This gluten-free sourdough sandwich bread is made with just four simple ingredients: flour, sourdough starter, water, and salt. It bakes up with a soft, even crumb that’s easy to slice for sandwiches or toast. I walk you through each step so you know exactly what to look for at every stage, from mixing to baking.
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❤️ Sandi’s Recipe Summary
The Quick Bite: This is the gluten-free sourdough loaf I bake when we want real sandwich bread. It rises right in the loaf pan, slices cleanly once it cools, and has a gentle tang. The recipe started in 2014 with Sadie Scheffer of Bread SRSLY, and readers have been perfecting it with me ever since.
I made this bread last night with Bob’s Redmill GF all purpose flour with my GF starter & it came out amazing!! So happy I found this recipe & can’t wait to make it again!! This recipe was very easy to follow & the tips were very helpful.
wendy, blog comment
🔑 Sandi says: This post was updated and reorganized from an older 2014 post. I have included a lot more tips from both myself and my readers to help you make this recipe successfully. This is a recipe that I recommend you read the entire post. Do not hit the Jump to Recipe button if you haven’t made this bread yet.
Nothing tastes better than fresh sourdough bread! It is seriously (or should I say SRSLY) the most incredible comfort food! This original recipe comes from Sadie, founder of the famous Bread SRSLY in Berkeley. Please note this isn’t her current recipe; she has tweaked her bakery recipe over the years, but this loaf still turns out incredibly well. (I have also streamlined this recipe since she first shared her recipe with me back in 2014.)
Sadie used a combination of millet, sorghum, brown, and white rice flour in her original recipe. Many of us do not have many individual flours on hand, so it was important for me to simplify the ingredient list. This is an excellent introduction if you want to try making a version of Bread SRSLY’s famous sourdough bread.
If you love baking gluten free bread as much as we do, check out my delicious gluten-free bread recipes.
Do This First:
If you do not have a sourdough starter, go to my How to Make a Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter page and make your gluten free starter! It will take 7-10 days, depending on whether you are keeping it warm. Do this first because there is no sourdough bread without an active starter! For a list of tools you need, please read my article on Sourdough Tools.
A Note on Gluten-Free Flour Blends:
I have tested several different gluten free blends in this recipe. In 2014, I tested King Arthur Measure for Measure in this recipe. I also tested a very starch-heavy gluten free flour blend, GF Jules. Both performed very well.
The main difference lies in the bread’s interior texture. Both had a nice crusty outside. GF Jules was much lighter and fluffier inside, while the King Arthur flour blend loaf was a little heartier, like regular sourdough bread.
Many of my readers have shared the flour blends they have tried in the comments, so I encourage you to read through them. Dana loved Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 with this recipe.
My next tests of this bread will use my DIY flour blends: Gluten Free Whole Grain Flour Blend and Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Blend.
How to Make Gluten-Free Sourdough Sandwich Bread (Step-By-Step)
Step 1: You will need 3/4 cup of gluten free starter. Make sure it is bubbling and at room temperature! If you refrigerate your starter, take it out of the refrigerator the night before you plan to make bread. I take a discard, feed it with gluten-free flour and water, and let it sit on the counter overnight.
I like to keep my starter warm, especially during the cooler months. In the fall/winter, I either keep my starter in the oven with the light on or on my Euro Cuisine Yogurt Maker base (with two folded dish towels on it to keep the starter from overheating) if it is really cold.
Step 2: Place the gluten-free flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add the sourdough starter and filtered water.
👀 Sandi Says: I always use purified/filtered water when making sourdough or baking with yeast. Chlorine and chemicals in our tap water can slow your yeast and inhibit the rise. To achieve the best rise, use purified water that doesn’t contain these chemicals.
Step 3: Mix the wet and dry ingredients well. You are looking for wet dough, like a thick pancake batter. Compared to the artisan gluten free sourdough bread recipes on my blog, this dough will be much wetter.
