This homemade Gluten Free Sourdough Sandwich Bread is soft, fluffy, and moist on the inside, and crisp, golden brown on the outside. It uses gluten-free all purpose flour for efficiency and cost-effectiveness. In addition, it uses a combination of gluten-free sourdough discard and yeast instead of active starter, making this recipe super easy and fast. It only needs 40 minutes to rise!
Since this recipe uses discard and makes a loaf instead of a boule, it's great for beginners just starting to bake with gluten-free sourdough. This recipe is derived from my Soft Gluten Free Sandwich Bread.
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You will need gluten-free sourdough discard to make this sandwich bread, and preferably from a superfine brown rice flour or sorghum flour starter. If you don't have a gluten-free sourdough starter, you will first need to make one and can find out how with my guide on How to Make a Gluten Free Sourdough Starter.
Don't want to make a gluten-free starter from scratch? This Sourdough Starter Culture packet gives you a head start with a dehydrated gluten-free sourdough starter culture and directions to follow to maintain it for years to come. I love this website because there's also cheesemaking, yogurt, kombucha, and fermented vegetable kits. Use the code WONDERS15X on Cultures for Health's website to get 15% off! The GF Starter is also available on Amazon here.
Looking for more Gluten Free Sourdough Recipes?
- Gluten Free Sourdough Pizza Crust - Best Sourdough Discard Recipes
- Gluten Free Sourdough Pie Crust - Sourdough Discard Recipes
- Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies | Gluten Free Sourdough Discard Recipes
- Gluten Free Sourdough Banana Bread | Sourdough Discard Recipes
- Gluten Free Sourdough Bread Recipe | Dutch Oven Method
- Gluten Free Sourdough Discard Crackers | Best Gluten Free Cracker Recipe
- Gluten Free Sourdough Pancakes | Sourdough Discard Recipes | Best Fluffy Pancakes
Tips for Making the Best Gluten Free Sourdough Sandwich Bread
This sandwich bread is really easy to make, but I do have a few tips to guarantee the best bread possible.
Most importantly, the consistency of the bread batter will be slightly denser than that of cake batter - it won't form a workable dough.
- Use an electric mixer or stand mixer to beat the batter for 5 minutes. This whips air into the dough and encourages air pockets.
- After the bread has risen in the pan, very gently set it in the oven. It's extremely important to be move slowly and steadily, and avoid plopping the pan onto a surface with a lot of force as this could deflate the bread/pop some of the air pockets inside.
- This batter uses both yeast and discard for a fast rise. It's best placed in an environment between 70-85 degrees. This bread will rise quickly - do not allow to rise longer than 45 minutes or let the batter rise double its size or it will over-proof. Signs of over-proofing include air bubbles at the surface of the bread, a jiggly or wobbly movement when the pan is moved, and doubled in size. A cooked over-proofed loaf will still taste good, but the top will be dimpled and not have the same strong structure.
- Cook until the internal temperature of the bread reaches 205. This will prevent gumminess. The crust will soften as it cools.
I first played around with this recipe on a super snowy day here in Maryland. There was something so magical and old-timey about the combination of falling snow and freshly baked bread.
Ingredients for Gluten Free Sourdough Sandwich Bread:
Dry Ingredients
- High quality gluten-free all purpose flour containing xanthan gum. The following flours are typically recommended for yeast recipes: Authentic Foods Steve's Gluten Free Bread Flour Blend, Cup4Cup, gfJules Certified Gluten Free All Purpose Flour, or Better Batter Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. The recipe is photographed with Bob's Red Mill GF 1:1 Baking flour (the blue bag) even though it's not recommended for yeast recipes.
- Instant yeast. I use Fleischmann's RapidRise.
- Baking powder
- Salt
Wet Ingredients
- Gluten-free sourdough discard (the unfed, inactive portion of starter - up to 2 or 3 weeks old)
- Warm water or milk, or a combination thereof. Use dairy-free milk such as almond milk or oat milk if dairy-free.
- Eggs
- Honey
- Vegetable oil, or other neutral-flavored oil
- Apple cider vinegar
- Ground flax-seed + water, or substitute for xanthan gum or cornstarch (no water needed) and mix in with the dry ingredients.
How to Make Gluten Free Sourdough Sandwich Bread:
- Prepare a 9x5 loaf pan by greasing the bottom and halfway up the sides with butter or cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, add the ground flax-seed and hot water, and stir. Set aside.
- Using the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (GF flour, yeast, baking powder, and salt.) I use a handheld electric mixer.
- Add in the wet ingredients (discard, eggs, vegetable oil, honey, vinegar, flax-seed mixture, and warm water and/or milk.) Mix on low until just combined. Turn the speed to medium and mix for 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl every so often. This helps air bubbles get into the dough, making for a soft crumb. The batter should be a little thicker than a cake batter consistency.
