This Simple Sorghum Sourdough recipe was created for everyone that is curious about gluten-free vegan bread baking recipes that can’t consume rice flour.
It’s perfect for individuals that follow a gluten-free lifestyle along with eating mostly plant-based. This recipe does not include eggs, dairy or any of the other top allergens.
Sorghum is a great little cereal grain that is a perfect ingredient for recipes just like this one. The ingredient list was kept as simple as possible to encourage more people to try it. If you can’t find one of the ingredients, feel free to ask substitution questions in the comments below or directly in the YouTube recipe video comments.
It was a lot of fun developing this gluten-free fermented sourdough bread recipe so I hope you give it a try and bake it often!
Simple Sorghum Sourdough
To make this loaf you will need a gluten-free Sorghum Sourdough Starter.
Don’t forget to get your copy of the 3-page printable guide to help you make your first starter.
Once your starter is active and ready to use in this bread recipe, read the instructions, take a peek at the photos below and view the how-to videos to help you along the way.
YouTube How-to Videos
Even though this recipe is simple to make, it could feel a little intimidating to some, especially if you’ve never baked bread before—let alone a sourdough loaf.
Please watch the two recipe videos below to guide you along the way. The YouTube how-to videos should clarify the process and help you along the way.
Simple Sorghum Sourdough – Part 1
Simple Sorghum Sourdough – Part 2
Process Photos
Keep scrolling to see many photos of the sourdough baking process. Showing you just how easy it is to make was important. The hardest part is waiting in between each step.
Fermented Beet Juice
Adding fermented beet juice, the secret ingredient, to the dough is optional. Ultimately, it’s just another way to introduce different bacteria to make your sourdough bread recipe thrive.
If you want to make lacto-fermented vegetables at home, try this recipe: Life-Changing Fermented Vegetables
Days 1 – Mixing the ingredients in the evening. See recipe for the list.
Day 2 (am) – Adding the sorghum starter, sea salt and secret ingredient (optional).
Day 2 (pm) – Getting the dough ready for baking.
Baking Setup – Bread baking setup for gluten-free vegan sourdough.
Helpful Sourdough Videos
Even though this recipe is made with sorghum flour, you can view these additional gluten-free sourdough related videos to help you along the way.
- (Original) Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter (1:46)
- Buckwheat Sourdough Loaf GFV (2:50)
Sourdough Related Posts
Gluten-Free Baking Academy
If you’re interested in learning more about gluten-free baking, check out the Gluten-Free Baking Academy courses taught by cookbook author Heather Crosby from YumUniverse.
I took the bread baking course a couple of years ago, and it’s what got me hooked on this bread baking journey. I love to recommend programs I’ve tried and truly enjoyed!
Take a course tour to see if this learn at your pace bread baking course is right for you!
Fresh is Real’s Facebook Group
The Gluten-Free Vegan Baking Facebook Group was created to help baking enthusiasts learn more about baking without gluten, dairy, eggs, top allergens, etc. It’s where Fresh is Real shares recipes in development before they are posted on freshisreal.com.
If you have recipes that you love, that fit within the group guidelines, please share them with the group! We love seeing new creations and especially love learning new baking tips. A great place to ask questions! Join us!
Previous Recipe
The last recipe shared on Fresh is Real was the Sorghum Sourdough Starter recipe. That is the starter you need to create in order to make this Simple Sorghum Sourdough.
Rate This Recipe
Lastly, don’t forget to rate this recipe and include a comment! Sharing your feedback with others really helps them to find the recipe! I thank you in advance if you do, I really appreciate it!
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Simple Sorghum Sourdough
- Prep Time: 30 minutes (+ overnight resting + 6-hour rising)
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: +/- 19.5 hours (mostly hands-off)
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Oven-Baked
- Cuisine: Gluten-Free, Plant-Based, Vegan, Allergen-Friendly, Gut-Friendly
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
A gorgeous bread recipe that will open your eyes to ingredients you can consume even when on a gluten-free and plant-based lifestyle. You will need a Sorghum Sourdough Starter*** to make this rustic and artisan-style loaf.
If you avoid many top allergens because of food sensitivities or allergies, this recipe might be right for you as it is free of gluten, nuts, peanuts, eggs, dairy, and soy. This loaf is also free of corn, rice, oats, legumes and refined sugar.
This mostly hands-off 2-day gluten-free sourdough recipe rests in the refrigerator overnight to help breakdown the ingredients to make the loaf easier to digest. The addition of the sourdough starter on day 2 helps to create beautiful dough without making it too sour.
For best results, it is recommended to bake the loaf into a Dutch oven. A baking stone is also a great tool to help distribute the heat more evenly but it is optional. See process picture for example.
Ingredients
Day 1
1 cup sorghum flour (110g) (+ extra for dusting, optional)
1 cup buckwheat flour (125g)
1/2 cup sunflower or pumpkin seed flour (45g) (or a combo of both)*
1/2 cup arrowroot starch (60g)
1/4 cup potato starch (not flour) (40g)
3 tablespoons whole psyllium husk (20g)
1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar (12g) (or maple syrup)
1–1/2 cups water, filtered or spring (room temp) (approx. 360g)
1/4 cup olive oil (+ extra for topping, optional)
Day 2
1 cup active (fed) sorghum sourdough starter (approx. 265g)
1 tablespoon fermented beet juice, optional**
1/2 – 1 tablespoon sea salt (5-10g)
Optional
Seeds: sunflower, pumpkin, poppy, sesame, hemp
Instructions
- In the evening, in a large glass bowl, sift and mix the dry ingredients listed in Day 1. Add the olive oil and 1 cup of the water and mix well. Add remaining 1/2 cup of water and mix until well incorporated. Cover the bowl and refrigerate, or place in a colder room, overnight (for at least 12 hours).
- Tip: Make sure you feed your sorghum starter in the evening, so it’s active and bubbly in the morning.
- The next morning, remove your bowl from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature (about 1-2 hours). Note: If your bowl was already out in a colder room then you’re ready for the next step.
- Add 1 cup of active fed sorghum sourdough starter, sea salt and beet juice (optional) to the dough bowl.
- Mix the ingredients with your clean hands until everything is well combined and the dough comes together nicely.
- Tip: You can gently stretch and knead the dough in the bowl a few times to then punch it down a bit to help shape it into a ball. Watch this video for example.
- Transfer dough ball to a tea towel-lined soup bowl (approx. 6.25 inches in diameter), fold towel over and place everything into a sealable plastic bag.
- Move your dough bowl to a warm area of your house.
- Let rise for about 6 hours until the dough has risen to about an inch over the bowl edge or noticeably increased in size—it will not double.
- Preheat your oven, your Dutch oven and baking stone (optional) to 450° F for at least 30-45 minutes once your dough is ready to bake. Everything can stay in the bag covered until your oven is ready.
- Once your oven is hot, and your dough has increased in size, now it’s time to prepare for baking.
- Transfer your dough (flat side down, round side up) onto a piece of unbleached parchment paper (about 11×13 inches).
- Dust your dough with sorghum flour, help spread it around with your hands if necessary.
- With a very sharp knife (or bread scoring blade) score your loaf.
- If you want to add seeds, you can brush your dough with a little olive oil to help the seeds stick.
- Remove your preheated Dutch oven from the oven (careful it will be hot) and transfer your dough with parchment paper into the Dutch oven and cover.
- Return Dutch oven to the oven for 25 minutes covered, 25 minutes uncovered and 8-10 minutes with the loaf directly onto the rack or baking stone (if you used one).
- You know the bread is ready once you tap the top and sides with your finger and it sounds hard and hollow.
- Cool on a rack for 4 hours or overnight before slicing! Enjoy!
Notes
Storage tips: This loaf keeps well on the counter for 1-2 days wrapped in a tea towel. After that slice, the rest and refrigerate it in a bag or glass container for up to 5 days. This loaf does freeze well but slicing it beforehand is suggested before you freeze it.
Toasting tips: Gluten-free bread does not toast like regular bread. It does take longer to toast which is why I always use my cast iron pan to make toast now. On medium, to low heat preheat a well-seasoned cast iron pan, place fresh or frozen slices, reduce the heat to low and let your slices toast nice and slow while you carry on with your daily kitchen duties. Once almost ready, turn off the heat to keep your toast warm until you’re ready to eat.
*You can grind/mill fresh raw organic sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds into a fine flour with either a coffee/spice grinder or small blender. If you have a dry container Vitamix that will also work well. Sift the flour to remove larger seed bits and discard or return to the grinder.
As an alternative, if you are not nut-free, consider using almond flour or other nut flours in your bread recipe.
**The juice from a jar of fermented beets or vegetables. See this lacto-fermented vegetable recipe to make your own. My ferments only contain fresh veggies, packed tightly in a clean glass jar, filled with brine (water and sea salt), pickling spices and fresh garlic.
***If you don’t already have a sorghum starter but do have a gluten-free brown rice starter, consider using it in this recipe, as I’m sure it could work equally well.
Excited to try this recipe out! I bake regular sourdough often but am very excited about this recipe and can’t wait to try it. However, I wanted to know if you wanted it to be more sour tasting, like SF Sourdough, is it possible to add the starter with all the ingredients on day one, rather than on day two?
