A complete protocol for gluten-free sourdough baguettes

Given my real passion is sourdough, it is odd that my first forum post and subsequent blog entry are centred on the topic of gluten-free baking. This one is for a friend. I am not an expert in gluten-free baking (or baking, for that matter), but this procedure has worked out rather well for me.

So I'm going to go through the whole thing - right from making the starter, which is still going strong after 2 weeks of use, and one refrigeration in between. The recipe itself is Laura T.'s Overnight Sourdough Rice and Teff Baguettes, with some substitutions and ranges for acceptable fermentation times. I will admit that I have not achieved the degree of open crumb as she, even after testing over the last two weeks. I remain hopeful.

*Note: I am a scientist by trade with quite a bit of bench-top experience. I find accuracy quite necessary for molecular biology, but stressful. Therefore, I've got a bit of a how-far-can-I-deviate-from-the-recipe approach to baking. I provide ranges for ingredients and time where possible.

My household has concluded that the best way to enjoy this loaf is at least a day after baking, toasted with butter. Some of us prefer it over other certain glutinous breads.

Week 1: Making yeasty water

• 175g distilled water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 50g sun dried cherries (regular raisins will probably work fine. I just chose the dried fruit I thought would have the most 'bugs' on it, so to speak.)

Add water, sugar, and dried fruit to a bottle, mix and leave it for a week. There might be bubbles that show up at the top and that is good. Mine did not, and it still worked.

Day 8: Making the starter

• water with dried fruit in it (~150 grams)
• ~75 grams teff flour
• ~75 grams brown rice flour

1. Strain the water with the dried fruit in it. You might end up with around 150 grams.
2. Add equal parts teff and brown rice flour to the strained yeasty water, depending on how much you recovered. Mix well.
3. Leave this mixture for 12-24 hours. You'll probably see it rise.

Day 9-12: Strengthening the starter

• your developing starter
• 50g distilled water (x4)
• 20g teff (x4)
• 30g brown rice flour (x4)

1. After 12-24 hours (or when you see considerable rise), discard all but 50 grams, and add the water, teff, and brown rice flour. Mix well.
2. Repeat every 24 hours.
3. If by day 12 your starter is able to increase in volume by at least 1.4-fold, proceed to the next step. If not, repeat for a couple more days.

(You might consider reserving the "discard" for things like pancakes, or incorporation into other breads.)

Day 13 morning: Prepare starter for baking

This step does not really differ from the above. It just ensures you have enough starter left over to keep it going.

• 60g starter (make sure it's active)
• 60g distilled water
• 24g teff
• 36g brown rice flour

1. Add the water, teff, and brown rice flour to the 60g of starter. Mix well.
2. After 5-9 hours, the starter will reach peak volume. When it does, proceed to making the loaf.
   
   This is what your starter should look like.

Day 13 evening - Day 14: Assemble the loaf

• 25g psyllium husks (not the powder)
• 420g water (no need for distilled)
• 150g of your teff + brown rice starter
• 150g brown rice flour
• 100g potato starch
• 50g sorghum flour
• 50g millet flour
• 10g salt
• cornmeal, for dusting

1. Whisk water with psyllium until a gel forms - takes about 60 seconds.
2. Add all of the ingredients, except the salt.
3. Form a ball and leave to rise in a covered bowl at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
   It won't rise much so don't be alarmed if you don't see much change.
4. Add salt and 'knead' to make sure it's thoroughly incorporated.
5. Reshape it back into a ball and transfer to the fridge.
6. Leave it to proof for 12-24 hours. Haven't tried longer than 24 hours, but I wouldn't do less than 12.
7. Remove from the fridge and leave to come up to room temp for ~2 hours.
8. Divide and 'shape' into 4 baguettes.
   Don't expect to shape these as you would regular glutinous bread. The consistency is a lot like clay, so it's more like moulding the dough into baguette-like shapes.
9. Cover with plastic wrap and prove at room temperature for another 1-2 hours.
10. Preheat cast iron pan or dutch oven to 480F 30 min to 1 hour before baking (depending on how quickly your oven heats up)
11. Transfer loaves to a wooden board dusted with cornmeal.
12. Brush with water, dust with rice flour and slash.
    I recommend holding the knife or blade at an angle and then manually "opening up" the score a bit to help encourage formation of an "ear" during baking. These loaves do not bloom like glutinous loaves do.
13. Slide loaves onto baking surface, and add a cup of water to the bottom of the oven.
14. Bake at 480F for 10 minutes.
15. Lower the oven to 455F and bake until golden brown. It'll be around 25-30 minutes.

Maintaining the starter

• 10g starter
• 10g distilled water
• 8g teff flour
• 5g brown rice flour

Mix ingredients together daily to keep the starter alive for a total of  grams. Thus far, I have had no trouble re-activating this after refrigeration. I recommend feeding and letting it rise for 5-8 hours before putting it in the fridge. The proportions are what matter here but I find that lower volumes do have a small negative impact on starter activity. This starter is generally less active than my rye starter.

EDIT: After 8 months of maintaining this starter, I find that a lower than 100% hydration works better - I do around 75% now. I also find that the yeast are much happier with a higher proportion of teff - and it doesn't cost much to do this if you keep small volumes of your starter. I have modified the above to reflect this.

Pretty good crumb.

Quite pretty.