This homemade 2-ingredient gluten-free sourdough starter is the new revolutionary innovation in home baked gluten-free bread. It works much better than store-bought dry yeast starter. Your homemade bread will be so much healthier and tastier than any store-bought bread.
Have you ever gotten very frustrated because your homemade gluten-free vegan bread caved in the center? Or just won’t rise as high as the wheat bread you’re more familiar with?
Honestly, I did. Thousands of times! Looking back at my old notes, I found that many times I crossed out the records of the homemade gluten-free sandwich bread I tried.
For years, I thought it was due to the lack of gluten. My understanding, like many others, was that the sticky gluten protein is what holds the gas produced during fermentation inside the wheat dough. This would then allow the bread to rise. If the GF bread is vegan as well, the absence of egg white makes it even more challenging for the bread to puff and hold its shape.
Boy, was I wrong! Or I should say, I’m glad I was Wrong!
Yes, a good yeast starter like this homemade sourdough starter. (You can remove the sour taste with baking soda.)
Why do you need to make your own gluten-free sourdough starter?
I have found that using this homemade gluten-free sourdough starter can really make the bread puffy and soft. After trying many times to use store-bought active dry yeast, I found that the bread doesn’t hold its shape and the texture is hard to control from batch to batch. More annoying yet, if the fermentation exceeds 2 hours with the store-bought yeast, the dough will have a bit of bitter alcohol taste, even after baking.
As research shows, the fermentation step takes time for microorganisms to break down protein, carbohydrate, fibers, and other nutrients. Homemade sourdough starter is rich with those live microorganisms. They help to predigest the nutrients in the food, making them more favorable to our body.
What do you need to make gluten-free sourdough starter?
You only need two ingredients for this recipe.
Water
Mix the two ingredients with the 1:2 ratio by weight. For instance, 50 grams of teff flour and 100 grams of water. The ratio is important! (See this research paper if you’re interested.)
How to make gluten-free sourdough starter?
You can easily make it at home. Here are the steps!
- Mix the two ingredients together with clean hands in a grease free bowl.
- Transfer the mixture into a grease free glass jar and then cover with a lid. The lid doesn’t have to be airtight.
- Let the jar sit in a room with temperature between 63-77℉ or 17-25℃ for 18-24 hours.
The initial fermentation will produce lots of gas. That’s a good indication that fermentation is taking place. An acidic yellowish liquid will start to form around 22 hours depending on your room temperature. At this point your sourdough starter is ready to use for making bread.
If the initial fermentation exceeds 24 hours, at the point of 33 hours, the liquid layer will be darker (grayish color) and the smell will be strong and distinct. If the fermentation exceeds 33 hours, it will be slightly more sour.
How to use homemade gluten-free sourdough starter?
Once the sourdough starter is ready to use, I mix the liquid on the surface with the batter on the bottom to form a well-mixed paste. I use part of the starter for my gluten-free bread as the recipe calls and reserve the rest for making more starter.
How to keep homemade gluten-free sourdough starter?
Like any homemade fermented foods, you need to continuously feed the starter to keep it growing. (I always say fermented foods are like pets but you don’t have to walk them.) All you need to do is add more water and brown teff flour to the sourdough starter you reserved from the previous batch. At this point, the ratio between teff flour and water is not important.
If you are not planning to use it in a day or so, you can refrigerate it to slow down the fermentation. Remember to feed your starter fresh flour and water every two or three days to ensure the microorganisms are fed.
Can I use different flour, such as brown rice flour, instead of teff flour to make the sourdough starter?
I have tried brown rice flour, white rice flour, and sweet rice flour. They don’t work at all. Mold starts to grow after a few days. Teff flour contains microorganisms that are a good source to start fermentation.
In Ethiopia, a kind of pancake like bread called Enjera is made using fermented teff flour (batter).
Side note: I remember reading one post where this woman’s starter turned black and stunk up her entire house. I tried that too, not very good. If it’s black, it means bad mold so you shouldn’t use it.
If by any chance, you are making water kefir at home or can borrow some from a friend , you can replace 10 grams of water with water kefir in this recipe. This way the fermentation will start more quickly with live probiotics and not have the distinct smelly odor that the non-water kefir starter has.
In the end, if you love fermented food, you may be interested in some of my homemade fermented food recipes.
Sichuan Style Fermented Vegetables
How to make Fermented Sweet Rice (Jiuniang)
- 50 grams brown teff flour gluten-free
- 100 grams water
- Mix the two ingredients together with clean hand in a grease free bowl.
- Transfer the mixture into a grease free glass jar and then cover with a lid. The lid doesn’t have to be airtight.
- Let the jar sit in a room with temperature between 63-77℉ or 17-25℃ for 18-24 hours.
- The initial fermentation will evolutate lots of gas. It’s also a good indication that fermentation is taking place. An acidic yellowish liquid will start to form around 22 hours depending on your room temperature. At this point your sourdough starter is ready to use for making bread.