- Pour the bread batter into the prepared loaf pan. Use a silicone spatula to smooth the top of the bread until even.
- Cover the loaf pan in plastic wrap. Tip: You can spray the underside of the plastic wrap with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
- Set the loaf pan in a warm place (best between 70-85 F) to rise for 40-45 minutes. Note: This bread will rise quickly - do not allow to rise longer than 45 minutes or let the batter rise double its size or it will over-proof. Signs of over-proofing include air bubbles at the surface of the bread, a jiggly or wobbly movement when the pan is moved, and if it has doubled in size.
The above bread rose for 60 minutes and is over-proofed. It was very jiggly, doubled in size, and had air pockets even on the surface.
The above bread (with the addition of ground flax-seed in this one) rose for 45 minutes and is properly proofed. The batter is much firmer, not jiggly, and has no presence of air bubbles on the surface. The plastic wrap peeled away a little bit of the top, conveniently showcasing the bubbles and structure underneath.
- Around the 30-minute mark, preheat the oven to 350 F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Remove plastic wrap and bake the bread for a total of 45-55 minutes, until the bread is golden brown, slightly hard to the touch, and the internal temperature reads 205 degrees. Tip: If around the halfway mark the bread is already golden, tent a piece of foil loosely around the top of the bread to stop it from browning. In addition, you may want to place a tray underneath the loaf pan when baking to catch any potential spills.
- Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan before removing it to a wire cooling rack. The crust will soften as it cools.
- Cool the bread completely, about 3 hours, before slicing with a bread knife. Serve. Tip: You can slice the bread at any thickness you prefer. I like to keep my slices relatively thick, about 1 inch. I got 16 1-inch slices from one loaf. Please read Recipe Notes below for storage instructions.
A quick snow break while the bread is cooling and waiting to be sliced.
Equipment
You only need basic kitchen tools to make this Gluten Free Sourdough Sandwich Bread. I recommend:
- A nonstick 9x5 loaf pan
- Or a 9x4 small Pullman loaf pan. This pan helps the bread to rise taller, making larger, more classic slices for a sandwich. (Highly recommended)
- A serrated bread knife is a must for cutting bread. Don't use a non-serrated knife or else it will squish the bread and not slice through properly.
- Don't want to make a gluten-free starter from scratch? This Sourdough Starter Culture packet gives you a head start with a dehydrated gluten-free sourdough starter culture and directions to follow to maintain it for years to come. I love this website because there's also cheesemaking, yogurt, kombucha, and fermented vegetable kits. (Use the code WONDERS15X on Cultures For Health's website to get 15% off!) The GF starter is also available for purchase on Amazon here.
How to Store Gluten Free Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Storage of gluten-free bread is super important. Gluten-free bread loaves dry out/become stale much faster than wheat loaves because of the lack of gluten. Gluten adds structure to bread and helps keep it moist and tender.
Since gluten-free bread dries out fast, I recommend making one loaf at a time. Or, a max of two if you have a medium-to-large family. Only make what you can eat within a few days. Since baking bread is already a process anyway, I recommend planning to eat the homemade gluten-free bread in a certain order. This helps optimize the freshness of the bread.
First of all, never store homemade gluten-free bread in the refrigerator. The slices will become dry and may even become crumbly.
I recommend two different orders of methods for storing this bread:
Method One: Room temperature and rolling with it
- On Day 1/Baking Day: Plan a meal where you can enjoy the freshly baked bread after it has had time to cool down completely (usually around 5-6 hours after you started mixing the ingredients). It would be a shame to miss out on the bread's best texture and softness, which is at its peak on the first day. To make the most of it, only slice what you and your family plan to eat on that day, and keep the rest of the bread as a whole loaf. Store the unsliced part of the loaf in a bread box or an airtight container at room temperature. The first day is ideal for making cold sandwiches with the freshly baked bread.
- On Day 2, you'll notice that the bread has become firmer and a bit drier compared to Day 1, especially the outer slices that were exposed to the air. While you can still make cold sandwiches with it, today, the best way to use this bread is for toasted sandwiches, grilled cheese, and similar dishes. Here's a tip: I prefer to use a frying pan or a panini press for toasting. To prevent the bread from becoming overly dry, make sure to generously spread butter on the outside of the bread when toasting it. This adds moisture back to the bread's interior, making any dryness virtually undetectable. If you find yourself with more than half a loaf remaining, consider slicing and freezing some of it for later use.
- By Day 3, you'll probably notice that the bread has become noticeably firmer compared to Day 2. This day is perfect for making French toast or French toast sticks. Toasted sandwiches should still turn out well. It's a good idea to aim to consume most of the bread on this day. If you happen to have any bread left on Day 4, you can give French toast another shot. However, to avoid potential waste in the future, I suggest freezing slices on Day 1 when the bread is fresh.
