Wednesday 2 November 2011

Sourdough bread




Wow, so my first ever gluten free sourdough experiment was a success! I literally haven't eaten ANY type of bread in at least 5 years, probably more. But I always loved experimenting in the kitchen as a kid, and I happened to stumble across some gluten free sourdough recipes and thought I could create a 'safe starch' bread of sorts using rice flour and tapioca flour. This isn't at all similar to 'regular' bread, which is fluffier and lighter, but then again I don';t really see the point of regular bread anyway! This is actually really good - it has a lovely tangy flavour from the sourdough, with a dense, moist inside and crunchy crust.
The second time I made this (today) I slathered on some coconut oil, and Oh my Gawd it was heavenly!
 Now, the thing with this 'recipe' is that I totally winged it. I got ideas from various blogs but didn't follow any measurements except perhaps for the very start of the starter. I'll write down below exactly what I did.



INGREDIENTS
3 tbsp brown rice flour
Plenty of white rice flour
Tapioca flour
Filtered water
A few organic grapes



METHOD
For starter
I first added 3 tbsp brown rice flour and  1/4C filtered water into a clean sterlized glass jar. I then added about 5 organic red grapes, mashing them into the mixture (the grapes add natural yeasts to kick off the starter). Left it for a day in a warm place. Then scooped out the grape seeds/skin, and added another few tbsp flour (this time white rice flour) and water, to make it the consistency of pancake batter. Again left in a warm place till it started to get bubbly and smell slightly alcoholic. Since then, I've added a bit of rice flour, and some water (no measuring), every 12 hours or so  then left to get bubbly again. Adding flour/water is called "feeding" the starter and keeps it alive. After about a week I felt it was ready to use to make bread



For bread
I simply poured some of the bubbly starter into a bowl, added white rice flour and tapioca flour till I could mix it into a dough (not too wet that it doesn't hold its shape but not too dry either. I mixed the dough with my hands, added some salt, formed a round and left in a warm place for an hour or two to rise slightly. I then baked it at about 150C for 45-60 mins till crisp on top.

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1 comment:

  1. You cook/bake like I do...by the eyeball.

    I can't tell you how happy I am to see a gluten free bread that doesn't use gums and beans.

    Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete