GF Sourdough?

[gabbyraja]

Allright, I must admit I know nothing about sourdough. In fact, other than the SD bread bowls at Panera I've never had it (and I have no idea if that's real SD or just sour flavored). I don't know how to get starter, or what to do with it, and I don't know if you can do it with GF flour. I'm trying to look into it, but I am just wondering if you can make it with GF flours before I try to smush even more into my taxed and overfull brain. :)

[bluets]

I can tell you how not to do it :)

I had a few bags of Bob's Red Mill GF flour mix and I didn't know until it was too late that this particular mix has bean flours in it.  For me that meant I had to do a ferment on it.  So it sat for some time while I gathered up the nerve to figure out how to do a GF sourdough with it.

I followed the process in Nourishing Traditions, only I jumpstarted the ferment with a cup of kefir instead of water.  Everyday I added 1c. GF mix and 1c. water.  Mix and forget for another day.  On baking day, I used the basic sourdough recipe in NT, and I think for every cup of GF flour, you need to add 1 tsp of xanthan gum, so I added that as well and did the final ferment.  Then baked it.  SOLID AS A BRICK.  I think I would add a step in there before baking to include yeast.

Really, this loaf was so dense (and I made little loaves because it felt dense in the bowl), I could have tossed it at my window and broken it (the window, not the loaf).  It had a nice sourdough flavor, but you just were afraid to bite it for fear of breaking teeth.  Back to the drawing board - I have 2 more bags of the GF flour mix to use so I will try it again some day.

[Koalamom]

I made a very sucessful brown rice starter without kefir or any other helper and it was alive and bubbly.  I tried and tried to creaye a pefect sourdough GF loaf and I have decided that it cant be done and I am no longer a bread eater.  If I have to have something, I will eat GF muffins or I use the stsrter for some traditional fermented GF flatbread like injera. 

And as a note - since GF flour are weird to begin with they dont make very good soaked cakes, I only eat unsoaked baked goods on the weekends as that is our sweet days.  We had GF brownies last night.  Oh so yummy!  I don't have to have bread anymore.

[babygirlie]

I love sour dough bread so much! When I was little I would just have sour dough toast and butter and was happy as a clam. I haven't even attempted to make it GF.. sounds really hard :( I miss it

[nutritionistmom]

I'm using the recipes from this blog. http://sourdough.com/blog/glutenfreesourdoughbaker/gluten-free-dairy-free-egg-free-sourdough-bread-recipe-tastes-good My starter needs 48hr more before I can use it and comment on whether or not the bread itself is any good.
Previously, I've made sourdough from an old wheat free cookbook I have. It was alright. It took about 6 hrs to rise and best toasted, but it had a nice flavour.

[velcromom]

I think most people have a few bricks when they first get their sourdough going, even if they aren't trying GF!! I hear that as the starter matures, it gets better.

Still, I don't have high hopes for a GF bread either, especially since I can't handle eggs right now and almost all GF baking involves lots and lots of eggs. BUT...

I think Cultures for Health has some sprouted GF flours/grains... not sure it was them but I think someone does? If not it can be done at home for sure. Then at least our cookies and brownies wouldn't be made of processed "white" GF flours...