How to Make Gluten Free Sourdough at Home with Yoke Mardewi
Wild Sourdough Founder Yoke Mardewi gives us a step-by-step guide to making gluten free sourdough at home; image: Wild Sourdough Facebook
Hey Gluten Free Fam,
Ever craved a fresh loaf of sourdough, but have been scared off by all the gluten-containing brands that flood the market? Ever wondered what it would be like to make your own loaves in your own kitchen?
Thankfully we’ve found the right expert to guide us through the process. Ben had author, Ted X Speaker and founder of Wild Sourdough Yoke Mardewi on Episode 196 A Gluten Free Podcast to delve into the gluten free sourdough-making process.
Sourdough bread is a high-quality bread you can add to almost any meal, the sourdough fermentation process is what delivers its gut health benefits.
Setting the Scene for DIY Gluten Free Sourdough Making – the “Sourdough Starter”
Good wholegrain ingredients and warm temperature make the fermentation process faster and easier. As Mardewi explains, cold weather slows down the fermentation, affecting how quickly fermentation occurs.
“(The) best time to start your sourdough starter naturally is when the weather is not so cold,” she outlines on the podcast. “(A) cold temperature will make (the process) slower.”
While timing is essential, you need good wholesome ingredients, the best you can find. What do you need in the pantry to get the gluten free sourdough started?
“Like normal sourdough, you always start with a whole flour,” remarks Mardewi. “The problem with gluten free flour is that each gluten free flour is lacking something. I would start with a mixture of flours. I use a mixture of brown rice, buckwheat, sorghum, or whichever you’re (not) allergic to… Then mix that with water.”
Basic Principles of Making Gluten Free Sourdough Starter
Once you have a quality mixture of gluten free flour selections, the key is to follow the one-to-one ratio as you combine flour with water.
“You need to get a scale,” Mardewi says. “Then start with one-to-one (ratio). Mix the flour and (by adding) 100 grams (of flour) and 100 grams water.”
As a seasoned sourdough maker who has created her own enterprise in this niche, Mardewi keeps the instructions simple.
“Put (the ingredients) somewhere warm but just make sure it doesn’t get cooked near the heater,” advises Mardewi. “It will take some time. Do one-to-one (ratio), give it really good stir, and then just put (on) a loose lid. You do need to put a lid.”
“Get a tall cylindrical glass container, mix it up, and then put a rubber band around it. (A) rubber band is (best) because you (can) move it up and down.” Mark the surface of your sourdough starter so you know once it starts to bubble and rise.
Applying Patience to Fermentation
By continuing to mix flour with water to the 1-to-1 ratio, your gluten free sourdough begins to take shape; image: Wild Sourdough Facebook
Arguably the biggest issue you will find with a gluten free sourdough starter is the time factor. This is not a quick fix activity, but the results will be worth your effort.
“Let it ferment (for) about three days,” Mardewi recommends. “Dunk it in a bucket of hot water in the sink, just to start it off in colder weather. Usually within two or three days, it should start to bubble. If you put the rubber band where you start it, then you flatten it (and) you see it starting to rise.”
By repeating the “feeding and discarding half of the starter” process, the strength of the fermentation is created.
“Then what you need to do is just throw away half of that (sourdough starter), just roughly half,” she says. “Then I would only fit (a) small amount. So 30, 40, 50 gram(s) (of) flour and equivalent in water… Then give it really, really good stir. Repeat the process, but you have to do that for about a week.”
Achieving a Stable Starter for Gut Health Purposes
Although the process can be a bit overwhelming to newcomers, there is purpose to the approach. An expert like Mardewi will tell anyone willing to listen - bacteria and wild yeast are the change-agents that transform flour and water into a delicious and healthy loaf of gluten free sourdough.
“What you’re trying to do there is to create a stable bacteria and wild yeast to inoculate your starter,” explains Mardewi. “By about a week, you get a stable starter. (That) means a balance of wild yeast, because wild yeast is what aerates your starter, what makes it double. You need the lactobacillus to ferment the flour, to make it gut-friendly, to be better for everything.”
Mardewi says after those seven days, when you return to feed it, the contents should double within a few hours. By incorporating filtered or tap water that has been boiled and then cooled down, the next step is to keep it somewhere warm and to refrain from any refrigeration during the first week of feeding and discarding.
“First week, you keep your starter somewhere warm because you need to establish a colony of wild yeast and bacteria. (Then) you’ve got a stable starter.”
Now you’ve reached this point with the gluten free sourdough starter, you can put it inside the fridge. Mardewi advises to take the contents out the morning or night before you wish to use it for making your dough.
“If you’re not a purist like me, you can add things like rehydrated organic sultanas or add a bit of sugar, or honey or something like that to start off your fermentation, that kind of thing. But I don’t do it because you’re making bread, not wine.”
The Simplicity and Flexibility of Sourdough
The Ted X speaker understands that people’s interpretation of gluten free sourdough-making can appear too difficult for average families to comprehend. Yet she believes online influencers are largely responsible for this narrative, dismissing the idea that it’s too complex.
“I think what makes it complicated is the bloggers and vloggers and whoever it is that makes it complicated to make money,” she states. “But no, it’s actually really, really simple.”
The key for the amateur cooks at home is to recognise that gluten free starter may be a little more fragile to maintain compared to their gluten-containing counterparts, but frequent use will guarantee success.
“Gluten Free starter is a bit more fragile than a normal wheat starter,” she outlines. “As long as you use it once or twice a week, the more you use it, the better it is… The other thing that people get really stressed about is that if your starter separate(s), it is totally okay. You just need to stir it. It’s gluten free. It doesn’t have the glue (to) stick it together.”
Your imagination is the only limit, when it comes to making sourdough. All types of ingredients you can infuse your sourdough bread with: dried fruit, olives, sundried tomatoes… so many things to explore once you feel confident with the process.
“You don’t have to make bread,” she argues. “You can make (gluten free) wraps, buns, bagels, pancakes (and) waffles. There’s nothing that you cannot do with your starter.”
All of these sourdough recipes are available here:
https://wildsourdough.com.au/recipes/recipes-gluten-free-bread-mix/
If you enjoyed these expert gluten free sourdough making tips with Yoke Mardewi, check out the entire episode of A Gluten Free Family. She opens up on her life and background, the mission of Wild Sourdough, the history of the process, her own ADHD and menopause journey, the importance of the gut microbiome for health and a stack of other topics.
