Want to know the secret to really delicious gluten free bread? It all starts with a good gluten free sourdough starter!
Why use a gluten free sourdough starter?
Gluten free bread suffers from one big issue… the lack of gluten! Gluten provides the structure that is usually replaced by starches and additives in gluten free bread. The issue is that starches and additives aren’t very tasty.
However, gluten free sourdough starter improves the taste and texture of gluten free bread by:
- Breaking down whole grain flours so that they become lighter and stickier.
- Providing a delicious nutty flavour that comes from using wholegrain flours rather than bland white flours.
- Adding the complex sourdough flavour.
Fun Sourdough Facts:
Sourdough comes with a host of myths and legends, that aren’t always true. Here are a few fun (and true!) sourdough facts.
- The properties of your sourdough starter are based on the local strains of yeast and bacteria. This variability in yeast influences the flavour and leavening time, which is why every region of the world will produce a different type of sourdough bread.
- Some areas have famous strains (Montreal, San Francisco) but most regions should be able to make a decent sourdough starter.
- It only takes about 24 hours for a store-bought (or friend’s shared) culture to be taken over by your home’s strains of yeast and bacteria. If you’re new to sourdough, it can take 2 weeks of feeding to build up a sourdough starter, because the air quality in your home matters more than the strains in the flour, and it takes that long to share the culture with the free-range yeasts and bacteria in you home.
- However, poor indoor air quality (due to pollution or mold issues) might result in a bad tasting or underactive culture. Alternatively, if you have a HEPA air filter in your home then it is also difficult to maintain a sourdough culture. In that case, I recommend making a shortcut sourdough starter.
- Gluten free sourdough culture has the tendency to get a pink or blue hue based on the type of flour. While it’s not a good thing… it’s not bad unless it smells bad. The colour should go away as your starter becomes more active. Don’t use a bad-smelling or moldy starter… if it’s gone bad, then you have to throw it away and start over. (Note: for some reason my buckwheat sourdough always turns a bit pink-ish, but other flours don’t.)
Sourdough Feeding:
- Gluten free sourdough starter isn’t as bubbly as wheat sourdough. It doesn’t have the gluten structure to hold the bubbles and grow up the side of the jar. I usually judge it by smell (sour) and texture (some air and bubbles on top).
- In the summer I only bake bread about once a month, so I often start my starter from scratch. It only takes me a few days to catch a vigorous starter because, after years of baking sourdough bread, my house is full of the yeasts and bacteria needed for sourdough.
- If you are baking bread more regularly, you may want to keep your sourdough starter going. If you keep your starter out on the counter then it will need daily feeding. Feed it half of its volume in water and flour. For example: if you have 1 cup of starter, then you will need to feed it 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of flour daily.
- If you store your starter in the refrigerator then it will need feeding every 5 days.
Types of Flour
I have been gluten free since 2009… so I’ve had a lot of time to experiment with different gluten free flours. At this point, I mostly use GF oat flour, because I like the flavour and stickiness.
However, you should make your sourdough starter with the type of flour you prefer to bake with. Each flour develops its own unique sourdough starter, and they do best being consistently fed the same type of flour.
For example, switching a starter from buckwheat to rice is about as efficient at just starting a rice starter from scratch.
Here’s some details on all the different flours:
- Buckwheat and teff flours are great at catching a sourdough starter. They both naturally contain strains of yeast, so it only takes about 1-2 days to get a good vigorous starter, even if it is your first time. This is why they are traditionally used for quick ferments like buckwheat crepes or injera.
- Brown rice, oat flour, millet, quinoa and sorghum all take a bit longer to catch a starter. Expect to spend 5-7 days to get things going.
- White rice is the trickiest, in part because of the lack of vitamins and minerals. It will take at least a week to get bubbling. However, it also is the most like a wheat-based starter. Because it contains a lot of carbs, it will get really bubbly.
Gluten Free Sourdough Starter
Learn how to make a healthy gluten free sourdough starter in your own home! It’s the secret to amazing gluten free bread, improving both the taste and the texture. Use your favourite flour: rice, oat or buckwheat.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Sourdough
- Cuisine: Gluten free
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup whole grain gluten free flour (see the section above for details on each type of flour)
- 1/4 cup filtered water (do not use chlorinated tap water)
Instructions
- Start by adding equal parts of water and flour into a glass container. This could be 1 tbsp of flour and water, or 1 cup of flour and water. It really depends on how much starter you need.