Method Two: Freeze & Eat as you please
- On Day 1/Baking Day: Plan a meal where you can enjoy the bread after it has fully cooled, usually about 5-6 hours after you started making it. It would be a shame to miss out on the bread's optimal softness and texture on the first day. This is when it's perfect for making cold sandwiches. Slice all of the bread, and if you have leftovers that you won't use on the first day, freeze them in a gallon bag. I recommend freezing the slices individually so that you can easily grab the number you need when you want them. To prevent the slices from sticking together, try not to stack them directly on top of each other; instead, slightly overlap them in the bag
- When you want to enjoy a slice or slices of frozen homemade bread, follow these steps: Take the bread out of the freezer and place it on a plate to thaw at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. It's important to note that frozen and thawed homemade bread has a slightly different texture compared to when it's fresh. Similar to store-bought bread, it can be a bit drier and crumbly. In my experience, the best way to use frozen and thawed homemade bread is by toasting it. I prefer making pan-fried sandwiches, similar to grilled cheese, rather than having them cold. When toasting, I always generously spread butter on the outside of the bread to reintroduce moisture, making it tender. While cold sandwiches with this bread still taste good and better than store-bought, they can sometimes crumble in a few spots as you eat. This issue is eliminated when you toast the bread in a frying pan with butter.
What to Make with Gluten Free Sourdough Sandwich Bread
This sandwich bread is great eaten cold on the first 1-2 days, but is better toasted after that. Try using it for:
- Grilled cheese. Make fun combinations like pizza grilled cheese, jalapeno popper grilled cheese, roasted vegetable grilled cheese, etc.
- Toasted sandwiches like a BLT, turkey club, etc.
- French toast or French toast casseroles
- Stuffing, or bread puddings
Notes on Gluten Free Sourdough Sandwich Bread
- This recipe is meant to be a quick, fast sandwich bread - not a well-crafted, artisanal boule. It relies on a high quality gluten-free all purpose flour with a balance of light flours and starches to turn out just right.
- The GF flours I tend to use are Bob's Red Mill GF 1:1 Baking Flour (the blue bag) and King Arthur GF Measure for Measure, which both aren't recommended for yeast recipes. This is due to not having enough protein in their make-up of flours and starches to create robust, tall, and strong bread. However, the photographed bread is made with Bob's Red Mill. The typically recommended GF flours for yeast recipes are:
- Authentic Foods Steve's Gluten Free Bread Flour Blend
- Cup4Cup
- gfJules Certified Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
- Better Batter Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
- It's best to stir these flours before use to make sure none of the heavier starches have settled at the bottom (this can be the culprit of inconsistencies with the same flour, BTW). Also, I don't recommend using any flours that contain bitter ingredients such as chickpea/garbanzo bean flour, lentil flour, or pea protein to avoid aftertastes.
- If you use an all purpose mix that contains milk powder, this bread may brown quicker. Tent with foil halfway through if necessary.
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Gluten Free Sourdough Sandwich Bread |Sourdough Discard Recipes
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Equipment
- or a 9x4 small Pullman loaf pan (highly recommended for GF sandwich bread baking) This pan helps the bread to rise taller, making larger, more classic slices for a sandwich.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 435 g (about 3 cups) high quality gluten-free all purpose flour containing xanthan gum *See more about types of flours in the Recipe Notes section below
- 1 packet (7g) instant rapid rise yeast I use Fleischmann's
- 1 teaspoon (2g) baking powder
- 1 ¾ teaspoon (10g) salt
Wet Ingredients:
- ½ cup (128g) gluten-free sourdough discard I used a brown rice starter
- 1 ¼ cup (276g) water or milk warmed between 110-115 F You can use a combination. I used ¼ cup warm milk and 1 cup water
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup (74g) honey
- ¼ cup (48g) neutral oil I used vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ tablespoon ground flax-seed + 1 tablespoon hot water or substitute ½ tablespoon xanthan gum or ½ tablespoon cornstarch added to the dry ingredients - no water
Instructions
- Prepare a 9x5 loaf pan by greasing the bottom and halfway up the sides with butter or cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, add the ground flax-seed and hot water, and stir. Set aside.
- Using the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (GF flour, yeast, baking powder, and salt.) I use a handheld electric mixer.
- Add in the wet ingredients (discard, eggs, vegetable oil, honey, vinegar, flax-seed mixture, and warm water and/or milk.) Mix on low until just combined. Turn the speed to medium and mix for 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl every so often. This helps air bubbles get into the dough, making for a soft crumb. The batter should be a little thicker than a cake batter consistency.
- Pour the bread batter into the prepared loaf pan. Use a silicone spatula to smooth the top of the bread until even.
