Gluten-free Gourmand

 If you are gluten-free, or just want to experiment with gluten-free bread, creating a sourdough starter is the first step.  I've found a few ways to do this very quickly and reliably.  While no starter method can claim to be foolproof, I think this one is very reliable. Ivory Teff Starter at peak  My starter is shown just past peak here and starting to collapse after doubling Awhile back I posted a recipe for a gluten-free sourdough starter that is ready to use in 3-7 days .  While I still like this method, I've found that it's a bit fussy and it takes some special equipment to heat the starter.  This 5-day method takes no special equipment other than some bowls and jars. My method is a modification of the technique seen in this video by Julia Child and Joe Ortiz.  Here is the video that was the inspiration for this teff starter method. Caution: this video contains wheat! Why does this starter method work?  Somehow this method of creating a start...

The traditional way to create a starter can take a few weeks to a month to have a usable culture. A science-minded professional baker, Ian Lowe of Apiece Bakery, has figured out a way to accelerate the process to have a viable and very beautiful tasting culture in just 3-7 days. Using heat and hydration it’s possible to speed up the fermentation to get through the “bad bacteria” phase in just 48 hours, leaving you a usable culture on the third day with some luck. I created my starter on a Tuesday and I baked with it on that Friday with great results. I first came across this method in a post on The Fresh Loaf by the contributor Ars Pistorica, AKA Ian Lowe. I’ve been using this method ever since I first read about it in 2013. He used whole wheat and/or rye, but says the method can be used with "any cereal, pseudo-cereal, or tuber flours." It’s not the only way to accelerate the first stages of creating a starter, but this is how I’ve adapted this method to various gluten...

Update: See my updated version of this recipe:  https://glutenfreegourmand.blogspot.com/2021/10/sourdough-starter-ready-to-use-in-3-7.html When I was a kid, my dad loved to make the family sourdough bread on the weekends.  I loved watching him feed the starter, knead the dough, and put a raw lump into the oven to see a golden half-globe of bread emerge later.  We could get really good fresh San Francisco sourdough bread in the store, but that had nothing on my dad's bread.  It was one of my favorite foods. I like my sourdough really sour in the San Francisco and pioneer traditions.  My dad's sourdough was from an old country recipe that was handed down from a farmer neighbors, the Lists. Old List Family Sourdough  Bread Recipe I decided to track down the recipe and re-create it, gluten-free.  When I get an idea in my head to re-create a recipe I loved as a gluten eater, I'm like a dog with a bone.  I just work on it tenaciously until the ...