or two in winter if your kitchen is cold. This is when it’s ready to make bread! Divide your starter in half, setting half aside for your bread recipe (below). Feed the remaining starter as normal (1 cup flour + 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp water). Transfer to a jar with the lid on loosely and store in the fridge.
• Note: By day 5 my starter was kind of dry. I added an extra 1/3 cup water, a little at a time, until it was more of a paste than a dough.

Two Sourdough Boules:

• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 3 cups water, divided
• 4 cups King Arthur GF 1-1 flour, divided
• 1/4 cup xanthum gum
• 1 tablespoon sea salt

Sourdough Directions:

1. The night before you want to make you bread combine 1 cup of starter, 1 cup water, and 1 cup flour in a bowl. Mix well to combine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. In the morning combine your starter mix with remaining flour, water, xanthum gum, and salt in a stand mixer. Mixing with a dough hook, mix on medium speed until a dough ball has formed. If you don’t have a mixer mix with a wooden spoon to form a ball. Gluten free flour does NOT need to be kneaded/worked like wheat dough.
3. Flour a work surface and divide the dough into two balls. Gently work each ball into a sphere, handling it delicately as you can overwork gf flour. Place each sphere in a bowl and cover with a damp towel.
4. Allow to rise for 4-6 hours in a warm place in your kitchen.
5. Heat your oven to 475F. Place a cast iron Dutch oven in the oven to warm. Roll out a 12″ sheet of parchment paper and lightly flour the bottom. Place one boule on the parchment and dust with flour. Cut a slit across the top of the boule to allow the bread to expand.
6. When the oven is preheated take the Dutch oven out. Using the parchment paper to move it, transfer the dough to the Dutch oven. Add an ice cube to the DO (outside the parchment) and quickly put the lid on. Transfer the DO back to the oven, lidded. Bake for 1 hour.
7. After an hour remove the lid and bake an additional 5 minutes.
8. Transfer your bread to a rack to cool. Cool for at least one hour before slicing (important!).
9. Repeat the baking process with the second boule.

NOTES:

• A few people have tested this recipe and said it’s not quite finished baking. I suspect my oven runs hot, so if yours runs on the cooler/drafty side try the break at 500. The crust should be a dark golden brown.
• Be very careful when handling the dough after the rise. The xanthum gum works to build the bubbles/rise and if you knock it down transferring it to the Dutch oven, it won’t have time to re-rise and will be dense.