Artisan Sourdough Bread, Gluten-Free
Makes one round loaf
Artisan sourdough bread is a rustic, country-style bread with crunchy crust and chewy crumb. It’s an excellent, crowd-pleasing bread to serve on special occasions. As an everyday bread, it’s lovely as garlic toast or buttered alongside a bowl of hot soup.
Mature gluten-free sourdough starter is mixed with warm water and olive oil. Then, whole sugar, xanthan gum, and sea salt are sprinkled over the top of the mixture and whisked in – creating a classic sourdough sponge. After the flour is mixed in, the dough is place inside of a cloth lined raising basket. The basket makes a beautiful imprinted design on the bread, even through the cloth. If you don’t own a special basket for raising bread, simply use a shallow bowl about 8-inches across. After raising for up to 2 hours the bread is started in a hot oven to encourage a quick rise and set. Then, the oven temperature is lowered and the bread continues to bake until it is nicely browned. This method is unique, but not complicated, and I hope you will give it a try! The results are truly worth the smidge of extra effort!
2 cups mature Gluten-Free Natural Levain starter culture
1 cup warm (about 100 degrees F) water; well, spring, or filtered
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons coconut palm sugar or whole cane sugar
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
2 teaspoons unrefined sea salt, finely ground
3 ½ cups Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour blend of choice, plus more for dusting the bread and raising basket
In a large bowl combine mature starter with water and oil. Sprinkle the sugar, xanthan gum, and salt over the top of the starter mixture. Whisk until smooth, about two minutes. Add the gluten-free all-purpose flour slowly. Mix until all of the flour is incorporated into a sticky dough.
Use an 8-inch wide bread raising basket or a shallow bowl about 8 inches accross. Line with a flour sack style towel. Sprinkle a small amount Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour over the towel. Scoop the dough into the cloth-lined basket. Use a rubber spatula to gently spread out the dough until it’s of an even thickness.
Set the dough to rise in a warm (about 75 degrees F) place until puffed by 1-2 inches, about 1 ½ hours. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Dust the top of the loaf with a small amount of Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour. Place a sheet pan or cookie sheet upside down over the top of the raising basket. Quickly flip the basket and pan. Gently lift the basket and towel. Use a sharp knife to make several slashes 2-3 inches long and ½-inch deep in the top of the loaf.
Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees F. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Bake until browned on the bottom and hollow sounding when tapped, about 45 more minutes. Remove from the pan and allow to cool on a rack. Serve thinly sliced. Store tightly wrapped in the refrigerator.
This was shared on Real Food Wednesday.
Awesome looking loaf, Dori! I generally make the batter breads, as you know. I’ll give the stiffer dough a try again – I do miss having a crusty loaf. It really looks beautiful!
Thank you for expanding on the basics. I love it when people play with their food
Thank you for your kind words Durga! Let me know if you try it!
Sincerely,
Dori
I like homemade bread because it is better in taste and quality.
For more interesting recipes, check at:
http://www.fourgreensteps.com/community/recipes
Hope you find recipes that you like!
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What is rapadura?
Hi Jeanne,
Rapadura is a brand of whole cane sugar. It was actually a typo. It now reads sugar!
Thanks for catching it!
Best, Dori
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Thank you so much for the very simple-to-accomplish sourdough starter recipe and this lovely artisan bread recipe too! I’ve been looking for just such a starter for a while. My 6 year old daughter has constant difficulty breaking down food in her intestines, and often struggles with stomach aches and headaches. While we’ve been gluten free since she was 4 months old (the years have seen great improvements in her abdominal distress), and my 2 year old with his plethora of severe allergies has been gluten free his whole life, the idea of finding a workable sourdough starter seemed impossible. It needed to be dairy free too (and nut free, including coconut for the little one). SO! We have made the starter, made the bread, and it is wonderful.
I am amazed.
Thank you for taking your time and love to post this for the rest of us. I feel absolutely thankful to you.
You are SOO welcome Coral! I’m so glad that you’ve had success with the bread! Good luck with the health challenges – hat’s off to you for having the courage to step out and look for solutions for your little ones!
Thank you for your comment – it really makes me feel great to hear!
Best wishes,
Dori
Oh! And a question for you: could we, or have you tried to, bake this artisan GF sourdough loaf in a typical sandwich- style loaf pan? Did it/Would it work?
Thanks!
Coral
Hi again Coral,
Yes, I’ve made it in a standard loaf pan, it works out just fine! It’s also a great bread to add herbs, garlic, olives – or my favorite – caraway seeds and raisins to spice up the recipe!
Have a great day!
Dori
Dori, we are still loving your bread!
We tried making it in a loaf pan, and it came out terrifically – it holds together beautifully and makes a great sandwich bread; I did make it with too much buckwheat and it was like an old world dense bread
Thanks for the special suggestions! We continue to be so happy that you are blogging.
Yours,
Coral
Hi Coral –
I’m so glad that you’re having success! I really appreciate the comments!
Best,
Dori