Later, when I told Sharon the videos had been posted to YouTube, she was hesitant to look at them! It took a few weeks before she mustered up the courage and I am happy to report that she was pleasantly surprised to see herself, for the first time, on video. I had no idea she was new to this, as she seemed entirely comfortable in front of the camera.
I signed up for her Intestinal Recovery Workshop and learned many invaluable techniques, including proper and traditional ways of handling and preparing foods. In passing, she mentioned that she wanted to build an online library of information where she could share her knowledge with people who could not attend her workshops. Having videos to share would be an added feature that she felt would also enhance her writings. One thing led to another, resulting in my assuming a new role in her life as her videographer.
Sharon and I have collaborated on many of her projects since then. Together we learned to use a high quality video camera, microphones, and an editing program. We spent countless hours editing countless hours of video footage.
I am neither a baker nor intolerant of gluten but after I began trying her bread recipes I found that I liked them very much. They were much easier on my digestion than other breads. If I can confidently make any of the recipes in this book I am sure others can too. At this point I enjoy Sharon’s gluten-free sourdough breads more than any other kind of bread.
It’s been very rewarding helping Sharon to bring this book to fruition and to develop her website. She passionately feels the calling to help others master these breads so they can bake for themselves and their families.
The Behavior of Sourdough
The behavior of sourdough is that it is a living colony of organisms that responds to its environment. This means that some factors, such as the ones listed below, may affect the outcome of the finished bread products:
•weather and humidity
•ambient temperature in the kitchen
•size of the flour grains (fine vs. coarse)
•slight differences in measurements
How this affects the gluten-free sourdough baker is that we cannot expect each loaf to be exactly the same as the last. Even I have differing results from batch to batch, using exactly the same recipe and measurements.
I have included many tips on how to work with these variables in the hopes that you will begin to acquire the knowledge and experience necessary to playfully work with the particular challenges sourdough baking gives us.
The finished products are well worth the effort and time it takes to understand, and master, this ancient art.
Preface
I created these breads and bread recipes to cope with my own multiple food allergies and sensitivities. After finally mastering and enjoying old fashioned sourdough rye bread I was devastated when I learned I was gluten-intolerant and could no longer eat my beloved rye bread. I also learned I was allergic to eggs, dairy and soy products and had to limit my intake of yeast, sweeteners, fruits and salt.
Wanting to continue eating bread, I looked at the ingredients in retail gluten-free breads and found there was at least one ingredient I needed to avoid in each one. If I was going to be able to eat bread I needed to control the ingredients. I began experimenting with the sourdough techniques I had mastered in making the rye bread.
At first I used the rye sourdough starter technique and simply substituted brown rice flour for rye flour. After a few starters that turned a moldy shade of bluish-green I learned that I would have to make some adjustments! After one year of much trial and many errors that resulted in bricks, doorstops and hockey pucks, I finally succeeded.
I find sourdough bread baking somewhat different from baking that uses an exacting recipe to ensure a consistent product time and time again. There is a natural variability involved with sourdough baking. Many things affect a sourdough product: weather, temperature and humidity in the kitchen, and variations in measurements. Allowances must be made for these factors and I have found that there are ways to compensate for some of them.
A relaxed attitude with lots of flexibility can help foster excellent breads. There is plenty of information to be had from less than perfect batches. These batches can lead to surprisingly good recipes and new techniques.
I’ve received feedback from gluten-intolerant people baking my breads. They’ve reported that their family members, who can eat gluten without trouble, like the breads very much and find them more digestible and satisfying than many of the wheat breads that are found in stores and bakeries. My husband, Allen, although not gluten-intolerant, has come to strongly prefer my breads to gluten based breads.
May these recipes help you succeed in becoming a confident gluten-free sourdough baker!
Introduction
Sourdough bread baking is a time-tested technique that has been used for approximately 3500 years. The sourdough baking technique utilizes the natural yeasts and bacteria present in the air and on the grain to leaven bread. Before the invention of commercial yeast about 150 years, ago all sourdough starters and breads relied on this method.
Sourdough bread becomes highly digestible because the flours are soaked both in the starter and during the long rise period. Soaking neutralizes natural enzyme inhibitors in the grain and fosters the formation of probiotics and enzymes which begin breaking down the tough cellulose fibers. This is known as predigestion. If a food is predigested we spend less intestinal energy, thus less stress, digesting the food. Soaking also makes for a more nutritious finished product, as many nutrients become available for proper digestion and assimilation as a result of the soaking process. As a bonus the long fermentation period gives sourdough breads a robust taste and a long shelf life.
When I learned I was gluten-intolerant I also learned I was highly sensitive to milk and eggs, and had to minimize my intake of sweeteners, fruit and salt as well. I also found I felt better without yeast, xanthan and guar gums. Gluten-free bakers currently depend on milk, eggs, fruit, fruit juice, yeast, baking powder, baking soda, and xanthan and guar gums to help with binding, leavening and moisture balance. I found that most of the retail gluten-free breads have at least one of these ingredients, and often, many of them. That’s when I decided to try making gluten-free sourdough bread. I didn’t find any recipes on the internet for this type of bread so I began experimenting.
Enter Water Kefir!
Previously I had made many successful sourdough rye breads simply by using rye flour, salt and water. The starter was fed daily for 7 days. Using this technique as a guide, I began my gluten-free sourdough experiments with brown rice flour and water and fed the starter daily for 7 days.
At about day 6 the starter turned a moldy shade of bluish-green and had a putrid smell. Needless to say I discarded it and started a new batch with a shorter duration of fermenting (4–5 days). The resulting starter still smelled faintly spoiled and the bread was unpleasantly sour.
One wonders why I would go forward and bake something that smelled almost spoiled, but I was determined to follow through and learn as much as I could because I wasn’t willing to eliminate breads from my life, if I could help it!
Even the occasional successful starter produced heavy, dense loaves of bread that had very little crumb and were basically unpalatable. Without the usual gluten-free standard commercial ingredients it was very difficult to get the breads to rise.
During this time I had been sipping water kefir as a morning tonic to strengthen my digestive system. Water kefir is a naturally fermented drink consisting of water kefir culture, sugar, water, raisins and lemon. The fermentation process creates beneficial yeast, bacteria, enzymes and a small amount of alcohol. It was nicely potent but really too alcoholic for me to drink, as I am extremely sensitive to alcohol. I