Step 4: Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 3 hours (watch how much it rises). I then gently move the dough to a greased bread loaf pan and let it sit for another 3-4 hours. Cover with a damp towel to prevent the dough from drying out.
This is my favorite option so far – let it rise in the pan you’ll use for baking and it has the softest crust and best crumb of the four 5 recipes I’ve tried, while still being super easy.”
Sara K.
Note that the King Arthur Measure for Measure was a little runnier. The GF Jules has a much higher starch content and looks much fluffier!
Step 5: To generate steam during baking, put a cast iron skillet on the bottom oven rack. Let the skillet heat while the oven preheats. When you put the bread into the oven, toss 3-4 ice cubes into the hot skillet. This makes steam during the first part of the bake. (Sadie at Bread SRLY didn’t use steam, but I found that baking with steam creates a really good crust.)
👀 Sandi Says: Note that Sadie didn’t use any steam in her recipe. I tested this bread with and without, and I prefer the flavor with steaming it.
When the dough has doubled in size in the pan, bake the gluten free sourdough loaf for 45 minutes at 425º F. Brush the top of the loaf with melted butter at the 45-minute mark and then quickly close the oven door. This will help the bread get more golden on top.
Step 6: Bake for an additional 20-30 minutes, and test the bread with a probe-style digital thermometer; the center should read 210°F. Note: baking time will vary based on the size and depth of the pan you use. Gluten-free breads hold more water than wheat breads, and the starches need to fully set. A loaf pulled at 195 to 200°F often looks done but slices gummy.
If you notice residue on the thermometer probe, turn off the oven and leave the loaf in to cool, so it finishes baking and cooling more gently and retains as much of the final baked-in rise and fluff.
Step 7: Carefully move the bread to a cooling rack. Cool the bread completely before removing it from the pan and slicing it with a serrated bread knife. Let the bread cool for at least 3 to 4 hours before slicing. The crumb keeps setting as it cools. Slicing this bread while it is hot lets steam escape and leaves the center sticky.
If you prefer a crusty artisan-style sourdough bread, try this artisan Gluten-Free Sourdough Boule recipe! I also love this Gluten-Free Cranberry Walnut Sourdough Bread.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Store it the right way! Learn How to Store Gluten-Free Bread so you can keep it fresh.
No, regular sourdough is not gluten free because it is made with wheat flour. If you are gluten free, you need to use gluten free flour to make your starter and bread.
If your sourdough is gummy in the middle, there are two possible causes. Either you didn’t bake it enough, or you sliced it while it was still warm. The internal temperature should be 210ºF. Do not slice the bread until it is fully cooled because the inside continues to set as it cools.
Rise time depends on how warm the environment is. When the dough has doubled in size, it is ready to bake.
Read my Gluten-Free Bread Troubleshooting Guide for more tips and possible troubleshooting. Serve this with my Curried Chicken Salad, Unstuffed Pepper Soup, or Instant Pot Chicken Vegetable Soup.
Reader Tips:
This post has 175 comments filled with reader tips to help you improve Sadie’s recipe. I am including many reader tips. There is so much experience in perfecting bread. I encourage you to read the tips and comments section.
“It was a pleasure at each step- because it was an adventure. Not everyone is that enthusiastic, I know. But, for someone whom has zero experience in gluten free baking – this brave trial was easy and enjoyable.”
Dana
“I am new to gf sourdough bread baking, and each loaf is improving. Only the first was a complete fail due to stickyness. I mix my dough in the a.m., and mid afternoon, I mix a 2 T. boost of flour, 1/4 c. of water and 1 tsp of baking soda, add that into the dough and move the dough into my loaf pan for a fairly quick rise. I bake at 400F for an hour after dinner for use the next day. I check temp with a probe for 200+F. I don’t use steam and crust is cruchy/chewy. I’ve used center of oven and low center without noticing a difference. Some tips that may work – fluff flour with fork before measuring, and mix with a fork, too. You can cover your loaf pan with a second for the ride to allow room and protect. Some bake like this to simulate a Dutch oven, but I’ve not tried it yet. If I use the baking soda, it really helps the rise and opens the grain. Otherwise it is fairly sense and short. I am wondering how to reduce stickyness more. I am thinking a different flour may help. I have been using WalMart GF All Purpose and BRM in the red bag. Both have some starches. I usually toast my bread slice and that dried them a bit, too. This has been a fun adventure, and we’ve enjoyed discard pancakes, too.”