- If the initial fermentation exceeds 24 hours, to the 33 hour mark, the liquid layer will be darker (grayish color) and the smell will be strong and distinct.
- See post text for how to keep homemade gluten-free sourdough starter.
Hi Joyce
Thank you so much for this recipe. I can’t
wait to try and make it .
Do you have a recipe that you use to add the starter mix too.
Thank you
Debbie
Hi Debbie, I’m glad you like the recipe. Yes, I’ll post a homemade gluten-free bread using this starter soon. I’ll keep you updated. 🙂
Hi Joyce, what size of the glass jar do u used? Worried wrong size may cause overflowing.
I used a pint jar for my recipe but the starter was almost overflowed. So a quart jar would be a good size to start.
Because i can’t leave well-enough alone, I must ask: is it bad to stir up/mix up the starter around twelve hours in?
No, it’s totally find to mix or stir it.
Hi Joyce
My starter got moldy after four days…. It also did’t really get bubbly… sort of disappointed… what do you think went wrong?
I’m sorry to hear that. Here are a few things I would suggest. 1) Make sure there is no grease. 2)If there is no bubble, it may indicate the temperature is too low. 3)If those suggestions don’t work, try a different brand of teff flour. Different brands may contain different microorganisms during the milling process. Fermentation needs those microorganisms to start with. Let me know how that goes. I’d love to help you to make this gf starter.
Would you please send me the bread recipe that I can make with my Teff flour?
Hi Shelley,
I have posted the recipe on the blog. You can find it here https://lightorangebean.com/the-best-homemade-gluten-free-bread/
Hi, do you have a recipe for the actual bread ? I made the starter but am having a hard time finding a matching recipe .. I tried a different recipe and just used teff flour instead.. and it was a failure.
Thank you
Yes, the bread recipe using this sour-dough starter is here: https://lightorangebean.com/the-best-homemade-gluten-free-bread/
Hi and thank you for the amazing recipies!
Can I use white teff flour instead? It is much easier to find where I live.
I never tried but I think it worth to give it a try. I know brown rice or white rice flour doesn’t work. Let me know what happens to your white teff flour. Thanks! 🙂
Hello, after about 20 hours my starter still looks like the photo that u have here after 10 min… no bubbles and water still on the surface.. its my first trial though… help! What do u think is the problem?
Is your room temperature too cold? Are you using brown teff flour? You may want to try different brand of teff flour if that batch doesn’t work. I’d give it a second try before going out to buy another bag of teff flour. Let me know what happens and I’d love to help.
I was searching Teff and Kefir for a sour dough starter and thought I wouldn’t find anything. Thankyou so much you site looks awesome so happy to have found it.
That’s awesome, Serina!
Can you stir it with a spoon instead of your hands? What is the purpose of stirring it with your hands?
Yes, you can stir with spoon. I read a statement that says sometimes stirring with your hand will help the fermentation because of “The microbes found on bakers’ hands mirror the microbes within their starters — the bubbly mix of yeast, bacteria and flour that’s the soul of every loaf.”
I tried brown rice flour, and though it bubbled well, I had mold after three days. I will have to give this a try, if I can find teff
Just get some teff and grind yourself! I THINK Bob’s Redmill sells teff. CHEERS!
Yes, when I finish my batch of teff flour I’ll definitely switch to the teff grains.
Hello Joyce!
Can a gluten-free sourdough starter be used to make wheat bread or should only a wheat sourdough starter be used to make wheat bread?
I have read research articles about wheat sourdough breads that are made with traditional methods (that means long hours fermentation) are tested to be gluten-free. It says the fermentation breaks down gluten so celiac patients can consume it without problems. However, I’m not so sure about the explanation because when gluten breaks down after the wheat dough ferment, why the dough is still sticky. We know because of gluten makes the dough sticky, right? For all of these, I still use my gluten-free sourdough starter to make my gf sour-dough bread to be safe.
Hi! I’m excited to try your recipe after many sad results from different recipes.
Do you have a recipe for your gluten free flour mix? I prefer to make my own. Thanks!
Yes, I do. The link is here: https://lightorangebean.com/diy-purpose-gluten-free-flour-grains/
Thanks for the recipe. I know you said that mold is normal, but I feel like mine had a lot. I scraped it off after 5-6 days of fermentation and now it smells just fine, but I am worried that the mixture is not safe from the mold. Thoughts
(This is what it looked like before and after I scraped the mold: https://imgur.com/a/XeCIGcG . )
Once it is fermented, you can use some right away and then feed with fresh teff flour to keep the fermentation going. If you can’t use it right away, you can keep it in fridge so it will slow down the fermentation.
I made this a few days ago and it has been fermenting, however is has insane amounts of fuzzy white mold all over the top of it. It shoots up several inches off of the teff. I scraped off the mold and it looks and smells fine, but I am worried There was a ton of mold.
The fuzzy white is a great sign of bacteria growing. If it’s black, it will have a moldy smell but if it’s white, I would not consider its mold. White foam is a good sign of fermentation.