- Mix the flour and water together with a fork. Cover the container with a tea towel and leave it to ferment at room temperature (your kitchen counter is perfect).
- Stir with a fork twice a day until it is actively bubbling. Depending on the type of flour you use it can take 2-7 days.
- See the section above about feeding your starter if you want to keep the starter going for continuous baking.
Notes
- The 1:1 ratio of flour and water is approximate. Some flours will absorb more water (for example buckwheat and white rice) some flours absorb less water (oat and brown rice). Adjust the recipe so that you have a thick, yet still pourable consistency. It doesn’t have to be exact and you can adjust the flour/water ratio as you feed your starter.
- Most of my recipes start with 1-2 cups of active sourdough starter, so I recommend making a large amount of starter, and keeping it going.
- I recommend using my gluten free bread flour mix for all of your gluten free breads, however, don’t use it for your starter. Just use wholegrain flour or white rice flour for your starter.
Keywords: starter, buckwheat, rice, sorghum, millet, quinoa, teff, oat, bread
Hi Emillie,
I am trying to make a starter using your instructions and buckwheat flour. Here was my start: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aHK69eiNLd6pffsGA
After about 60 hours it looked like this: https://photos.app.goo.gl/KLLCs3jEkqR9SRx38.The flour is so grainy and dark. I cannot tell if it is getting bubbly or not. After two day it started to smell rather funky. Since I have zero experience with this I don’t know what to look for or it it’s done. Can you offer any advice? I live in Orlando FL.
What buckwheat flour do you use? How do I know when it’s done…or if it’s even working?
Thanks!
Unfortunately, the second photo doesn’t seem to be working. I’ve never had a fail with buckwheat flour. It usually starts to get bubbly on the side of the jar and the top will puff up. If you stir it, you should be able to see a structure of air bubbles. It should also have a sour smell. My bet is that it’s working. I’ve used all different types of buckwheat, though usually I use light buckwheat because my kids prefer a “whiter” bread. 🙂
What does the pink liquid on the buckwheat sourdough starter mean?
I’m not sure why buckwheat gets a little bit of pink liquid, but it happens to me 9 times out of 10. I usually just stir it in. It shouldn’t be neon pick, or mold like. Just a slight pink tinge on the surface.
It usually only takes 2-3 days to get a bubbly starter with buckwheat. It is different from gluten sourdough because there is no gluten to make large bubbles on the side. You know it’s done when it smells like sourdough.
If it’s your first time making sourdough in your home, you might not have just the right flora. So it can be tricky the first few times. But if you make sourdough regularly, you should be able to get a starter fairly quick.
Hi! The liquid that collects on the top of your starter is by-products of bacterial fermentation. This occurs when the bacteria in your starter starts metabolizing other sugars into alcohols and generally indicates a starter needing feeding. It’s fine to mix it back in.
Thanks for sharing. I guess that’s why we call it hooch. 🙂
Hi! Thanks so much for sharing this. I’m just trying out my first buckwheat sourdough starter. I did 1/4 flour 1/4 water and after about an hour there is a 2ml later of liquid on the top…does it need more flour? Or am I just supposed to leave it and hope for bubbles (at which point you start feeding, I believe?). Thanks!
It sounds like you need a bit more flour. Just add another tablespoon and see if that gives you a thicker starter. How much water is required will depend on whether you’re using dark or light buckwheat. Dark buckwheat has the hull in it, which doesn’t absorb water, but is full of good-for-you fibre!
I am not confident I had any success getting a starter going with buckwheat flour, I have however gotten buckwheat groats to work. Could I use some of the frothy mixture from the buckwheat groats to add to the buckwheat flour to make a starter. Would it be the same?
Sure! That should work out. Especially since it already has a culture that can eat up buckwheat.
This question might sound a bit confusing, but I hope it makes sense! I understand that you ‘feed’ your starter half the volume on the second day. On the third day do you ‘feed’ it the same amount as you did on the second day? Or do you need to ‘feed’ it more because you increased the volume on day 2?
So if on day 1 you mix a quarter cup of flour with a quarter cup of water, day 2 you would ‘feed’ an eighth of a cup of flour and an eighth of a cup of water. On day 3 do you ‘feed’ an eighth of a cup of flour and an eighth of a cup of water? Or do you ‘feed’ 3/16 of a cup of flour and 3/16 of a cup of water?