View CommentHi Piper! You can experiment with this recipe for sure! Try it both ways so you can taste the difference for yourself! It’s a great way to learn. Or test half the dough with the starter overnight and the other with the starter added the next day. Have you baked a GF sourdough bread recipe yet? The 7-inch recipe is also great to play around with. https://www.freshisreal.com/7-inch-sourdough-boule-gf-v/
View CommentHave you tried replacing buckwheat with a rice flour (since we dont have that allergy). I am not a huge fan of buckwheat in my bread since i find it a bit bitter.
View CommentHi Jessica! This loaf was created to be free of rice, but you can use rice flour (white or brown) if you prefer. I do have other GF sourdough recipes that include rice flour, the 7-Inch Boule is a great example: https://www.freshisreal.com/7-inch-sourdough-boule-gf-v/ And if you want to sub out the buckwheat flour in that recipe, you can replace it with sorghum flour, millet flour, almond flour (if not allergic), or add more GF oat flour.
View CommentHi Chantal,
Sorry for the late reply. I have been away. Thank you so much for your tip about extra liquid or Half/half almond milk and water. I am going to try that tomorrow as I am baking another loaf. It’s a challenge but I think I am up to it. I have baked her a Millet bread and she likes it but I have read that Millet consumed daily can affect Throid so I will continue trying to perfect the Sorghum Sourdough. Yes, I do use a Dutch oven. I have a steam assist oven along with a normal oven. It had a bread baking option, could I use that instead of Dutch oven.
My previous failures were sliced, baked and turned into fabulous gluten free breadcrumbs. Nothing gets wasted. 😊☺️
View CommentChantal,
View CommentI forgot to mention that the almond flour I have is blanched super fine almond flour
Thanks
Hi Chantel,
I sent you a message on YouTube, but no worries to answer since after reading some of the comments I got some of the answers. But still want to get your opinion on the swaps that I need to do since I am trying to stay lectins free. To substitute buckwheat flour which will be better? I see almond flour can be used but it will make the bread more dense? I am trying to avoid the density to have more of the real bread taste. I have green plantain flour but maybe will be to chewy, I can’t use oat,quinoa for the lectins content. I don’t have tigernut at the moment , maybe white rice flour could be a good option not too much Bcs I didn’t want to use that either, appreciate your suggestions. Is it ok to use tapioca starch and arrowroot but not the potato starch? Last for the seed flour it will be ok sesame flour? As per the starter after the 7 days can I keep it on the counter and keep feeding for a few more days until ready to bake since I am waiting for some of the flours I ordered to arrive, mine starter looks ok but not bubbling like yours in the video and even when I feed it never raise that much like in your video not sure what is wrong, I see has activity but never to that extent. Maybe Bcs is sorghum flour? Thanks in advance for all your help, I appreciate all your time and effort to answer all questions and help us in our GF journey. Many Blessings 🙂
View CommentHi Pura! You can definitely use almond flour (superfine is great), simply replace the buckwheat flour by weight/grams. You can omit potato starch and replace it with the other starches you have. Sesame seed flour sounds lovely as well. It should be fine. You can always keep feeding a starter until you’re ready to bake, if it’s active, you might not need to remove or feed it as much to keep it happy if it’s already pretty lively and bubbly. If you discard some starter because your jar is getting full, you can store that extra starter in another jar (in the fridge). You can use the good discard to make flatbreads or pancakes. I hope I answered all your questions. Sorry for the late reply!
View CommentHi Chantal, my granddaughter is allergic to tree nuts, rice, wheat, coconut, eggs, dairy and at the moment a bit sensitive to buckwheat.
View CommentI have baked the simple Sorghum sourdough bread and replaced the coconut sugar with brown, and buckwheat flour – once with Quinoa – did not really like it. Once with a combo of teff and almond flours. Still a bit dense but better. The bread always looks amazing but a little bit dry and dense.
Another time I added sultanas and goji berries and reduced salt, to make a sweet breast but it was a bit dry. Suggestions please. Carol
Hi Carol! Let me begin by saying that your granddaughter is very lucky to have you! I’ve personally never enjoyed recipes with too much quinoa flour as I too find that it creates a denser texture, especially for bread recipes. Teff flour is great. Almond flour/meal is also good in dough recipes. Something else you could try is using plant milk in place of just water or do a half and half. I find that using homemade hemp milk (you could use almond milk) helps to soften the texture of plant-based and gluten-free breads. Also, increasing the liquids by even a little bit can help lighten the texture and create an airier crumb. Combining warm liquids (not hot) with the other ingredients encourages a better rise. Are you baking in a Dutch oven?
View CommentIs there a way to make this without arrowroot and potato starch? I would like to keep it whole grain. Thank you!
View CommentHi Lisa! You can def. make a version of this recipe without starches, but it will be denser. Replace the starches with light GF flours (GF oat, light buckwheat, sorghum, millet) to help keep the texture lighter. I do have other recipes that do not have starches on the blog, the latest is this one: https://www.freshisreal.com/yeast-free-buckwheat-blender-bread/ It’s not necessarily a sourdough, but the soaking process does make the bread easier to digest. For another sourdough to try, have a look at this one: https://www.freshisreal.com/gluten-free-bbq-sourdough/ Without the starches, the bread doesn’t stay soft as long, but fresh, even still warm, it’s wonderful. Use that recipe as a guide to help you create a recipe that works for your preferences.
View CommentHi there, I was hoping for a substitute/replacement for psyllium husk. I am so allergic to it! If I take it somehow my body collapses and I can barely move my arms and legs and I cannot hold up my neck. Besides eggs, what is a good vegan/plant based option. Your recipe looks very healthy which is why I want to try it! the bonus on top is that its yeast free!!
View CommentHi Krystal! I’m sorry you can’t tolerate psyllium husk! How are you with flaxseed meal or ground flax? You can try that as a substitute. You can even double the amount if using flaxseed meal to help stick the ingredients together. That’s basically what psyllium does in GF bread recipes. Please note that the dough might not hold up as well as a free-form if you use flax but it might be ok as the dough gets refrigerated overnight and is a bit stiffer (not batter-like). If for whatever reason your dough is too soft, as a plan b consider baking the dough in a parchment-lined bread pan and it should be just fine. Please let me know if you have additional questions!
View CommentHi Chantal, I’m pretty good at making regular sourdough and have tried to make this but something went wrong. My sorghum starter seems good and I only substituted flax meal for the ground nuts. Used refrigerator for overnight and this dough is still very wet and sticky. I have tried to mix and kneed without success. Anything I can do to salvage this or should I start over?
View CommentThx from another Chantal
Hi Chantal! If you replaced the nut flour with flaxseed meal that could be the problem. The thing is flaxseed meal (or ground flax) once combined with a liquid gets very gelatinous. The recipe already has whole psyllium husk which also does the same thing. Your message was from two days ago, what did you decide to do? In the future, instead of adding flax perhaps consider increasing the sorghum and buckwheat flour to replace the 1/2 cup nut/seed (pumpkin or sunflower) flour. Let me know if you have additional questions. Ps. To salvage a situation like yours, I would try to add a bit more flour and bake it in a bread pan 😉
View CommentChantal, thank you for the great information you provide. This is my first attempt at making sourdough bread. I have a question: after 12 days of working with my starter using Bob’s Sorghum flour, should a spoon full of the starter float in a bowl of water. Mind does not. I assume it’s not ready. I follow your instructions and keep the starter in the oven with the light on (temperature about 83 degrees). It does bubble in the jar and smells sweet. Your thoughts.
View CommentMy pleasure! I don’t think that gluten-free sourdough starters will pass the float test. I think this is a good trick for wheat-based starters. It seems that your starter is probably ready if you notice a lot of bubbles throughout and it smells pleasant and sweet! It’s pretty incredible once it does transform to wild yeast! Let me know if you used it yet!
View CommentI loved making this recipe in anticipation of moving to Tanzania and knowing I would not be able to buy my own quality gluten-free bread.
A question on substitutions: can millet be used instead of sorghum (I have not found the latter here yet but I know it is an African grain so it should be possible eventually)? Can I use corn flour in place of the starches? Do you have any other ideas beyond corn flour which might be available in East Africa? Finally I can’t find buckwheat yet so I am considering almond flour or cassava, though I’m thinking the latter may be too fine-grain. Thanks in advance for any ideas.
View CommentHi Jennifer! You should be able to swap millet for sorghum. Although some people find millet to be bitter at times. You can even make a millet starter if you would like to try. For the corn flour do you mean corn starch or the actual flour made from whole corn? In smaller quantities, you can swap corn starch for one of the starches. As for beautiful corn flour (organic if you can find it), you can include some in a GF bread recipe for sure. Almond meal/flour is a great alternative for many light GF flours in a bread recipe. I’m just about to post a new sourdough bread recipe. I bet it would be a great one for you to work from. Once it’s up (within the next few days), reach out to me and I’ll help you with ingredient substitutions. I love cassava flour, but I haven’t yet tried it as a starchy sub for one of the other starches I often use.
View CommentHi Chantal, I just had to tell you that I am so happy to have found this gluten free bread recipe. I’ve made it twice already and it’s come out great. It’s so full of flavor! I love how easy you made it all sound. It didn’t feel intimidating to me and watching you make it in the videos made it even clearer. Thank you thank you!
