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Author:
Franco Salzillo
Bread is awesome; that’s a fact; it’s the most straightforward staple food around the world and one of the most varied too. I’m sure there are at least thousand different bread styles, and they’re all beautiful in their own way.
Sure, you also have the store-bought box bread, which is not all that great. It is precisely this industrialized, flavorless bread that inspired people to look back at sourdough, an ancient bread-making method that goes back thousands of years.
Today we’re making sourdough, and that’s amazing, but we’re also using buckwheat so you can enjoy this spongy loaf with your friends and family that can’t eat gluten. Keep in mind this one is not only gluten-free bread but also just plain tasty bread so everyone can enjoy it.
Ok, in regular bread, you must use commercial yeast or a combination of baking powder, baking soda, creme de tartar and other ingredients to make bread rise. It is the yeast or the baking soda that creates the tiny bubbles that become air pockets inside the bread.
The thing with commercial yeast is that it delivers consistent, reliable results, and that can get boring. Sourdough is made with ambient yeast, meaning you just let a flour and water mixture sit for a few days and let the yeast take care of it.
Sourdough bread is more complex; it has much more flavor and can be a bit tangy — it’s the same old bread you know, but more exciting. To get there, you need a sourdough starter, and in this case, a gluten-free sourdough starter.
Here’s how you make a gluten-free sourdough starter.
In a jar, combine equal parts of buckwheat flour and rice flour, and add three-times their combined weight in water. Cover your jar with a damp tea towel and let it sit overnight. The next day, add a bit more flour and water as needed. Do this every day, and you’ll soon see your starter come alive. As long as you feed the little creature, it will stay healthy. Once you’re ready to bake some sourdough bread, add 1/2 cup of starter to your bread ingredients, and you’re ready to go! Here’s the recipe.
Coat your loaf pan with coconut oil.
In a large mixing bowl, add the buckwheat flour and flakes and sourdough starter. Combine with a wooden spoon, add warm water if needed, and cover with a kitchen cloth.
Let the dough rise for 1 hour at room temperature.
Remove the dough, and on an almond floured surface, knead the dough for about 15-20 minutes.
Incorporate the mixed nuts into the dough.
Return the dough to the mixing bowl and let rise one more hour.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Once the dough has roughly doubled in size, place it in the loaf pan and garnish it with the remaining seeds.
Bake the loaf for one hour. Check if cook through and cook for fifteen more minutes if needed until a knife comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let it cool before slicing. Good for about 5 two-slice servings.