- Cover the loaf pan in plastic wrap. Tip: You can spray the underside of the plastic wrap with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
- Set the loaf pan in a warm place (best between 70-85 F) to rise for 40-45 minutes.
- Around the 30-minute mark, preheat the oven to 350 F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Remove plastic wrap and bake the bread for a total of 45-55 minutes, until the bread is golden brown, slightly hard to the touch, and the internal temperature reads 205 degrees. Tip: If around the halfway mark the bread is already golden, tent a piece of foil loosely around the top of the bread to stop it from browning. In addition, you may want to place a tray underneath the loaf pan when baking to catch any potential spills.
- Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan before removing it to a wire cooling rack. The crust will soften as it cools.
- Cool the bread completely, about 3 hours, before slicing with a bread knife. Serve. Tip: You can slice the bread at any thickness you prefer. I like to keep my slices relatively thick, about 1 inch. I got 16 1-inch slices from one loaf.
Notes
- Authentic Foods Steve's Gluten Free Bread Flour Blend
- Cup4Cup
- gfJules Certified Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
- Better Batter Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
How to Store Homemade Gluten Free Bread:
Gluten-free bread loaves dry out/become stale much faster than wheat loaves because of the lack of gluten. Gluten adds structure to bread and helps keep it moist and tender. Since gluten-free bread dries out fast, I recommend making one loaf at a time. Or, a max of two if you have a medium-to-large family. Only make what you can eat within a few days. Since baking bread is already a process anyway, I recommend planning to eat the homemade gluten-free bread in a certain order. This helps optimize the freshness of the bread. First of all, never store homemade gluten-free bread in the refrigerator. The slices will become dry and may even become crumbly. I recommend two different orders of methods for using/storing this bread: Method One: Rolling With It- On Day 1/Baking Day: Plan a meal here you can enjoy the freshly baked bread after it has had time to cool down completely (usually around 5-6 hours after you started mixing the ingredients). It would be a shame to miss out on the bread's best texture and softness, which is at its peak on the first day. To make the most of it, only slice what you and your family plan to eat on that day, and keep the rest of the bread as a whole loaf. Store the unsliced part of the loaf in a bread box or an airtight container at room temperature. The first day is ideal for making cold sandwiches with the freshly baked bread.
- On Day 2, you'll notice that the bread has become firmer and a bit drier compared to Day 1, especially the outer slices that were exposed to the air. While you can still make cold sandwiches with it, today, the best way to use this bread is for toasted sandwiches, grilled cheese, and similar dishes. Here's a tip: I prefer to use a frying pan or a panini press for toasting. To prevent the bread from becoming overly dry, make sure to generously spread butter on the outside of the bread when toasting it. This adds moisture back to the bread's interior, making any dryness virtually undetectable. If you find yourself with more than half a loaf remaining, consider slicing and freezing some of it for later use.
- By Day 3, you'll probably notice that the bread has become noticeably firmer compared to Day 2. This day is perfect for making French toast or French toast sticks. Toasted sandwiches should still turn out well. It's a good idea to aim to consume most of the bread on this day. If you happen to have any bread left on Day 4, you can give French toast another shot. However, to avoid potential waste in the future, I suggest freezing slices on Day 1 when the bread is fresh
- On Day 1/Baking Day: Plan a meal where you can enjoy the bread after it has fully cooled, usually about 5-6 hours after you started making it. It would be a shame to miss out on the bread's optimal softness and texture on the first day. This is when it's perfect for making cold sandwiches. Slice all of the bread, and if you have leftovers that you won't use on the first day, freeze them in a gallon bag. I recommend freezing the slices individually so that you can easily grab the number you need when you want them. To prevent the slices from sticking together, try not to stack them directly on top of each other; instead, slightly overlap them in the bag
- When you want to enjoy a slice or slices of frozen homemade bread, follow these steps: Take the bread out of the freezer and place it on a plate to thaw at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. It's important to note that frozen and thawed homemade bread has a slightly different texture compared to when it's fresh. Similar to store-bought bread, it can be a bit drier and crumbly. In my experience, the best way to use frozen and thawed homemade bread is by toasting it. I prefer making pan-fried sandwiches, similar to grilled cheese, rather than having them cold. When toasting, I always generously spread butter on the outside of the bread to reintroduce moisture, making it tender. While cold sandwiches with this bread still taste good and better than store-bought, they can sometimes crumble in a few spots as you eat. This issue is eliminated when you toast the bread in a frying pan with butter.
Chloe
Hi there! How could I substitute active yeast into this? Bloom it first and substitute the amount of liquid into it for part of the water/milk? Say I bloom the beast in 1/2 cup, I could subtract that from that total liquid added? I ask because I just bought a large jar of active yeast. Also substituting psyllium husk for the ground flask seed?