View CommentHi Marly! Thank you so much for letting me know! I appreciate your rating and your comment! It makes me happy that my recipe and video were helpful!
View CommentHi Chantal, Just getting started and will try making your starter with the lemon juice. QUESTION: When preheating your oven (with the baking stone and dutch oven), do you put the stone on a rack and then the dutch oven on top of the stone or are they on different racks? Do you preheat the dutch oven with the lid too? If we add ice cubes to the dutch oven around the parchment for steam, will it ruin the dutch oven? SO many questions…thank you!!!
View CommentHi Bob! If you have both a baking stone and a Dutch oven, you can place the Dutch oven on top of the baking stone on the middle rack of your oven. It works equally well with just a Dutch oven, but the extra heat from the baking stone can sometimes help the loaf spring up. Some even bake the dough ball directly on their baking stone, but this can depend on the recipe. The Simple Sorghum Sourdough dough holds up pretty well, so it could even be baked directly on the stone (maybe with a parchment paper underneath at the beginning). When preheating the Dutch oven, yes, I preheat the lid too. Make sure your cover (the handle) is ok in hot temperatures. I haven’t experienced damage to my pot when adding ice cubes. You can also consider a spray mist of water if you prefer. Or bake one loaf without ice cubes (or mist), and then for the next bake, add a few ice cubes to compare. A great tip is to take notes of what you try!
View CommentDo you think I could make pizza dough with the recipe?
View CommentHi Willow! Yes, you can for sure! With most of my bread recipes, you can shape the dough into bread rolls or even flat pizza crust. If for whatever reason, you create a GF vegan dough recipe that is too wet, you can use a spatula to spread the dough onto a piece of unbleached parchment paper, placed on a baking sheet or baking stone.
View CommentMade this loaf and was sooo pleased with the results! My husband said the house smelled like a bakery and that the bread was so fancy looking AND the best he’s had. And I agree, much better and cheaper than going to our local gluten free bakery. And so much fun 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!
View CommentThe Simple Sorghum Sourdough is one of my favourites too! I haven’t baked all summer so I can’t wait for the house to smell like a bakery again! There’s nothing that compares to that incredible aroma! Thank you for your comment and rating 😉
View CommentI am day 3 on my stater and I am confused on why the liquid is at the bottom of the jar versus the top. Yesterday it was on top now this morning when I was going to dump this liquid out and add more water and flour it is on the bottom. Should I throw it out and start over?
View CommentHi! No, it’s perfect! Don’t start over. It’s normal to have the liquid accumulate at the bottom or top. Continue to follow the instructions. If the liquid is ever at the top and smells very strong, kind of like vinegar, you can pour it out. It often means that the starter needs to be fed. By pouring out the very acidic and stronger smelling liquid and feeding it fresh flour and water, the mixture should transform into a more pleasant and mild smelling and happy starter. Your starter will be ready when it also shows signs of bubbling activity and again a nice aroma! I often say that if you don’t like how it smells (if very sour), you won’t like the flavour of the recipe you are making. If the starter smells nice and is active enough to use, it should work well in a baked good!
View CommentHi, I am making your Simple Sorghum Sourdough and the recipe calls for 3-1 1/2 cups water but your instructions have only 1 1/2 cups water. I used the 1 1/2 cups but the day 1 product looked dry. I will add more water next time.
Please advise.
Thank you
View CommentHi Louise! I’m so happy that you tried the Sorghum Sourdough recipe. Can you tell me where you saw 3-1/2 cups of water? The recipe calls for 1-1/2 cups of water. You might need to add 1-3 tablespoons of water if your starter was thicker, but on average, 360g water (1-1/2 cup) is often enough for this recipe. It also depends on the ingredients you use. Some brands of flour could be more absorbent than others. Let me know if you have additional questions.
View CommentHi Chantal, I appreciate you sharing this recipe. God has blessed you with talent at a young age! In regard to the comment/question by reader Louise, I saw the same thing when I clicked on the buttons to the right of the recipe where it has 1X 2X and 3X . What happens is that the amount of water changes quantity, but nothing else seems to change. I had thought it would give multiple loaf recipe ingredients in proportional quantities, but the feature may be ‘broken’. Anyway, that is where Louise got the strange amount and why her recipe didn’t turn out well. I have not made this yet, but plan to get a starter going soon.
View CommentFor the starter do you use whole grain or white sorghum flour? Or does it make a difference.
View CommentHi! I think that both could work. I often use sweet fine-grain sorghum flour and it works very well!
View CommentHey Chantal !
Firstly thanks a zillion for giving us a dedicated space for gluten-free sourdoughs..
I have been stalking you since last few days on insta, fb, YouTube & here as well.. A newly detected celiac from India and want to try my hands on sourdough gf breads..Have been Etah if your videos, reading your notes and tips n tricks and guidelines..
My sourdough starter is on Day 4 and I am already so excited to try this bread..
I don’t have Dutch oven but I have a very small otg.. can I bake this Bread in a loaf tin pan ? If yes then what temp and for how long.. thank you so much in advance.. God bless you !
View CommentHi! I’m so happy that you’ve found my recipes! I’ve actually never used an OTG (Oven, Toaster, Grill), so I really don’t know how hot they can get and if they distribute the heat in a good way to bake a loaf of bread. Perhaps you can research the brand that you have. The company might even recommend certain temperatures to bake loaves of bread. All I can say is that you won’t know unless you try. You might have to bake it a little longer than what I recommend for the regular oven. Also, it should work to bake the dough in a bread pan but I haven’t tried for this specific recipe.
View CommentHi Chantal,
another question, if you dont mind.
Do you think this recipe would work if i used only Quinoa flour? (plus the starches and psyllium and flax gel?) i want to try a bread where flour is quinoa only….
View CommentI’ve emailed you a reply 😉
View CommentHi Chantal,
love your recipes, thanks so much!
i dont have any seed flour, and dont like to cook with almond flour (my son is allergic).
What would you think i can replace the seed flour with? can i add some other GF flours like white rice, brown rice? sorghum? millet?
Thank you so much
ps- I was having trouble getting the dough to rise at all, i put the bowl into my oven that was warm from recently being used and it worked like a charm in just about an hour!!
View CommentHi! Yes, you could replace the seed/nut flour with another GF flour that is similar in texture. Or you could also consider increasing one or two of the ones that are already in the recipe. If you happen to have tiger nut flour (nut an actual nut flour, tiger nuts are little tubers) that would be a great alternative to a seed/nut flour. Also, I’m happy that you found a trick to help your dough rise 😉
View CommentHi Chantal,
recently my breads are loosing their “rise” during cooking. I’ll get a good inch or 2 by leaving it in a warm area, transfer to heated Dutch oven, and when i next check on it it is flattened out a lot. Do you have any ideas what I can do to fix that?
also – my loaves (and the starter i used) have a very sour (almost salty) taste, I ate some of the starter plain (cooked) and it had that taste. I had used green apples to help it come back to life, im wondering if that could impact it?
thank you so much for your help!
View CommentHi Ezra! Here are things you can try. For the GF sourdough starter, if it’s too sour, I would recommend removing half of what you have in your jar. You will feed your starter some flour (1/2 to 1 cup) and just enough water to stir. Consider adding a little bit of pure maple syrup (1 tablespoon) or even the juice of a few organic grapes or a piece of fresh pineapple. If adding fresh fruit, remove it after 24 hours or so. That should help to sweeten up the mixture. At times a starter can go sour if left too long without a feeding. If your dough tends to go flat when baking, I would consider reducing the amount of water. Even reducing the total amount by 1/4 cup can make a big difference. And when you transfer your dough to the hot Dutch oven, do it gently to prevent deflating the dough. Once in the pot, move quickly to get it to your preheated and hot oven!
View CommentHi, I have been baking gluten free yeast bread for many years but am just starting sourdough breads. My first three loaves (before I found you) were OK in taste and crumb but were quite flat – not boules. This refrigerator method definitely solved that! I was so excited all the way through the rise in the bowl. It was more than 4″ high! But after baking and cooling it was only 3 inches high and was quite dense. Do you have any advice for me as to what might have gone wrong? Thanks for the great videos and website!
View CommentHi! I think I’ve answered you on YouTube already but here’s my answer to your questions: I’m so happy that you found tricks to help you troubleshoot your GF sourdough bread baking skills. The sorghum loaf is lower in starch than some other GF sourdough recipes. Adding a little more starch could help maintain the rise, although it could be other factors as well. Keep practicing and taking notes of anything you try, and you’ll see with time, each loaf will get better and better. You could play around with the total amount of liquids you add. Sometimes even just a little too much or too little can affect the overall rise. Always make sure your oven is nice and hot. Using a Dutch oven traps the steam, which helps with the rise. If your loaf changed in size after cooling, that does sound a little odd. If you’re interested, take a look at the Wild Yeast Bread recipe, trying that sourdough recipe might give you some additional tricks. It includes a little more starch: https://youtu.be/8EzbPsTZePw Thank you for your comment, I appreciate it! Chantal
View CommentHi Chantal!!
Love this recipe! My first loaf turned out great. I’m wondering if I could do buckwheat flour and almond flour with my sorghum starter and omit the sorghum flour?
Would that work?
Thank you!!