Looking forward to trying this! Thanks so much for the great recipes!
To be honest, I don’t do anything that precise. I just feed it a good scoop of flour and add water so it’s the right consistency. I also gauge my feeding based on the smell (sourness) of the starter and how much starter I need. However, I’ve been baking with sourdough for a LONG time.
I think a good rule of thumb is to continually feed it a bit more each day (because the volume is increasing). I’ve also designed my recipes to use a large amount of starter both for flavour and because I don’t believe in throwing starter away. If you don’t need a huge amount of starter, then stash it in the fridge. Does that make sense?
Thanks so much for your reply! I’m notorious for overthinking everything! Hahaha! But I have started my starter today with Teff flour so fingers crossed! Thanks again for your reply and you awesome recipes!
Thanks! Fermenting is both an art and a science. Good luck! 🙂
Hi Emillie
Started a GF sourdough 2 days ago with a 1/2 cup of Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 GF Baking Flour mixed with Bob’s Red Mill Teff flour (mix was 1:1 Baking flour:Teff) and 1/2 cup of water. Bubbles started next day so I started feeding it 1/2 cup of mixed flours and 1/2 cup of warm water and and had a good frothy mix the next day. Gave it a couple more feeds to build volume, but the smell is not yeasty. It’s more like grass or silage. Plenty of bubbles though. At this moment I have made a lump of dough and I’m just waiting to see if I can get it to rise. It’s in the oven in a bowl covered in a wet tea towel at a bit over 100degF (40degC). Any thoughts on the aroma I’m getting? Here’s a couple of pics of the brew.
Kind regards
Hi Gregory,
I took a look at your photos (before deleting the link from your post as my anti-spam software really didn’t like the added link.) 🙂 The sourdough looks perfect. It smells like dried grass or hay? That might be from the flour combination. I’ve never mixed teff with anything else, so I wouldn’t know. However, GF sourdough never smells as yeasty as if you were using bread yeast. It tends to have a sour-yeast smell that is influenced by the smell of the flour.
I usually use it more for flavour than rise, unless I’m doing a 24 hour rise (like in my vegan gf bread.) Otherwise I either add a bit of commercial yeast, or baking soda to add a bit more poof with only a 2-4 hour rise.
How did your bread turn out?
If I keep my starter in the fridge, do I need to bring it back to room temp to use in a recipie?
I always pull my starter out of the fridge and feed it once or twice before baking with it. That gives it a good boost (it doesn’t really enjoy being in the fridge) and leaves enough extra starter for my next batches of bread. However, if you’re stuck for time, then you can use it straight from the fridge. Just let the bread rise for longer.
Do you pour off half the first day like you would with a gluten starter?
I don’t even do that for my gluten starter! Not sure why such wastage is part of the process? I assume it’s tradition. I just focus on making enough starter for my recipes. And all my recipes call for 1-2 cups of starter. 🙂
I’m on day 5 of my first attempt at sourdough starter- I’ve been using oat flour, and feeding daily with 4 oz water and 4 oz flour. It is very thick, has a nice sour smell but have not had any bubbles. Does this mean its not working? Or is it not bubbling because it is too thick?
Oat is rather heavy and sticky, so I don’t usually get bubbles along the side of the jar, just on top. If it smells sour, then it’s probably good! I recommend a bit of extra water if it’s really thick.
Hi Sophie,
Did you end up having success? I’m hoping to try this with oat flour.
Hi Morgen, I make sourdough with oat flour for most of my baking. I just like the flavour the best. So it does work out! Just not as quickly as teff or buckwheat. Good luck! Emillie
Hi Emillie! I’m looking for a recipe with oat flour. I’m working on my oat sourdough starter but do you have a good recipe for it?
Hi Hanna, This is the recipe I follow for my oat flour starter. And most of my baked goods on the website are made with oat flour. 🙂 I just like the flavour/texture best. It does take a few days to get a good starter with oat flour. It depends on the strains of yeast in your home and might take a while to cultivate if you’re new to fermenting. The more you ferment the healthier the yeasts/bacteria are in the air of your home.
Hi Emillie,
I too am looking for a recipe with oat flour. I am making an oat flour sourdough starter. The recipe you seemed to reference is not on this page. Thanks!
Hi Paula, This recipe works for any type of GF flour. As I mention in the section on flours, I usually make it with oat (and the photograph is oat). So just follow the instructions with oat flour! Enjoy!