Chris, reader comment
“I successfully babied a sorghum starter for several weeks feeding it regularly and discarding only occasionally until it matured. I have found the process to be not as finicky as it is usually presented and is quite forgiving. I have since made 4 successful loaves of various kinds of gluten free bread, baking once a week and keeping my sourdough in the refrigerator during the week, bringing it out the night before I plan on using it and feeding it. I always make mine with a stand mixer and beat it for 3-4 mins before putting it into a loaf pan forming it with a wet silicone spatula. I always use bottled or spring water in my recipes as chlorine inhibits the yeast growth, therefore living sourdough. If I am in a hurry to bake, I add 1 tsp of baking sofa to my loaf. It reacts with the acidic sourdough and causes a faster rise. If I am not, I practise patience…not my finest asset! Sometimes rise may take anywhere from 12-48 hrs for the dough to double in size. Because I live in the great white north, I also always put my bread in the oven with the light on to rise. I oil the top of my loaf lightly with olive oil and place a kitchen towel over it. Once it is fully risen I remove it from the oven and heat my oven to 450. I put the loaf in and then decrease the temperature to 420 for 20 mins. This gives a beautiful chewy crust. Then I decrease my oven again to 375-400F and bake for 30 minutes until the interior loaf measures above 205F. Let it cool completely before slicing up the loaf. Store in the freezer taking out what you will use, defrosting in the microwave until warm. This recipe makes fantastic sandwiches! I use this method with all the loaves I have made and it works great! Hope this helps!”
Lois M., reader comment
“We’ve accidentally left out the salt a few times at the bakery, and we found that the bread did not rise as much as a salted dough! It was really interesting, and not at all in line with the baking rules I know. The key to getting your recipe down is the balance between water, binder, and bake time. Too little water means the dough can’t stretch enough to take full advantage of the binder. Too little binder, and the water will just make it harder to bake, with less rise because there isn’t enough elasticity. Too low a bake temp means that the amount of oven spring will be small.”
Sadie, responding to a reader question about salt
“I make mine in a crock pot! I line to crock with oiled parchement and let raise 12-24 hours. Cook on high for 2.5 hours. The top doesn’t brown and isn’t pretty, but it still tastes the same as baking it. Plus it doesn’t heat up my kitchen in the summer!”
Jill H., Pinterest comment
This bread is great for making Gluten Free Bread Crumbs. You can dry the sourdough loaf and turn it into breadcrumbs. It works well in any recipe that calls for breadcrumbs, such as this Gluten-Free Meatloaf recipe.
Serve Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread With:
If you haven’t eaten a lot of sourdough bread or are looking for some ideas on what to serve it with, here are a few tasty ideas:
- Roasted Chicken – Place pieces of roasted chicken and cheese (if you can tolerate dairy) and toss them under the broiler until hot and the cheese is bubbly. Add toppings and enjoy. So good!
- Dip – Serve pieces of gluten free sourdough with this Hot Cream Cheese Dip or this Gluten-Free Cheese Fondue, which will go perfectly! It pairs well with any cheese-based dish.
Sadie’s Original Recipe:
Here is the gluten free sourdough sandwich bread recipe that Sadie gave me back in 2014, untweaked. Several readers still use this recipe, so I wanted to include it in my article. This is the quote from Sadie, who used a millet, rice, and sorghum flour blend. The salt and xanthan gum are not used in the starter but in the bread:
- Mix equal parts of the flour of your choice and water. Avoid using pure starches like tapioca, corn, or potato starch.