Amanda
View CommentHi Amanda! I’m so happy you tried it! You can use buckwheat and almond flour for sure. Would you be keeping the seed flour or the almond flour would also replace the seed flour? And the starch? I would recommend keeping both starches as well. So add up the flours you want to replace and replace them with the buckwheat and almond flour by weight rather than cup measurement. I hope this helps!
View CommentThank you for your quick response and advice! I plan on keeping the seed flour and using the almond flour in place of sorghum.
I will let you know how it turns out 🙂
View CommentChantal,
Just wanted to thank you for this lovely recipe. I’m recently retired and FINALLY have the time to devote to our 5 lovely gardens and canning and sourdough bread. I’ve raised 5 children (3 boys & twin girls) and my husband & I have moved back to his small hometown in northern Maine. I’ve baked bread for years, however, have in the last few years developed many food allergies/sensitivities and am hopeful that sourdough bread may help my troubled digestive system.
Question: What could I substitute for the potato starch? I have Tapioca Starch (in addition to the Arrowroot Starch). Would that work?
By the way, I’ve named my Sorghum Sourdough Starter: Chantal (after you)!
View CommentThanks, again,
Sue
Hi Sue! Thank you so much for your message! I love the name of your GF starter 😉 As for the potato starch sub, yes you can use more of the arrowroot starch or replace it with tapioca flour/starch. Oat flour could work too to replace the 1/4 cup. Congratulations on your retirement and raising 5 kids! Busy mom! Have fun baking and let me know if you have additional questions. Chantal
View CommentHello Chantal,
View CommentDo you have a 100% oat flour bread to share?
Hi Maris! This GF BBQ Sourdough (https://www.freshisreal.com/gluten-free-bbq-sourdough/) is the recipe with the least amount of ingredients. (Video: https://youtu.be/Yv9UzgtDeas) It doesn’t include gums or psyllium but it does have sea salt and sorghum flour. You can try just using oat flour to make a loaf but it might be dry and crumbly. Do you have an oat sourdough starter? You can bake the BBQ loaf in the oven too 😉 Let me know if you have any questions. A loaf without starches or psyllium etc. will get dry very fast. The BBQ sourdough is best enjoyed while it’s still warm and on the same day!
View CommentThank you Chantal for your prompt response.
After having baked single grain sourdough gluten bread for a few months now, I am, out of necessity, learning to bake gluten-free.
I am starting an oat sourdough starter but I have not found single ingredient bread recipes.
You answered that “A loaf without starches or psyllium etc. will get dry very fast”. Do you think is worth the experimentation or would you recommend jumping to the starch -whole grain -gluten replacer formula?
Would an oat starter make a difference in a 100% whole oat bread?
View CommentHi Maris! If you interested in learning how ingredients work in a GF bread recipe, it would be good for you to test a smaller loaf with an oat starter and only oat flour and water. That way to the future loaves you can add other ingredients that you prefer to bake with and eat and keep adding to the dough until you reach a texture that you’re happy with. I personally haven’t tried a 100% oat bread recipe. Another trick you could try, or search for, is some people add cooked oats to their mixture to help bind the dough. So combining some cooked flour and water (like making a roux) or even oatmeal with more raw flour and water could be an interesting experiment. I make a roux in this recipe if you want to watch it to understand what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4iD2RzWA7s&t=1s
View CommentThank you Chantal!
View CommentHey Chantal,
I came accross your recipe while looking for a gf vegan sourdough bread. I’ve actually made your zero waste BRF starter, and it’s absolutely amazing. I was hoping to finally use it and make myself a nice loaf of bread, but I don’t have sorghum where I’m from. I was wondering if maybe corn would be a good substitute? Of course, by corn, I mean fine corn flour, not startch. Or maybe quinoa flour?
View CommentI also have brown and white rice flour, sweet potato flour, almond flour, millet and dark buckwheat (which I’m not too eager about using).
I’m really new to GF baking and I’m still a little lost. It would be nice to finally have some decent bread. Hope you can help me out!
Hi Nada! Thank you so much for your comment. You can definitely replace the sorghum flour with another light flour or combination of a couple. Yes, fine corn flour (not cornstarch) would be fine. I haven’t tried it, but I know many that bake GF sourdough with corn flour (fine milled corn meal) with success, millet would work too, brown rice is great as well. So if you’re not sure about using your darker buckwheat you will have to replace both the sorghum and buckwheat flour. To replace 2 cups of flour consider replacing them with a combination of 2 to 3 GF light flours for best results. You could try corn flour, brown rice and millet. If you don’t have seed flour you can use your almond flour. Also, consider weighing your ingredients. It might help you get better results as some flours weigh more.
View CommentHello Chantal,
Came across your recipe and just had to make it… so i made the mix of the 1st day, but it didnt turned out like yours… its very hard and i followed you recipe based on grams. Should i add more water to it?? 🤔
View CommentHi Rita! So did you proceed with day 2? If you feel that your dough is way too hard or not the right consistency, I would say that it’s ok to add a bit more water on day 2 to make it easier to handle with your hands. It’s possible that the ingredients you used are absorbing more water. Did you you use whole or powdered psyllium husk? Let me know where you’re at. Also, next time you could reduce the whole psyllium to 14g (2 tablespoons) if 20g is too much and absorbant.
View CommentI have been making this recipe for a couple months now, both as it’s written as well as using different flours just to see what would happen. I am surprised and pleased that the bread is consistently wonderful! It’s my new favorite. I highly recommend it!
View CommentHi Jenn! I’m thrilled to hear that you like this recipe! Thank you for your rating and comment! I’m so happy that you are enjoying baking GF sourdough bread!
View CommentChantal thank you so much for taking the time to share this beautiful recipe and respond to all the comments. My first attempt was a success. I would love to know if the outside ever achieves a crispness? I left mine cook directly on the rack for 9 minutes and whilst it looked perfect and had a bit of a crust, I would love that crunch. Not sure if this is possible with GF?
Thank you so much, I look forward to experimenting more. I would also love to know if you have a seeded version recipe? Many thanks, Sharon
View CommentHi Sharon! Thank you so much for taking the time to rate and leave a comment! I really appreciate it! This loaf usually gets pretty crispy on the outside when I bake it. Perhaps leave it a few minutes longer directly on the rack? Or try brushing your loaf with olive oil. Are you in the GF Vegan Baking Facebook Group by FiR? Perhaps it’s a question you can ask other bakers that have baked this recipe? https://www.facebook.com/groups/191987888217239/
View CommentCan you swap out the sunflower/pumpkin seed flour for other seed flour (e.g. sesame seed, flaxseed, etc)?
View CommentCan you swap out the buckwheat flour for another flour (like mullet or cassava, etc)?
Can you use tapioca starch instead of potato starch?
Hi Christiane! Yes, you can swap sesame seed flour in place of sunflower or pumpkin seed flour. As for flax, it will gel once mixed with water, so in smaller quantities like 1/4 cup, it should be fine. Or consider doing a combo of half sesame/half flaxseed meal for a total of 1/2 cup. That should work well. You can swap millet for buckwheat, yes. As for cassava, it’s very starchy. And once mixed with liquids, it could add gumminess to the overall texture. I would say that cassava might not be your best bet. You can use tapioca flour instead of potato starch. Adding potato starch helps with the texture when combined with the other ingredients in the recipe. Let me know if you have additional questions.
View CommentThis recipe turned out well for me – no gumminess like other recipes I’ve tried. Question: what’s the purpose of refrigeration? Can I skip this step?
View CommentHi Kerry! Thank you for trying the bread recipe! You can skip the overnight refrigeration step but if you have digestive issues it’s a great step to help break down the ingredients before baking the loaf. If you try to skip the overnight soaking, give it a few hours on the counter at room temperature. The overall dough texture might be a little different but it should be comparable. If you decide to skip the first step altogether and mix all the ingredients at once, that could work too but again you will need to let it rise for a few hours. If you try, let us know if which method you prefer!
View CommentHi Chantal,
View CommentI made my first loaf yesterday and it was beautiful and tasty with a nice ‘chew’. It received 2 thumbs up from my husband. Thank you so much for the videos and recipe! We strive to be lectin free, so I made some modifications, which I will share. I replaced the 1 cup buckwheat flour with 1/2 cup cassava flour and 1/2 cup millet flour; used almond flour in place of the sunflower/pumpkin seed flour; used tapioca starch instead of potato starch. Oh – and I used sour kraut juice instead of fermented beet juice, just because that is what I had. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I lifted the lid of the Dutch oven and was greated by that beautiful loaf…..which looked just like real bread – AND it tastes just like real bread too! Happy, happy!
Cindy, Thank you for sharing your modifications! I’m so happy that you were able to tweak it to make it work for you!
View CommentWishing you many more beautiful loaves! If you’re not in the Facebook group yet, please join us! Share a photo of your loaf if you want! I (we) would love to see your creation! Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/191987888217239
I’ve been making a wheat boule in a dutch oven for my husband and son. So jealous so I’ve been trying to find a gf recipe for me. Several disasters and bread in the bin, then I found this one. THANK YOU! Fabulous!
View CommentDaphne! Thank you for letting me know! It makes me very happy to get your message! You should try the Wild Yeast Bread recipe next!