Think quinoa flour would work for this?
Yes! Any flour with complex carbs will work. Just not almond flour or coconut, etc.
I’m a little confused. I’ve always heard that you shouldn’t use metal with sourdough. Does the fork not adversely effect your starter?
All ferments are a bit acidic, which is why you should generally avoid fermenting in a metal container. The acidity isn’t good for reactive metal (iron, copper). However, if you use a stainless steel fork it won’t harm the starter nor the fork. Good luck!
Hi Emillie,
I have made an oat starter and kinda just used my gut on the amounts of flour vs water the consistency. It is a thickish paste, goopy, it sticks to my finger nicely, a bit like a thick pancake batter . It has not worked so well, no bubbles, but has a nice sour smell. In the beginning I did not feed it, only a few days later, I did mix it relitively well, dunno about vigerously, it is now 3 weeks old and I have put it in the coldest section of the fridge. I used water straight from the tap which I believe was clorinated. I hope you can help.
P.S. Do you have a nice oat bread recipe I was trying to make oat bread using only oats, that failed miserably. I used now 4.5 cups oat flour and 2 cups of all purpose GF flour: brand ORGRAN (Maize Starch, Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch, Rice Bran, Vegetable Gum (Thickener): Guar Gum), honey, raw sugar, 4 eggs, half a cup of canola oil, 1 and 3/4 cup of soda water with yeast and it worked well. do you think this would work with oat starter?
Oat flour does take a while to catch a sourdough. However, if it smells sour, then you’ve probably caught a starter! My starter in the photo at the top of the post is made with oat, and you can see it’s not that bubbly. The one at the bottom is rice, which does form more obvious bubbles. 🙂 I mostly use oat for my bread, so all of the bread recipes on my site are oat mixed with other types of gf “flours” to balance the bread. I have tried just oat and it tends to be a bit dense. Just check out the GF sourdough category: https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/category/types-of-ferments/gluten-free-sourdough/
The recipe you posted might work with a sourdough starter. To be honest, GF baking is so specific that I literally test my recipes at least 10 times before posting them. Adjusting things slightly each time. It’s hard to say how the loaf will come out before trying it. 🙂
Hi Emillie
I recently bought a bag of buckwheat flour and would like to try making this bread, however I have difficulty finding filtered water in my country. What other water can I use? I can find drinking bottled water and distilled water.
Do you drink your water? If it’s good drinking water, then it should work for your starter or other ferments. In the US, most urban/suburban water is treated with chlorine and will prevent microbial growth. While other contaminants may also be an issue, if there is no other choice, the chlorine will evaporate if the water is left to sit for half a day before use. Local well water is too variable to know for sure; you’ll just need to try. If no starters or cultures work with your water, you’ll need to filter or buy water. Distilled isn’t a good choice as it is deplete of all minerals that we and microbes need to thrive. Bottled still (non-carbonated) drinking water would be best if you need to purchase water for your starter. Good luck!
Forgot to mention that not all filters will work either. Some contain anti-bacterial components (like silver) which will keep your cultures from growing. I tried a Brita filter pitcher once, and it was a no go. I grew up with Shaklee products, and their filter water pitcher works great.
Thanks for sharing! I wrote a whole post on water… it’s a particular issue in my community which uses chloramination which doesn’t evaporate quite like chlorine. 🙂 https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/filter-water-fermentation/ I haven’t seen the Shaklee filter, so I’ll have to look for that. Cheers.
Thanks for the post and the responses to the comments! I was worried my starter was bad but it seems the sour smell is normal.
Hello! It’s been around 12 hours for my starter and it already seems quite thick (like all the water is gone) and has not risen. there are bubbles on the surface though and it smells kind of buttery. should i add more water and mix?
GF flours vary widely on how much water they absorb. If it looks really dry, then add more water and keep mixing. It should be like a thick sauce. Depending on what flour you use and how much you already ferment, it could take 2-5 days (mixing every day) to get really going. It should smell yeasty and slightly bubbly on top (GF doesn’t tend to get as bubbly on the sides as it doesn’t have the gluten structure to hold the bubbles). Good luck!
I’m trying a starter for the first time using oat flour. It smells sour and doesn’t seem to have gone bad but isn’t very bubbly. Just a few bubbles here and there. It seems to be getting less bubbly everyday. It’s been 6 days since I started it. Any suggestions?
