Praise the gluten-free gods! I have finally figured out my favorite gluten-free sourdough English muffin recipe. Dr. Oscar says it tastes like the real deal, so it must be good.

But first, let’s talk about sourdough and why it’s such a big deal.

Sourdough is the process of fermenting grains over a period of time which breaks cellulose structures and releases nutrients into the dough and creates lactobacillus which aids healthy digestion and elimination.

Normal wheat (glutinous) sourdough has been shown to be more digestible due to the breakdown of proteins through the fermentation process. For some people, this creates less of a reaction when eating wheat bread such as irritable bowel, foggy brain, fatigue, inflammation, etc. For some of you, like myself, you may have a hard time digesting grains (including gluten-free) in general. Sourdough is a great option to help you digest those gluten-free grains easier and reap all the nutritional benefits. I’ll also be working on a grain-free option one day too!

How to make a sourdough starter:

The first thing you’ll need is a glorious sourdough starter. Now you might have heard that sourdough starters can live on for generations! Once it is established, it’s hard to kill. Well unless you’re trying really hard to kill it… even then there are stories of revival! (Wow, this is sounding very poetic.) Anyways.

I used a starter culture from Culture of Health.

If you really want to feel like a winner when it comes to sourdough, use this starter culture. I tried starting with just flour and water and well… It made me feel like a failure. No bueno. Use Culture for Health. You can order off their website, on Thrive Market, or Amazon and feel like a WINNER.

Other tools you’ll need:

• Digital Kitchen Scale

• Standing mixer or hand mixer

• Glass bowl

Ingredients (6 servings)

• 116g Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour (I used King Arthur)

• 80g Arrowroot flour/starch

• 80g Potato Starch

• 1/4 tsp Instant Yeast (naturally gluten-free)

• 1 tsp Xanthan Gum

• 6 g fine Sea salt or pink Himalayan salted

• 4.5 oz warm Water (100 degrees)

• 1 large Egg

• 2 Tbsp Avocado Oil

• 227g Gluten-free Sourdough Starter (room temperature is best)

• Cornmeal for cooking

Preparations

1. Using a digital kitchen scale, weigh out all dry ingredients- flour, arrowroot starch, potato starch, instant yeast, xanthan gum, and salt- in a standing mixer bowl. Mix ingredients until combined.

2. Add sourdough starter to dry ingredients. Mix until small pebbles form. Mix will be dry.

3. Add warm water, egg, and avocado oil.

4. Mix on low for 30 seconds and then high for 3 minutes. Batter should be smooth with no clumps. Dough will be sticky but not overly wet.

5. Move dough to a glass (no metal) bowl and cover with a tea towel. Let the dough rise for 2-4 hours. Dough should double in size. Depending on how warm your house is, this step may take longer or shorter. If you want a longer fermentation, place dough in fridge over night after first initial rise.

6. If you are not doing a second, longer fermentation, your dough is ready to cook!

7. Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Sprinkle pan with corn meal so the muffins don’t stick to pan.

8. Spoon dough into pan and distribute the size of muffin somewhat thick and even. The English muffins will not rise in the pan so do not make them too thin. Alternatively you can grease a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter and spoon dough directly into the cookie cutter on the pan. Once the muffin begins to cook, remove the cookie cutter.

9. Cook English muffins for 5-7 minutes on each side. When the English muffin is done the internal temperature should be between 205-208 degrees.

10. Place cooked English muffins on a cooling rack and let cool for 10 minutes.

*Store English muffins in an air tight container in the fridge.

For more sourdough gluten-free recipes, check out these sourdough discard pancakes!