Hi Joyce I made up the starter but its not enough for my recipe. So i put it in the fridge. May i know how much to activate the starter the next day? do i add the weight of the starter (150g) + water (150g) and GFlour (150g)? i am a newbie in baking. Kindly advise
If you starter smells fine, 1 tablespoon should be enough to ferment 1 -1.5 cups of gluten-free flour for recipes. You can add more teff flour and water to your starter to let it ferment and make more starter. The ratio is not critical at this point since your starter is already established.
thank you for your reply
Hi Joyce I made up the starter which I know it’s normal to have a separation but after stirring it’s abit watery & not much bubbles.. Am I doing it correctly? Do you happen to have a recipe for gluten-free soughdough bread? As I use your recipe on your starter for another bread recipe it does not work. ☹️
In this case, I’d suggest switch to a different brand of Teff flour. I hope that will help.
Imade your starter, weighed out Teffand absolutely no bubbles. After 24 hrs it looks like your first photo. I even used a thermometer in fermentation area to make sure it stayed in your recommended range. My flour brand is Tenera Grains
If you have homemade water kefir, you can add 1 tablespoon to the recipe, that may help. Otherwise, you can try different brand of teff flour. I just made another batch a few month ago and it worked fine.
Hu, Thank you for the recipe. I tried it but somehow 48 hours later there is no liquid formation but it has grown in size. also there a strong smell and i am still keep it outside of the fridge. is the liquid essential? Thank you for the help!
If the smell is strong and has sourness in it, you can move it to the fridge or start your first batch of sourdough bread. I hope that helps.
Just ordered tef. Will make the starter as soon as it’s arrive. Looks great! Thanks. Will keep you posted how it came out.
BTW, do you have a good recipe for a gluten free sourdough bread?
Yes, I do. It’s here https://lightorangebean.com/the-best-homemade-gluten-free-bread/
Hi all,
Teff flour may be gluten free but since i hsve Celiac, i double checked and discovered that teff is not safe for people with Celiac disease. Here’s an article from the USDA regarding this.
https://wheat.pw.usda.gov/ggpages/topics/celiac.html
Hope this helps…
In the article, it says “Certain cereal grains, such as various millets, sorghum, teff, ragi, and Job’s tears are close enough in their genetic relationship to corn to make it likely that these grains are safe for celiac patients to eat”. So i think it’s safe for celiac.
Hi Joyce, thanks for thoroughly reading the article. I do agree that it is “likely” that teff can be eaten safely by celiacs. However since there no conclusive testing or evidence that it is safe, I’ll pass. Many other grain substitutes have been tested and proven safe so I’ll stick with them. Has any other flour been used successfully in this recipe?
Teff flour is definitely safe for celiacs. You may know the European GF food company Shaer? Here’s their piece on Teff flour: https://www.schaer.com/en-us/a/teff-flour
If you want something more scientific, there’s this paper noting the GF nature of teff: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4571201/
(My daughter is coeliac, so I understand the importance of being sure).
Enjoy!
I love my sourdough starter, but it seems to be producing hooch too quickly. I have to feed it everyday even when I keep it in the fridge. Any suggestions?
You can give away some of your starter to friends or (throw away some). Keep small amount for yourself and then feed it. Since the concentration is lower, it will ferment slower.
Is it possible to use a Mold Inhibitor (potassium sorbate) to prevent mold? Or would this ruin the fermentation potential?
I’m not sure about it. Thanks for mentioning it. I’ll do some research reading.
When you feed the starter after is has been refrigerated, do you leave it at room temp or back to the frig. thanks for the recipe.
I leave the re-feed one at room temp for at least 12 hours to let it be active. After that, I put the jar back in refrigerator.
I’m so glad i found this post!
I’m tinkering with several types of flour/sourdough
This answers the question ‘can you make sourdough with teff’?
Thanks for this amazing and easy recipe! I read all the comments and questions here and now I am really excited to dive in. Quick question, though. I am totally new to making my own starter but I have always heard it needs lots of air. You say to put the lid on but no need to screw it on. Do you kind of keep it half on or a quarter open or even a smidge open so air can get in or how does that work? Isn’t air essential? Just wanting to know how to work with the lid situation to make sure it gets the air it needs! Thanks so much! Very excited to try it 🙂 It can be used with any kind of bread, or anything that needs yeast (in place of the yeast), right?
You can put on the lid but no need to be very tight. You can also cover it with coffee filter.
Hello! I am on day 1 and my starter already seems quite thick / no water on surface left. should I add more water?
Yes, you can add a tablespoon at a time.
while there are many flour options to make a gluten-free sourdough starter, I need to say that brown rice flour works really well – don’t understand why you say it doesn’t work at all. As you know, there are many factors which influence the activity in a starter.
Thanks for the feedback. Now I think I may try it again. My previous experience of using the brown rice is just turned the batch moldy, but at that time I was living in a different city and the climate is very different than where I live now. Thank for the input!