- Leave it in a bowl at room temperature, covered by a towel. Add a little more flour and a little more water every 8-12 hours (2-3 times per day).
- After 3-5 days, the mixture should begin to smell sour and develop bubbles. Congratulations, you’re almost there.
- Once your mixture is bubbling, add a little bit to your bread mix. Do not use any yeast. Let this rise for at least 12 hours.
- Once the dough has risen, it will be your sourdough starter! Use a little bit of this dough in a fresh batch of dough.
- You’ll be impressed at how vigorous your sourdough can be.
- Always save a cup or so of your last dough to use as a starter in your next batch.
- Keep it in the fridge, and be sure to “feed” it with fresh water and your blend of flour from the bread recipe at least once a week, but twice if you can.
If you want to try another great sourdough recipe, try these Gluten-Free Sourdough Bagels. If you want to make incredible gluten free bread quicker, try my delicious Gluten-Free Bread Machine Bread recipe! If you have discard to use up, try my Gluten-Free Sourdough Discard Biscuit recipe!
If you’re looking for more gluten-free bread recipes that rise well and slice beautifully, you’ll find plenty of options in my Ultimate Guide to Gluten-Free Bread Recipes.
Love This Recipe?
If you made and enjoyed this recipe, I would be incredibly grateful if you could leave a comment below. Please include which flour blend you used. This will help others know this recipe is delicious. Thank you!
Gluten Free Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten free flour blend * see note
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup sourdough starter
- 1 cup water by feel You will need more or less depending on the flour blend you use. See notes.
- Optional butter to brush on top
Equipment
Method
- PLEASE read the whole recipe post I wrote about making this gluten free sourdough sandwich bread because it is loaded with tips from me and other readers. It is impossible to put them all in this recipe card.
- Go to my How to Make a Gluten Free Sourdough Starter page and make your gluten free starter! Do this first because there is no sourdough bread without an active starter!!
- You will need ¾ cup sourdough starter. Make sure it is bubbling and at room temperature! If you refrigerate your starter, take it out of the refrigerator the night before you plan to make bread. I take a discard, feed it with gluten-free flour and water, and let it sit on the counter overnight.
- You will want your starter warmer if it is a cold season, especially winter. I like to put my starter either in the oven with the light on or on my Euro Cuisine Yogurt Maker base (with two folded dish towels on it so the starter doesn't get too hot.)
- Put the 2 cups gluten free flour blend and 1 teaspoon kosher salt into a large non-metal mixing bowl and whisk together. Add the sourdough starter and 1 cup water by feel.
- Note: It is important to use filtered water. Tap water has a lot of chemicals, including chlorine, which can kill your yeast and decrease the rise.
- Mix the wet and dry ingredients well. You want a wet dough, like a thick pancake batter.
- If your bowl isn't metal, cover it loosely with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 3 hours (go by how big it rises). It may look lumpy, but that is okay. Let it- don’t overwork- you are eliminating the rise with every stroke. I move the dough to a greased bread loaf pan and let it rise for another 3-4 hours. Cover with a damp towel so the dough doesn't dry out.
- Note that the King Arthur Measure for Measure was a little runnier in consistency. The GF Jules has a much higher starch content and looks much fluffier!
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
- Bake the gluten free sourdough loaf for 45 minutes at 425º F. at the 45-minute mark, brush melted butter over the top of the loaf, and then quickly closed the oven door.
- Bake for another 20-30 minutes and test the bread with a probe-style thermometer. The bread should be between 200-210º F in the center. Note: the bake time will vary depending on the size and depth of the pan you bake your bread in.
- Carefully move the bread to a cooling rack. Cool the bread completely before removing it from the pan and slicing it with a serrated bread knife. You want the bread to cool for a minimum of 3-4 hours before slicing it.
Nutrition
Notes
- Read the entire post. You will miss a lot of tips and tricks for making this recipe a huge success.