View CommentHi! Thank you for the sorghum sourdough bread recipe. I have a question about flour substitution. My diet is more restrictive than gluten free. I strive to be lectin free and buckwheat is sadly not lectin free. I am therefore wondering about substituting cassava flour for the buckwheat. Do you think that will work?
View CommentHi Chantal. Love your web site. Is there anything I can substitute if I don’t have a fermented vegetable juice. Just wondering as I would love to try this recipe.
Thank you,
Jan
View CommentHi Janice! Thank you so much! I would simply leave it out. It’s such a small amount, it’s ok if you don’t use any. Let me know if you do try it!
View CommentHi!
View CommentI’m new to this! I have a sorghum starter in the fridge and one on the counter. In this post, you have a tip to feed the starter in the evening so that it is active in the morning. What if the starter is in the fridge? The step by step guide says to take it out in the morning and let come to room temperature. Just wanting a bit of clarity around this particular step. I just mixed my day 1 ingredients and will do day 2 tomorrow! Thanks!
Hi! Feed your starter a few hours before you plan to mix your bread ingredients. You want the starter to be active and bubbly. It doesn’t matter if a starter is at room temperature or in the fridge once you’re ready to feed it. It might simply get active much faster is the starter is already at room temperature. You want to add the starter to a bread recipe when it’s at its peak of activity, this will help the dough rise.
View CommentHi Chantal ! Firstly it’s been exciting to make this bread. Did take a few risks, I overdid the number of days by two extra days to build the starter and I guess that’s considerable as we’re experiencing a hot summer in india, which is telling on the sourness of the bread. Next, I don’t have a Dutch oven that would fit into my oven so I used a baking dish with a foil cover and followed your baking instructions. Outcome is great otherwise but I was curious if there’s anyway one can have those bubbles or air gaps in the bread loaf. Mine is intact with good texture but no air gaps. Is there anything I can do to improve on that ? It’s only because that is a characteristic quality of gluten rich bread, the kind we have grown up on. Lastly, I’m really thankful to you for opening my doors to a world of gluten free breads after a hiatus!
View CommentHi Bonny! Everyone strives for airy gluten-free bread! When you don’t use xanthan gums or added commercial yeast, what you can do is play around with your baking method and ingredients. Try baking with a Dutch oven or a cover, bake with steam, let your dough rise for a little longer, increase/decrease the liquids you add to create a loaf you will love! Keep baking and practicing and take notes each time you try something new!
View CommentHi Chantal,
I finally managed to get a nice starter going as the previous one started to mould. I really enjoyed making this bread and the taste of the bread is great. I also love how easy it is to slice. I do find it quite dense though, the bread. Is there any way to make it more airy, like having it raise longer, or do you think this is the best gluten-free bread can do?
Thanks in advance!
Tes
View CommentHi Tes! With GF sourdough bread recipes without xanthan gum or too much starch, you can expect the crumb to be denser. The Simple Sorghum Sourdough does have a tighter crumb, but it has a nice texture. You could play around with adding more liquids (water or plant milk) to improve the rise, but then you could chance to have your bread feel too wet or sticky. You could also consider adding a little more psyllium husk and flaxseed meal. Doing so can help increase the rise of a GF sourdough. The new Wild Yeast Bread recipe (with video) on the blog rises nicely: https://www.freshisreal.com/wild-yeast-bread-gf-v/
View CommentHello Chantal
After my second attempt at making a starter Inam happy to announce I baked my first loaf last night! I am wondering tho if Inwent wrong somewhere as my dough was too moist to “come together” I added about 1 cup more flour (in increments) to make it stick together – it was still sticky but I was afraid of adding too much flour.
My bread is tasty but is very heavy.
Thankyou for all your instruction – just want to make sure I am on the right path!
View CommentHi Pat! Did you measure or weigh your ingredients? Next time, if you try the recipe again, it sounds like you could reduce the total amount of liquids. Did you refrigerate the dough overnight?
View CommentThankyou Chantal
View CommentI measured my ingredients and have gone over this many times to try to figure out what went wrong.
Maybe…… when you said to use psyllium husk, or if you have the flakes you use less. I had the flakes and used 2 T instead or the 3 T of husks. Could this be the problem?
I am going to buy different psyllium today. I really want to master this😊
Yes, I did refrigerate overnight
View CommentI’m making a second loaf today. I used ground pecans instead of tigernut flour. So yummy. I was concerned that it wasn’t rising enough but it must have made up for that in the oven.
View CommentHi Dorene! Groud pecans, yum! That sounds so good! I’m so happy it worked out well for you! Thank you for taking the time to share what you tried and rating the recipe!
View CommentHi! I would like to try and make this for my son. However, he cannot have potato starch. Could I switch it with something else. He can have tapioca sometimes but I would prefer not to use it if possible. Could I just use arrowroot? Thanks
View CommentHi Kara! Yes, you can increase the arrowroot starch or sub with oat flour (40g).
View CommentHello! I am so happy I stumbled onto your site. I have a brown rice starter given to me that I just began feeding.I have a small bit of brown rice to manage feeding for a little while. I personally don’t use brown rice in nearly anything but I buy sorghum in bulk. Can I feed my brown rice starter sorghum instead or start completely fresh? Are there any benefits to having brown rice starter or sorghum starter over the other? Is only having one of those enough? Can you feed your starter interchangeably brown rice or sorghum? Thank you for sharing your expertise! My son and I cannot eat gluten and I miss it. I buy him store bought stuff but I’m allergic to potato and that is in a lot of GF products and some of the other kinds are gummy and yucky so I go without. I am excited to taste sourdough once again!
View CommentHi Amy! Yes, you can feed the brown rice starter with sorghum flour! No problem! I’m not sure if I would keep going back and forth with different flours but it’s ok to switch to sorghum moving forward 🙂
View CommentI want to make this bread but can not eat potatoes-what can I sub for potato starch? Thank you for your help
View CommentHi Judy! I’m just about to add the weight in grams for this recipe if having that information would be helpful to you. To replace the 1/4 cup of potato starch you can sub it with either more arrowroot starch, tapioca flour/starch or even oat flour would work.
View CommentFlavor-wise, do you think I could I use fermented sauerkraut juice instead of fermented beet juice?
View CommentHi Libby! You could definitely try! Although keep in mind that the fermented juice is optional.
View CommentHello Chantel,
View CommentThank you for this recipe and your clear guide to growing a GF sourdough starter.
I have made this recipe with great success. I was wondering if you have ever added olives or other treats to the dough or made it into a fruit bread similar to your sourdough hot cross buns. If not do you think it would work?
Hi, Linda! Thank you for your message! Yes, I have added olives to a sourdough bread recipe before! I’m a huge olive fan! And, I love adding cinnamon and raisins to any bread recipe! It works for sure! You can soak your raisins if you wish but it’s not entirely necessary.
View CommentH Chantal, finally my sorghum starter is ready YAY! I am up to step 5 but my dough was very sticky I added some sorghum flour to the dough as I mixed in the starter with my hands. I am hoping adding this extra flour will not affect the outcome. Not sure if it is sticky because I added 1 1/2 cups of water to mix in step 1? The dough is now resting, fingers crossed 🤞🏻
View CommentHi Kelly! I think I answered your question somewhere else. Have you baked the loaf yet? Please let us know how it turned out!
View CommentHi Chantal, if turned out to be a beautiful loaf. I will definitely not add flour to the dough when I make another loaf, also will let it rise for longer. Just having it with nuttalex and Vegemite for breakfast now! Thanks so much for all your guidance 😊 Now to try another recipe with my sorghum starter!!
View CommentThis recipe is amazing and each step works perfect! I’m so happy that I found it and super grateful that you shared it with the world. I love sorghum and buckwheat. I used a different gf starter that I have been feeding it with a pre made mix of flours and worked perfectly, so I’ll say to people to not be afraid to try what they already have. I also left it in the fridge another night after a I added the sourdough starter because I like my bread very sour and came out perfect.
Thanks, I look forward to trying more of your recipes!
View CommentHi Virginia! Thank you so much for your rating and review! It makes me happy that you tried the sorghum sourdough and that you enjoyed it!
View CommentHi, I really love the look of this bread recipe and would love to make it! I was wondering if I could use arrowroot flour instead of the potato starch?
Looking forward to hearing back from you!
View CommentHi Maree! Yes, you can try with only arrowroot starch. This means that the total amount of arrowroot starch will now be 3/4 cup instead of just 1/2 cup. The final loaf might a little different but it should be comparable.
View CommentHi! I tried making the dough and mine was very very dense, dark grey color and so crumbly. It was not stretchy and did not hold together. Any troubleshooting tips?
View CommentIt could be the sorghum. Did you mill the sorghum yourself or did you use store-bought sorghum flour? Is there anything else you changed or you tried the recipe as is? Did you measure the flour or weigh each ingredient?
View CommentHi Chantal,
I made this bread for the first time today. It looks amazing and has a great consistency. I followed your recipe to the letter. My only question is about the taste. The bread tastes bitter and feels like it could use more salt? Or is it a problem with the flours? Has this happened to you before?