If it smells sour, it’s probably ready. GF oats doesn’t get bubbly and grow quite the way regular sourdough starter does. Try baking with it, reserving a bit of the starter for the next batch. Either feed it and store it in the fridge or feed it and leave it out. And continue to feed it every day. It will continue to get better over the next week. Good luck!
I have been keeping a GF sourdough starter going for years. Sometimes it gets a little lackluster. When that happens I boil a small unpeeled potato in 2 cups of water and purée it all. I use the puréed potato water and a commercial GF Flour (like Bob’s Red Mill) to feed it for a few days until it gets good and sour and bubbly. I’ve always used the commercial flour for feeding but may now try using buckwheat, teff or white rice flour to feed. I just made up a batch of your GF bread flour and will see how I do. I have been trying to make the perfect flour for years. I’ve tried so many different recipes I’ve lost track so my fingers are crossed that yours will be a winner!
I’ve never tried the potato trick, but it would be a great way to add a boost of carbs to your starter! Better than potato starch, which usually has added sulfites to prevent brown… which also slows down the fermentation. Hope you find the flour works for you. I have a different recipe for baked goods, but I like the added protein in my bread. Cheers.
Hello!! If we plan to use all the sourdough at once, do we have to feed it during those first 3-5 first days we are trying to get the sourdough ? We are using buckwheat flour. Thanks
I would make exactly the amount you need for the recipe, then give it a good mix twice a day. It should only take 2 days for buckwheat to be nice, bubbly and sour. Good luck!
I am making a sourdough starter for the first time. I am using buckwheat flour. I decided to start with 1 tablespoon of flour and equivalent water. For the next following days, do I add the same amount of flour and water for next 7 days or do I just discard some of the starter and feed with the same amount? I am confused as some of the other sites talk about taking only a part of starter and feed it everyday.
Kindly advice,
I’m not sure why many the sourdough starter recipes involve lots of feeding then throwing away starter. I think it’s just because of tradition rather than necessity. I generally start with a larger amount of starter, just mixing twice daily until it smells sour. With buckwheat that’s about 1-2 days. Then I start to feed it, just to keep everything happy. Most of my recipes for GF baking use 1-2 cups of starter, because I want a really strong flavour. So hopefully you don’t have to throw any away!
When you’re ready to start feeding just add a bit of water and flour in and mix. No need to halve the starter. If you end up with too much, stash the extra in a jar in the fridge. Then you’ll be ready for the next time you want to bake.
Thank you Emillie. I will let you know how it work out for me.
Hello, I just started my first ever starter with one cup of water and one cup of brown rice flour. My question is do I have to start feeding it daily right away or I wait until it ferments before I start feeding it?
Thank you
I recommend vigorous mixing twice a day (to bring in the yeasts from your home). Then once it starts to smell sour and has some bubbles on top, you can start feeding it. It takes a few days before the flour actually has any culture to feed. If you’re not sure, start feeding after 5 days. Good luck!
Hi. Can i use my buckwheat starter with plain wheat flour to make sourdough bread?
Hi, you can definitely use your buckwheat starter in a wheat loaf of bread… however, starters do best being fed the same type of flour. So I recommend either using the buckwheat starter mostly for flavour (adding yeast to your recipe) or adding some buckwheat flour to the bread to feed the starter. Good luck!
Hi!!
I am wanting to make a starter with buckwheat. Im a bit confused though- if I dont wish to keep it going and just want to use for one batch- do I have to feed it with more flour and water? Or can I use the starter that I originally made and has been sitting for a couple days
Thank yoU!!
Please look at this comment I just added xanthan gum to the recipe
This is so fascinating! My daughter has a wheat intolerance so I am going with rice. Should the glass container have a lid or just the towel? Thank you!
Sourdough starter is actually a free-range culture in the air of your home (rather than in the grain itself, except for teff and buckwheat). It really needs air to catch the yeast and bacterial culture. So just cover it with a towel to keep out fruit flies, cats or other pests. 🙂
I’m living in a hot humid climate, temps this week have been upper 90-105°. With that kind of heat in the house, should I mix more often? Should I keep it in the fridge?
It might catch a bit more quickly. However, sourdough really depends on the yeast and bacteria culture in the air of your home. Once it is going, you might want to store it in the fridge so you won’t have to feed it as often. Just bring it out for a day or two before baking with it. Enjoy!