- I have tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure and GF Jules. Readers have tested this recipe with Namaste, Krusteaz, and Bob’s Red Mill 1:1.
- Water by feel. These are Sadie’s words, and I share several photos in the post. Your dough will have a thick pancake-batter texture.
- Note: This recipe came from Sadie at Bread SRSLY. She has many tips in the article and 100s of reader comments filled with tips.
- Store the bread in an airtight container. I always recommend slicing and freezing the bread slices if you are not going to eat the loaf quickly. Freeze when the bread is fully cooled in a freezer-safe zipper bag.
How to get crusty bread:
I highly recommend baking this bread with a pan of hot water on the lower rack in the oven to create steam. (Sadie at Bread Srsly didn’t do this, but I found baking with hot steam creates a really good crust to the bread.) To get steam, you can fill a shallow baking dish with very hot water and put it on the bottom rack in your oven when you turn the oven on. Keep it there the first 30 minutes that your bread bakes.Private Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!
I truly hope you enjoy this recipe. I have been testing and creating gluten-free recipes for over 15 years. Creating gluten-free recipes that do not taste gluten-free is my goal for every recipe. Sometimes I only have to test a new recipe a couple of times, and others it takes multiple times. I do this so you get reliable, delicious results every time!
Hi Sandi, I was wondering if you have tried this recipe with your own gluten free flour blend? I am asking because I would like to try and utilize only one flour blend to simplify things and was considering using your whole grain flour blend. Thanks!
Hi Megan, I haven’t tried my blend yet. If you try it, I would love to hear how it turns out. Please keep an eye on moisture levels and add more flour or liquid if the dough doesn’t match my photos.
Hello, I am wondering if you have frozen this bread before? I am hoping to be able to make some extra loaves to prepare for the beginning of the school year. Thanks for such a great post and I am excited to bake this bread for my family.
Hi Anna, I freeze all of my bread since gluten free tends to spoil so quickly. I freeze it in slices, and thaw as needed for a sandwich. I hope this helps.
I moved it from a beautiful rise in the bowl to the bread pan and it really has the consistency of my gluten-free starter, which looks very different from your gluten-free starter. Letting it rise for another 3 to 4 hours and I shall see. Using KA one to one.
Hi Nik, this bread dough is definitely a lot wetter than a normal dough, as you can see in the photos in the post. Please do keep me posted on how it turns out.
Hello,
I made this using gfjules. I had to add about another 1/2 cup water to get a consistency pictured and may have needed to add about another bit more but was afraid to.
After 6 hours rising, it was about inch from top of my 9×5 pan. After I put it in the oven it fell. Why would it do that?
I skipped the buttering part after that.
Has a great taste.
Hi Cheryl, That is interesting you needed to add more water…but it may have been too much. If the bread fell, it needed more flour.
I have made Sourdough before, just started doing gluten free so I made my own start using bobs gf flour (recommended). It is active and has been ready. I followed this recipe to the T. At first the dough was so dry so I added a slash of water here and there to make it dough like. After the first rise, it was so soupy. (Had it in a warmish spot about 75-80°) i decided to transfer to a loaf pan and wait for the second rise. Eh not to much of a rise. Baked it for 45min, put butter on and baked another 30min. Crust looked beautiful. I cut into it after it cooled and the inside was like glue. So sticky. Internal temp was fine too so I don’t know what went wrong but this was not a great start to gf baking.
Hi Angie, It sounds like you didn’t read the whole post. There isn’t enough room to write all of the information about this making this recipe in the recipe card. This is one post where you must read the whole post. This was a recipe given to me by Sadie from BreadSyrsly and over the years, myself and my readers have added a lot of helpful tips that are included in the post. I haven’t heard of the dough becoming soupy after a rise. This bread does NOT make a boule style of sourdough bread. It is made to be a loaf bread. Gluten free only gets one good rise, it is very different from baking with wheat flour. If you worked the dough into a boule style, then moved it to a bread loaf pan after the big rise, this is why it was gluey. If it was soupy, you needed to add more flour so the texture and dough consistency matched mine. Gluten free dough needs to be wetter than wheat dough. Also, you shouldn’t knead gluten free. See Step 3 in the post where I show you a photo of the bread dough. I included a lot of photos in that post from when I made the bread, and I also share photos from readers.