Thanks
View CommentHi Dominique! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I’m happy that you like it! The bitterness could definitely be from some of the flours, depending on the type you have. Was your buckwheat flour light in consistency and finely milled? What about your sorghum flour? Using the freshest flours possible helps as well in creating the best tasting loaves. Perhaps you can play around with your ingredients for the next one? You can also add a bit more salt. That recipe calls for 1/2 tablespoon, you can increase it by a bit or to your liking. If you have questions about different ingredients, please let me know.
View CommentReally excited to try this. I have a question about your buckwheat flour. What kind of buckwheat do you buy? I have a mill but have never tried milling buckwheat. I have purchased buckwheat flour, but the store bought is dense with a strong flavor. I’m hoping that milling it myself will produce a lighter, more mild flour.
View CommentHi Christina! If you have buckwheat groats, you can mill your own. You can use a grain mill, a small blender, a dry container Vitamix blender and even a spice/coffee grinder to transform groats into fine flour. Sift the flour to remove any larger bits! When I do buy buckwheat flour, you’re right; mine is light and soft in texture. It’s not the strong and darker version that some might have. The brand I have now at home is called Good Eats by Pilling Foods. It’s gluten-free and organic. There’s also Anthony’s Goods that sells organic GF buckwheat flour as well. Let me know if you have additional questions. I just made this loaf the other day! I’m excited to toast some slices this week!
View CommentHi,
View CommentMy starter is looking great.
I was wondering what I could replace the buckwheat flour, nut flour and the p. Husk with.
I have almond and coconut flour. Is tapioca starch ok for potato starch? Is cassava flour a good substitute?
I’m just trying to use what I have and am still learning about all of these ingredients.
Your videos have been very helpful.
I’m also trying to keep it lectin free, if possible.
View CommentHi Kay! For the Sorghum Sourdough, I’m sure you could play with the ingredients. Instead of psyllium, you could try flaxseed meal. The almond flour you have, is it an almond meal/flour or fine almond flour? There’s a difference, but I’m sure either could work. Almond flour might be way more absorbant if used in larger quantities. Almond meal can replace the seed amount called for in the recipe. As for coconut flour, you could use a little like 1/4 cup, but please keep in mind that it’s also very absorbent. It will soak up water like a sponge and create a denser loaf. Would you be replacing the tapioca starch for all the arrowroot and potato starch? It might work, but larger quantities of tapioca can make things a little stickier. Cassava flour is excellent, but to be honest, I haven’t included it in any of my loaf recipes. In smaller quantities, it could replace a starch, yes. It’s more expensive, so I tend to bake other things with it. As for lectin-free, you will be best in knowing which ingredients are best for your body to digest. The overnight soaking method in the recipe does help to break down the seeds, flours and starches to make them easier to digest, but if you’re looking for entirely lectin-free, you will have to experiment with the ingredients that are safe for you. Let me know if you need more help to troubleshoot some ingredient substitute options.
View CommentThanks for your quick response.
View CommentI was going to share how I finally got my starter working on the third try. I stopped using metal spoons, better water, added a little maple syrup and put it in the oven with the light on. I’m not sure which factor was more important, but it’s growing!!
For the bread, I do have potato starch and arrowroot. My almond flour is blanched and fine flour.
I also have sweet rice flour and rice flour. Since I have cassava flour, how would I incorporate it in. I do have sesame seeds also. Could you help me in adjusting the recipe. Of course, I could go out and buy what’s needed.
Thanks for all your help. Hopefully as I progress, I will be able to play with the ingredients better.
Hi Kay! Let me look at the ingredients again and see what I can suggest!
View CommentHi Kay! Here’s something you could consider trying. If you don’t want to use cassava flour simply increase the almond flour and rice flour by a little to compensate for the 1/4 cup. Hope this is helpful. Please note that I haven’t tried this recipe with this exact list of ingredients. It should be comparable. Let me know how it does turn out once you try it!
Day 1
1-1/4 cup sorghum flour + extra for dusting, optional
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
1/4 cup potato starch (not flour)
1/4 cup cassava flour
3 tablespoons psyllium husk (whole)
1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar (or maple syrup)
1-1/2 cups water, filtered or spring (room temp)
1/4 cup olive oil + extra for topping, optional
Day 2
1 cup active (fed) sorghum sourdough starter
1 tablespoon fermented beet juice, optional**
1/2 tablespoon sea salt
Optional: Sesame seeds to decorate the top
View CommentI’m not actually totally lectin free. I’m still working on what is best for me.
View CommentIs it necessary to let the dough sit overnight? I have let it sit for one hour and would like to continue with adding the starter and letting it rise. Thank you!
View CommentHi Laura! I’m seeing your message the day after you sent it. What did you decide to do with your loaf? If you chose to skip the overnight soaking of the ingredients, it should be fine. Doing the overnight step helps to breakdown the ingredients to make them easier to digest. There’s nothing wrong with skipping the overnight step. Let me know if you decided to skip it and proceed with mixing the sourdough starter, letting your dough rise and then baking the loaf.
View CommentThank you for your recipe its, make me surprised and I very amazing thank u very much
View CommentYou are welcome!
View CommentHi Chantal! I just finished all of the day 1 directions and my dough was so stiff that I was barely able to stir it. Do you know why that would be? I decided to add more water until it looked like the consistency of yours in the part 1 video. Is that ok? I hope I didn’t ruin it. Thanks so much for all your help!
View CommentHi Andrea! I’m excited that you’re baking your first Sorghum Sourdough! Did you refrigerate your dough or leave it on the counter overnight? If it was stiff… adding more water should be ok. You did so when adding the starter? I’m curious to see how that works out. How much more water did you have to add? I will be adding the weights (grams) to my bread recipes soon, so that should be helpful to guide those that need more precise measurements. Not weighing the ingredients could mean more flour for some loaves and less for others. When measuring if one packed the flour in the measuring cup, it could mean the need to add more liquids to compensate for the extra dry ingredients. When you bake your loaves, try keeping notes that way, you can track what works and what doesn’t. Let me know how it went if you’ve already baked!
View CommentThank you, Chantal, for an amazing recipe and all your help! I was so excited to try this particular recipe, and my first try turned out beautifully and absolutely delicious!
Because of some IBD issues that I’m having, I had to make some substitutions to make this recipe lectin-free.
I subbed out the 1 cup of buckwheat flour, which contains protease inhibitors that can worsen the damage caused by lectins, with 1/2 cup tiger nut flour and 1/2 cup finger millet (ragi) flour. And I also subbed out the 1/2 cup pumpkin/sunflower seed flours, which are quite high in inflammatory omega-6 oils, with 1/2 cup of sesame flour, which is a by-product of sesame oil manufacturing where all of the omega-6 rich oil is extracted from it and what is left is turned into flour.
The final result turned out a bit denser and smaller than in the original recipe (but it still looked and tasted fantastic), and I believe it’s because the substitutions probably were more absorbent than the original flours, I have a hunch that the sesame flour was the main culprit. Next time I’ll try adding more water to keep it moister so it can rise and expand more freely.
View CommentHi Maz! I’m so happy that you found a bread recipe that you could tweak to work for your dietary restrictions! Thank you so much for sharing what you did with others that might have a similar diet.
View CommentHi Chantel
Thanks for a great recipe. I’ve made it twice now and both times it’s worked out. It’s easy to make and has a nice flavour. I used a quinoa starter for the first bread and a brown rice starter for the second loaf. Both were lovely. I also used flaxseed meal in the second loaf. I think the kids liked the taste of the second loaf better.
Thanks again.
View CommentThank you, Stephanie, for trying this recipe! I’m so happy that you experimented with the ingredients! I’ve never tried making a quinoa starter before. Is it mild in taste (or smell)? I appreciate your feedback very much!
View CommentHi Chantal,
View CommentI recently discovered that I am allergic to a lot of different things, including bakers and brewers yeast, coconut, squashes (including pumpkin), almond, egg, and dairy. I already knew I was allergic to wheat. I have been working on making starter for your bread. I didn’t have sorghum flour yet so I started an Oat flour and a brown rice flour starter. The oat one looked weird at first, but today was day seven and it was lively like you described. The brown rice flour still had water on the top. When I used the oat flour starter I noticed it was runny, not semi solid like yours. I tried feeding it afterwords with a little more flour to water ratio. Is there anything else you would suggest trying?
I bought sorghum flour today so I was able to use the cup in the recipe. However, I did have to change the psyllium husk to xanthum gum, tapioca starch instead of arrowroot. and maple syrup instead of coconut sugar. The dough turned out to be a little stickier than yours. It is right now rising. My house is cold so I turned the stove on as low as it would go and set the bread over the vent. We will see what it looks like.
I also forgot to add that I took some of the extra off my starters and made a new one. This one i made today and I added sorghum flour instead of brown rice flour. How long does it usually take for that to be ready to use?
View CommentIf you’re starting a new GF starter and feeding it oat starter along with sorghum flour and water it should speed up the process for sure! It might be ready in two days this way!
View CommentHi Samantha! In the future, if your oat starter is too runny but it’s lively and bubbly simply adjust the liquids in the loaf recipe. You can reduce it by a bit. Be careful if you’re sensitive to many things your tummy might not like xanthan gum. It will help the texture of your loaf though 😉
View CommentHi Chantal,
Just tried your recipe with a quinoa starter I got from a GF sourdough class. I’m excited to see how it goes. My day 1 mix was drier than yours. I added a little extra water. Day 2 and after adding the starter it was much wetter than yours. So perhaps I didn’t need the extra water. I just added some extra flour when kneading. It’s in the bowl rising and can’t wait to bake and eat it. Thanks again for this recipe. Fingers crossed it works as my first loaf from a different recipe didn’t work out so well.