Hi. In your instructions you say “Feed it half of its volume in water and flour. For example: if you have 1 cup of starter, then you will need to feed it 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of flour daily.” It sounds like what you are actually meaning is, feed it 100% of it’s current volume (1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water = 1 cup of starter). Is this correct? This also means that each time you feed it, you would have to feed it more since it’s volume increases each time. I’m going to try the recipe again, and will keep a tally of the volume each day so I can remember how much to add the following day. I hope this helps me. Last time it became inactive after the third feeding because I wasn’t adding enough. Thanks
Hi Jessie, To be honest, at this point I do most of my feeding by intuition. It’s not exactly straight forward, though I’ve tried to make it easy for people. 🙂 For example, if your house is quite warm, it will need a lot more feeding than if your house is cool. Even more than feeding, it’s really important to give the starter a good mix every day, or even better twice a day. Especially if you are using rice, quinoa or oat flour, as these flours really depend on the yeasts and bacteria in the air in your home for culture. If your home has a hepe filter, or there’s a lot of air pollution, then it can be really hard to maintain a good sourdough starter. If it doesn’t work for you this time, then I recommend trying buckwheat or teff, which come with their own yeast culture. Good luck!
Thanks for the quick reply! I understand there are many factors to success. Can you clarify though if I should be aiming more towards doubling it every day (adding 1 cup of new starter if I have 1 cup already) or feeding it half the existing quantity? This was the part I didn’t understand about how it was written in your recipe. Thanks!
I feed about half the existing quantity… unless I want a lot of extra starter, in which case I might feed it up to double the quantity. Over feeding it just gives you more time until the next feeding, and I usually judge the need to feed based on the smell and how sour it is. If it seems to be getting less sour every day, then you are probably over feeding. And lots of factors affect the need to feed: type of flour, air quality and temperature.
I recently read a facebook post by someone who has also been baking sourdough for a long time. It was all about how forgiving sourdough is. For some reasons sourdough has developed the mystic of being very difficult and particular. But really, for most of us, it’s very easy and flexible. (Much easier to than taking care of a cat!) However, it can be REALLY hard if your air-quality is either: hepe filtered or heavily polluted, which both result in low bacterial culture. Otherwise, you’ll probably be fine feeding a few spoonfuls of flour and water each day. Good luck!
Hi Emillie, thank you posting this. I’ve been trying to figure this out for a while now and stumbled across your post during the pandemic. I have a question about feeding the starter. I’m not clear on when you feed the oat and water starter.
Do you feed it daily from day one, or do you wait until it gets frothier (day 5), use the starter, and theN begin feeding any reserved portion that you are saving for future use?
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I usually wait until it “catches” the sourdough starter, then start to feed it. So around day 4 or 5. Once it has yeast and bacteria, it needs to be fed daily. I know some people feed starting from day 1, but I don’t see the point in feeding a starter that isn’t actually hungry. 🙂
Hi Emillie,
I am not quite understanding your instruction for how to make the starter. Do I need to feed once a day with the half of the quantity I started with? For example if I start with 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 water then I need to feed daily with 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of water?
Yes! If you have 1/2 cup of starter, then feed it about 1/4 cup of flour. Then the next day, you’ll need to give it a little bit more than that. However, perfection is not necessary once you’ve got a really active starter. Good luck!
Emillie, thank you for sharing your learnings, insight and inspiration. I love that sourdough might truly be forgiving! I’m here by way of sourdough brownies right now but will graduate to bread if all goes well.
I’m using buckwheat flour and noticed the first ‘sour’ smell the morning of day 2. By nighttime however, the starter had puffed-up to about twice its size. I stirred it down, but there’s now a distinct sweet smell; a bit like corn and not pleasant. I’m wondering if it might recover, or if it’s likely spoiled (maybe too warm in its kitchen spot).
I’ve started another meanwhile (no really, we need those brownies!) but if you do have more wisdoms to share. I’ll keep up with trial and error anyway, also some great tips in the comment threads here!
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Hum… buckwheat does turn into sourdough starter really quick. Maybe try baking with it after 24 hours? I’m not sure about the sweet smell as that hasn’t happened to me. But if it doesn’t smell pleasant then you should definitely not use it.
I’ve got to try those sourdough brownies! I’m a huge chocolate fan. Yum!
So appreciate the reply. As soon as the new one gets its sour smell—brownies!