The Gluten Free Sourdough Masterclass

Defining the two kinds of fermentation in your sourdough, plus the vital roles of wild yeasts and bacteria.

Introduction and overview, plus how to tell when your starter is ready!

How to build brown rice, sorghum or buckwheat starters from scratch. 

These instructions also appear in the pdf of the Handbook for this course, which you can find in the Resources for Lecture 1.

The Where? When? and What? of starter maintenance, plus how and when to discard and refresh your starter.

Watch starters being started and fed.

Why time, temperature and age make all the difference to both starters & leavens. 

Please check the Resources for a guide to recognising and troubleshooting unhealthy starters ;)

How to make sure your leaven reaches its peak just when you want to mix dough.

The four pillars of GF bread making, and our own House White flour blend.

Read this before you start watching!

Prepare your leaven at least 3 to 4 hours ahead:

100g sorghum starter [3/8 cup]

90g sorghum flour [scant 3/4 cup]

90g tepid water [1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp]

= 280g sorghum leaven

Measure starter from fridge into a bowl, then add tepid water and flour. Mix. Put into a straight sided glass jar and mark level with an elastic band.

Cover this new leaven with a cloth, leave to develop at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours. (Feed the starter with more flour and water again before you put it back in the fridge.)

After 3 to 4 hours, the leaven should rise by at least one-third to double of the height of the band. It will dome, then fall slightly and appear quilted on top.

You can leave your leaven up to 8 hours; you may see that it has ‘peaked’ and then dropped in the jar, but it is still good to use.

Please read this before you start watching!

Prepare your leaven at least 3 to 5 hours ahead:

100g buckwheat OR brown rice starter [1/3 cup ]

75g buckwheat flour [3/4 cup ]

75g tepid, filtered water [scant 1/3 cup]

= 250g buckwheat leaven

Measure starter from fridge into a bowl, then add tepid water and flour. Mix. Put into a straight sided glass jar and mark level with an elastic band.

Cover this new leaven with a cloth, leave to develop at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours. (Feed the starter with more flour and water again before you put it back in the fridge.)

After 3 to 5 hours, the buckwheat leaven will probably look pink on top, and may not have risen a lot, but you should be able to see a more mousse-like texture under the surface, indicating the activity of CO2. It should rise by at least one-third of the height of the band. If you use the brown rice starter, it will rise a bit higher, and be paler in colour.

You can leave your leaven up to 8 or more hours; you may see that it has ‘peaked’ and then dropped in the jar, but it is still good to use.

Please read this before you start watching!

Prepare your leaven at least 3 to 4 hours ahead:

100g brown rice starter [1/3 cup]

50g brown rice flour [1/4 cup]

50g tepid water [scant ¼ cup]

= 200g brown rice leaven

Measure starter from fridge into a bowl, then add tepid water and flour. Mix well. Put into a straight sided glass jar and mark level with an elastic band.

Cover this new leaven with a cloth, leave to develop at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours. (Feed the starter with more flour and water again before you put it back in the fridge.)

After 3 to 4 hours, the leaven should rise by at least one-third of the height of the band, or even more. It will dome, then fall slightly and appear quilted on top.

You can leave your leaven up to 8 hours; you may see that it has ‘peaked’ and then dropped in the jar, but it is still good to use.

Please read this before you start watching!

Prepare your leaven at least 3 to 4 hours ahead:

100g brown rice starter [1/3 cup]

50g brown rice flour [1/4 cup]

50g tepid water [scant ¼ cup]

= 200g brown rice leaven

Measure starter from fridge into a bowl, then add tepid water and flour. Mix well. Put into a straight sided glass jar and mark level with an elastic band.

Cover this new leaven with a cloth, leave to develop at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours. (Feed the starter with more flour and water again before you put it back in the fridge.)

After 3 to 4 hours, the leaven should rise by at least one-third of the height of the band, or even more. It will dome, then fall slightly and appear quilted on top.

You can leave your leaven up to 8 hours; you may see that it has ‘peaked’ and then dropped in the jar, but it is still good to use.

This leaven is used for both vegan and dairy versions of the brioche burger buns, baby brioche, sourdoughnuts and cinnamon squiggles.

Vegan brioche burger buns, doughnuts and cinnamon squiggles.

For instructions on making a teff-cacao (chocolate) starter and leaven, see Section 3.