Gluten-free sourdough

First make a gluten free starter using Shipton brown rice flour.  The method is exactly the same as for normal wheat flour and it works just as well.

When your starter is well established and lively make your bread dough using Shipton Mill gluten-free bread flour and following the recipe on the packet but just 5 grams yeast and omit the cider vinegar. In its place add 100g gluten-free starter.

Mix everything together in the usual way but hold back about 30 grams of water until you see how wet the mixture is. I use an electric hand whisk to beat everything together. Aim for a soft mixture similar to a Victoria sandwich consistency.

Pour into loaf tin and cover with plastic shower cap and leave to prove for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

You need to cook this with steam just like your normal sourdough and I place the tin inside an oval covered roasting tin. These are cheap and much lighter to handle than the usual cast iron casserole.   You can slash the top of the loaf before baking but don’t expect the dough to slash like your normal sourdough as it is too wet to make a proper cut.

Bake for 25 minutes covered in a hot oven and then remove the lid and bake uncovered for a further 25 minutes. You can lift the loaf tin out of the casserole altogether if you wish.  After 50 minutes it will have a beautiful crisp crust.

Remove from tin and leave to cool on wire rack.  Resist temptation to cut into it until it is almost cold and then you can eat the crust with lashings of butter and realise you can enjoy gluten-free bread as good as the wheat eaters.

Shipton gluten-free bread flour has quite different ingredients from others, ingredients with more flavor and pea protein so you don’t have to add eggs as you do with others and this means it avoids that “cake” taste that you get with others. Add to that the sourdough starter which further improves the flavour and also the texture and crust and you have found the holy grail of gluten-free bread..

IMPORTANT NOTE
This page is an open forum for friends of Shipton Mill to contribute recipes. We do not test all of these recipes, so we cannot guarantee that they are gluten-free and suitable for all dietary requirements. Please do check the recipe thoroughly before making it.

Added by: Pauline Leadley