View CommentSteph
Stephanie! Let me know how it turns out!
View CommentHi Chantel, how sweet of you to respond to me so quickly. Thank you!
I baked it 25 min covered & 25min uncovered, but it looked dark enough, & the crust was hard enough all around, so I skipped the additional 8-10min baking on the rack.
I was able to cut it in 2 hours because it was cool enough. It was not gummy, I love the taste, just enough sourness. It’s a little dense not light; that’s to be expected? I’m ok with it.
This is the first sourdough bread I’ve ever made, and also the very first time I used my brand new oven. ( I had a fully kitchen renovation recently).
I learned two things with this wonderful experience. When I was making the Starter for this, I didn’t have enough sorghum left, but I don’t want to waste time, so I started anyways, but later, I couldn’t find sorghum anywhere in the stores; all the stores pulled them off the shelves; there must’ve been a recall here in the Bay Area where I live. ( in Nothern California. So I had to use brown rice flour to finish feeding the starter. It could be another reason why the bread was darker. However it was done after the second 25min. The other lesson I learned was that I later found out my oven had both conventional oven and regular oven settings 🙄. So now I know better.
Thank you so much for guiding us with this great baking experience. It’s sooooo good; I cannot wait to have a Vegan sandwich with it. Your recipes will help me so much with my autoimmune issue. It was too expensive for me to keep buying GF vegan breads, and finding GF vegan sourdough breads is impossible. I cannot thank you enough 🙏
Chintha.
View CommentHi Chintha! I’m so happy that you’ve found this recipe! Thank you for your kind words and for sharing your experience with everyone!
View CommentHI Chantel,
View CommentMy bread is in the oven. looks beautiflul. My concern is whether the temperature for a conventional oven is the same 450F. Mine looks a little darker than yours after the first baking with the lid on.
Chintha
Hi Chintha! That’s great! How did it turn out? Has it cooled enough for you to slice it yet? As for your oven, my best answer is that you’ll have to experiment. All ovens are different, and the altitude you live can also affect your overall bakes. Is it possible that your loaf is dark because of the type of buckwheat flour you used? Mine is always light in colour, but depending on where you live and what’s available to you, yours might be darker, which can make your loaf look much darker once baked.
View CommentThe recipe looks amazing and promising. I don’t have a Dutch oven though.. will it work without that?
View CommentHi! You will bake better loaves with the help of a Dutch oven, but you can bake equally beautiful sourdough loaves without a Dutch oven as well. This dough holds its shape pretty well, so it should be fine. You can place the dough boule on a parchment paper-lined baking tray to bake this bread recipe. You could consider making a tent with foil to cover the loaf for the first half of baking, but it’s not entirely necessary. Also, if you can, consider placing a tray or baking sheet on the lower rack (below the middle rack with your bread) and add a few ice cubes or pour a little water. Doing so will create some steam to help your loaf rise. Let us know if you do try it!
View CommentCan I substitute the arrowroot and potato starch for cornstarch and oat Flour respectively ?
View CommentHi Sid! I think that if you replace 1/2 cup of arrowroot starch and 1/4 cup of potato starch with a 3/4 cup mixture of both cornstarch and oat flour, it should be ok. That combination should compliment the rest of the other ingredients. Let us know if you do try it!
View CommentDo you know what can be substituted for buckwheat flour? Can chickpea, or millet or oat flour be used instead?
The sorghum starter is made with 8 cups of flour. How many loaves of bread would it make? Can the starter be saved in the fridge?
Thanks in advance!
View CommentHi Joanne! For this recipe, if you don’t want to use buckwheat flour, you could try millet as a substitute or a combo of millet and oat flour. Chickpea flour is not my favourite, as I find it very dense, especially in bread recipes. Another option would be to increase the sorghum flour and the seed flour by 1/4 cup each and then add 1/2 cup of another flour like millet or oat. To make your first GF sourdough starter, you will need about 8 cups of flour. That is an estimate, as you will be feeding your starter up to 1 cup of flour per day (1/4-1/2 cup twice per day) until it is lively and active to use it in a bread recipe. How much of that will you be able to bake with once ready? Maybe 1 to 2 cups. That is an approximation based on the fact that when creating your first starter, you need to remove some starter on days 2 to 7. Whatever you have once your starter is ready is what you can bake with. You might also have a little bit of flour left at the point too. Then you will need to keep feeding your starter from that point on if you want to keep it alive. Although maintaining your starter will require much less flour and water. Let me know if you have any more questions before you start.
View CommentHi Chantal! I’m so excited to have found this recipe. I just need to order a Dutch oven before I begin. What size Dutch oven do you recommend? Also, can you tell me the benefits you’ve found of baking bread in a Dutch oven?
View CommentHi Lindsay! I’m so happy you’ve found this recipe too! The Simple Sorghum Sourdough is one of my personal favourites! It creates beautiful loaves.
A Dutch oven is great to help trap the heat in the beginning stages of GF bread baking. You can achieve comparable results with other types of baking tools and various methods, but using a Dutch oven makes the process much easier.
I like using either a 5-quart up to a 7-quart Dutch oven. Larger is excellent because it gives you more space to shape your loaves to be longer.
Having a Dutch oven is also great for cooking, as well. You can make everything from soups to stews with a Dutch oven. You can spend a lot of money on a Dutch oven, but an economical version works as well. I have both a black cast iron finished Dutch oven and enamelled ones. I use both sizes regularly. Having two is also great if I’m baking a couple of loaves at a time.
This one on Amazon.com (https://amzn.to/34q52LI) is kind of neat. The lid doesn’t have a handle so that you can use it as a grill. Please note there are other ones like it out there, as well. You can place the dough in the base or the lid and use the other part as the cover.
You’ll have to decide how you will be using your Dutch oven, only for bread baking or other purposes too.
Baking pizza stones or steels can come in very handy as well if you would prefer to invest in one of those instead of a Dutch oven. Here’s an example: https://amzn.to/34r9HND
I hope these tips are helpful. Let me know if you have any more questions. Chantal
View CommentThank you so much for your reply, Chantal! This was super helpful. I really appreciate all your insight. I’m looking forward to making this recipe!
View CommentYou’re welcome, Lindsay! Let me know if you have more questions once you’re ready to bake!
View CommentHi Chantal! I wanted to follow up because I made this recipe and it was delicious! So filling and satisfying. I did have another question I’d love your insight on. My bread actually didn’t rise, because of my sourdough starter….I’ve been having some difficulty getting it to bubble and rise, even though I’ve been keeping it warm and feeding it consistently. I noticed that your starter is very bubbly and active. Do you have any tips or insight on how to do that? I’m using a brown rice starter….is sorghum better? Thank you so much!
View CommentHi Lindsay! Thank you so much for trying this Sorghum Sourdough recipe! I like this one a lot as well! There are a few things you can try when making GF sourdough. Next bake, you could consider adding a few (maybe 2) extra tablespoons of water. Even that small amount of water can make a huge difference in the rise. But be careful not to add too much as your free form loaf could go flat while baking. Take notes when you bake bread that way, you can track what works well for you in your kitchen and environment. As for the starter, sorghum flour starters do work very well. You can always try it if you have time. If you don’t want to start one from scratch, grab a new jar, add some of your brown rice starter and feed it only sorghum flour. That way, you will be able to compare 😉 I have 3 main brown rice flour starter jars, and they all behave differently even though they contain the same ingredients. It’s just a matter of playing around with how much you feed them, etc. You could also consider adding a little bit of natural sweetness/yeast to one starter (you could start a new jar for this test too) and see what happens. Examples are organic grapes, the freshly squeezed juice of a few organic grapes, a piece of apple, raw kombucha, yeast water, maple syrup, etc. I hope this helps you.
View CommentI made this using your method, which I love for its simplicity but made so many alterations that I can hardly call it the same!
View CommentI used millet starter, had to add 45g of dark Teff as I ran out of buckwheat. I used light brown sugar and almond flour instead of seed flour. Then I substituted Kombucha vinegar for the fermented beer juice!
I let the dough rise less than 5 hours in the airing cupboard and baked it in a loaf tin. With a small metal pot with boiling water for steam. I only covered it with foil part of the way through to avoid over browning.
I’m very happy with the result. An easy to slice loaf that looks tastes and feels like bread!
Hi Erica! I would have loved to see a picture of your loaf! It sounds amazing! It’s wonderful that you were able to adapt your recipe with ingredients you had on hand! If you’re on Instagram tag @freshisreal_ next time you bake a loaf! We would love to see it! P.s. Thank you for letting us know what you tried, you never know it could inspire someone else to try similar tweaks 😉
View CommentUsing Simple Sorghum Sourdough recipe as a guide. This time I’d run out of sorghum so it’s millet and buckwheat with a millet starter.
I do a simpler method. I mix the ingredients on Day 2 as per the recipe but I then spoon the dough into the tin. Slightly smooth the top, and put it to rise covered with a plastic shower cap. Then bake.
I like baking this bread in a tin. It had 25 mins at 220deg with a pot of hot water for steam and 25 mins at 200.
I did cover it loosely with foil during the second part of the bake after the bread had risen.
Very happy with the rise in the tin after 6 hours in a warm place and further rise in the oven.
View CommentHi Erica! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with the sorghum recipe! I’m so happy that you gave it a try!
View CommentMy daughter has decided to go on a gluten free diet so this recipe was very helpful, I made this delicious simple sorghum sourdough and she really liked the crunchiness and the flavor!
View CommentI made this bread using my brown rice sourdough starter. I developed it from my original rye sourdough starter by adding brown rice flour so i didn’t have to devote 7 days to grow it. And it came out great! I used a combination of raw sunflower and raw pumpkin seeds flours for it. Thank you, Chantal! I loved the challenge!
View CommentHi Yuliya! Thank you so much for trying this gluten-free sourdough recipe. It’s great that you were able to use some of your rye starter to create your new rice starter. Please keep in mind that for anyone else reading this that has celiac, a gluten sensitivity or a wheat allergy, you will need to start a brand new gluten-free starter to avoid the allergen. The method of using a wheat or rye starter to grow a new starter with gluten-free ingredients works for people that are transitioning to a gluten-free lifestyle. Yuliya – using both sunflower and pumpkin seeds in this recipe works well for sure! Thank you for your feedback!
View CommentHi Chantal
View CommentIs the pysillium husk vital? I can’t handle it and was wondering if there’s an alternative or whether I could just leave it out?
Thanks.
I think it could work without although it does help with the structure of the loaf. Some flaxseed meal could also be helpful. Have you tried this loaf at all yet? Let me know if you can’t consume flax, and we can try to come up with another solution. Are you ok with all the other ingredients?
View CommentHi Janis! I just posted a new bread recipe that doesn’t contain psyllium if you want to try it! 😉 https://www.freshisreal.com/gluten-free-sourdough-without-psyllium/
View CommentHi Chantel,
View CommentIs it possible to let the dough rise for more then 6 hours?
Hi Dorothy! Sure. If it’s colder where you live, it’s possible that you might need to let it rise for a little longer. Some even let it rise overnight in the fridge as the fermentation slows down in the cold. If you leave it for longer it can make your bread taste a little more sour. Have you tried baking a loaf yet? Chantal
View CommentHi Chantel,
View CommentI made my first loaf yesterday and it came out beautiful, not to mention that my family loves it. Making a second loaf today. Thank you so much for your recipes, time and effort that you that you so kindly share.
Hello,
View CommentMy starter looks amazing on day 5. Getting close to the baking stage and can hardly wait. I was just reading the note section and you say that nut flours can be used. So my question is do i substitute almond and coconut flour for the sorghum and buckwheat (equal portions)? Have you experimented with different flours yourself? I plan on making your original recipe for our daughter that cannot have certain nuts (almond and cashews) but we are not nut free and would like to try the nut flours. Will it still come out with that beautiful crust?
Hi Dorothy! That’s very exciting! Yes, you’re right this loaf has a beautiful crust indeed! If you have a Dutch oven please use it to achieve similar results! So I’m guessing you’ve been working on the sorghum starter recipe? When I mention nut flours usually it’s to replace the seed flour. You could replace buckwheat flour with a fine nut flour is you wish but I don’t recommend using coconut flour in this recipe. A little coconut flour like 1/4 cup at most might be ok to replace some of the total amount flour but no more. Coconut flour is very absorbent and will change the texture and density of your loaf. I experiment with different GF flours all the time. You can replace the buckwheat with millet or rice flour (brown or white) in equal parts. Please note that this loaf was created to be rice free so I did not make it with rice myself. Although I’ve baked many loaves with a variety of GF flour combinations. If you have additional questions, please let me know. Once you’ve baked a loaf please rate and comment directly in the recipe post so others can read your experience with this recipe! Thank you so much for your message! Chantal
View CommentHi Chantel,
View CommentYes, my starter is ready ad just finished getting my first loaf ready for the oven. Followed your recipe to the T. This evening I will start on my second loaf and change out the buckwheat for almond flour to see how that comes out. I report back to you when I have baked both loafs.f
Merry Baker
Dorothy
Hi Dorothy! I can’t wait to hear back from you! Chantal
View CommentI’ve been GF about 10 years and thought I will never eat a good tasting nutritious bread again until I discovered this and other freshisreal recipes.
Sorghum sourdough bread is great. The recipe is easy to follow and clear. The videos are helpful too,it’s useful to actually see what the dough is suppose to look like and the starter. I had never made a starter before and now I’m hooked . It’s nice to create something from scratch. Thank you .
View CommentHi Piia! Thank you for your feedback with this recipe! Making a sourdough starter is a lot of fun! Don’t be afraid to use your starter in other recipes like pancakes or muffins too! 😉
View CommentHi Chantal,
Have you every tried to make buns out of this recipe?
View CommentHi Suzanne! I don’t think I’ve made buns yet with this recipe but I did have fun making baguettes. Are you curious about the best method? Chantal
View CommentHi!
I’ve made this bread so many times and it is my favourite. Have you ever bakes it in a tin? Would I give it the
same oven settings?
Thank you so much for your recipes ❤
View CommentHi Lisa! I would use the same oven settings or if you bake at a lower 425°F temperature, just bake the loaf a little longer. I can’t remember if I’ve baked this specific recipe in a bread pan but it should work. I know that for my Wild Yeast Bread recipe, I did test many baking variations including a bread pan. This is the link to the video if you want to watch it: https://youtu.be/8EzbPsTZePw Let me know if you do try.
View Commenthi ! I’m looking for the simplest , cheapest method / recipe to start making a gluten free dairy free sourdough. I am prepared to make a sour dough starter and invest in the flours… would the simple sorghum flour starter and bread recipe be my best option? What do you think:)
View CommentHi Alyssa! I think you’re right! The Simple Sorghum Sourdough recipe is a great one to try for your first sourdough. It includes two of my favourite GF flours to work with for GF sourdough baking; buckwheat and sorghum! Plus, being that one of the steps is to let your dough rest overnight helps to create a great loaf while making the process a little less intimidating! To help speeds things up when creating your first sourdough starter, adding a little natural sweetness like maple syrup, freshly squeeze organic grape juice, or even organic apple will help but are not necessary. Let me know if you have additional questions.
View CommentHi can I replace arrowroot ?? I realize I don’t have that but I have potatoe or tapioca …..
View CommentHi Alyssa!
I’m pretty sure that replacing the arrowroot starch/flour with either tapioca flour or a combo of tapioca, and potato starch would work as well. Let me know if you did try it!
View CommentHi Alyssa! I’m pretty sure that replacing arrowroot starch with tapioca flour or a combo of tapioca flour and potato starch would work. Let me know if you did try it!
View CommentI would like to turn this recipe into cinnamon rolls, and I am fairly confident that I can adapt it, but I really want to use te fermentedbeet juice and I don’t have any fermented foods right now, besides my sourghum starter. Is there something elese maybe, like honey or orange juice that I could try? I have a couple of days to figure it out.
View CommentHi Leah! Adapting this recipe for cinnamon rolls is a great idea! As for wanting to add fermented beet juice to your recipe, maybe skip the fermented boost for a recipe like cinnamon rolls. It’s not necessary. This dough has a good texture, probably perfect for flattening out to add cinnamon, coconut palm sugar, spices and vegan butter (although it would work without). Then roll it up and slice it. Place the slices into a greased or parchment lined baking dish and let the dough rise for a few hours like you would when prepping the dough to make a loaf. Have you started making your starter? Let me know when you’re ready perhaps I can try it at the same time 😉
View CommentHi Chantal, I have made my starter and used some to make your sourdough banana bread. After which the starter has been relegated to the back of the fridge for a couple of weeks. I would really like to begin a weekly baking routine and the cinnamon rolls would be a fine place to start. First I need to revive my starter, which I am unsure on how to do and then I need to talk with you about the flours I have, but I could be ready to do this as soon as Tuesday morning. I willing pM you on FB. Or you may email me as well.
View CommentHi Leah! You should be able to bring your starter back to life with a few feedings of fresh water and flour. Maybe take some of the old starter out to bring your jar contents to half before you feed it. That way it will have space to grow! I did send you an email with some GF flour suggestions. Let me know if you have additional questions once you review the list. Chantal
View CommentI loved this recipe! At first glance I was intimidated being new to bread making but I decided to give it a go anyways! I found the recipe to be clearly explained and it turned out fantastic! It’s so refreshing to be able to eat bread again, and have it taste amazing! I can not wait to try some of the other recipes!
View CommentHi Jillian! I appreciate your feedback for this recipe, I really do! If you love bread as many of us do even while avoiding gluten and other top allergens, you’ve definitely come to the right place! Visit again soon! Chantal
View CommentThank you so much for this recipe! I made the bread exactly according to your instructions, but used a brown rice starter instead of a sorghum starter. The bread turned out amazing and my son, who has celiac and is the one that needs to eat gluten free in our house, absolutely loved it!
View CommentHi Silvia! I’m so happy to hear that you tried the recipe and that it turned out well! Your son is lucky to have you! I’m thrilled that he loved it! Thank you so much for letting me know! I appreciate it! Chantal
View Comment