I was so hopeful this was the recipe for me. Some reason every recipe I use with King Arthur’s measure to measure requires more liquid than the recipe calls for. It was true with this also! The mixture was too dry and I had to keep adding water until it got to pancake batter consistency. I probably added another 3/4 cup! Never did rise, I went on and baked in a ceramic loaf pan after 6 hours, it did rise a little in baking but too dense! Had to throw it away! I don’t think gluten free sourdough baking is for me! So disappointed!
Hi Sarah, I responded to your email and it sounds like you had a few problems. If you can reply to the email or this comment with the following information: how old your starter was, how and where did you rise the dough, did you use filtered water or tap water, how you measure your gluten free flour, did you substitute anything in the recipe, did you keep the bread warm while rising, etc. I can help you troubleshoot.
lots of people think their starter is ready and it may not be. an established gluten free starter takes 6-8 weeks to mature. once it’s mature, you will have lots of great bakes. I would try her Artisan sourdough recipe with her DIY flour blend. it’s ridiculously good! Understanding what flour does what and which flour works best in a recipe is key. gluten free is very different than regular. Don’t give up, try a different flour blend if possible. Join a gluten free sourdough fb group to help you along the way. 🙂
Thank you for the tips JJ. I am so glad you love the artisan loaf recipe too.
Mine didn’t rise! Gahhh. Guessing when I cook it it’ll be like a brick? Any suggestions? I’ve let it rise in a metal load pan too.
Hi Melissa, It would be helpful to know what flour blend you used. Please let me know and we can troubleshoot.
It is the King Arthur measure for measure one
I have used Bob’s 1:1 in this recipe, but I haven’t tested the King Arthur Measure for Measure. KA and Bob’s 1:1 don’t work really great with yeast according to the brand websites. I have made it work with the Bob’s, but I usually use a blend that works better with yeast.
I am a little confused read through the entire blog post my bread barely rose. I have an active starter and am using Bob’s 1:1 AP flour. I left bread rise for three hours then added 1 tsp of baking powder as some readers suggested. It seemed to deflate the bread mixing it in. then put in loaf pan for four hours but didn’t really rise. I am going to try again with adding the baking powder first… all my loafs with other recipes come out so dense! My house is 65 degrees.
Hi MacKenzie, I haven’t tried using baking powder in sourdough so I can’t advise on the comment the reader sent in. I can definitely troubleshoot other things. Did you rise the sourdough in a warm spot? 65º F is too cold for a quick rise. I would recommend covering the bread loosely with plastic wrap and rising it in the oven. I turn my oven on to either 175 F and then turn the oven off. I rise my dough this way, especially during the cold months. Let me know if this helps.
One part of your recipe states to brush the crust with oil after 40 minutes and then bake for another 60 minutes. The other part of your recipe states to bake it for 60 minutes. Which is it?
Hi Megan, I gave this recipe a full revamp today, it should be much more clear now. I think the post got bogged down when I tried to add all reader feedback and my own. Please reach out if you have any questions.
Made this for the first time last week with KA bread flour. I definitely didn’t put in enough water, but trying again today. The first recipe I tried was way too dense when the batter was thin, so I went off of instinct and made sure the time I tried this that it was thicker. My mistake! I baked to an internal temp of 180° and it wasn’t quite done in a few spots.
This time around, the batter is like a semi-thick pancake batter and I’ll be sure to cover with plastic wrap since I used a kitchen cloth last time. I’ll bake to 200° this time. Fingers crossed this time around! Even with the drier dough, the taste was still fantastic! Excited to try this batch!
Hi Ali, My batter was semi-thick pancake batter, so you are on the right track! Please keep me posted.