Gluten Free Focaccia Recipe

In this post I share another favourite gluten free sourdough recipe – focaccia bread. It truly is delicious and friends have said that they never would have guessed it was gluten free. It is perfect for serving with soup, with dips, or with anything really.

Evening before: Activate Sourdough Starter
60g GF sourdough starter
95g brown rice flour
95g filtered water

Mix all together in a large glass jar until smooth. Cover and let sit overnight (6-18 hours) at room temperature.

Next morning: Reserve Starter for next time
20g GF sourdough starter from above
20g brown rice flour
20g filtered water

Mix well in a clean glass jar and put it in the fridge.

Make your Sandwich Bread Dough
225g GF sourdough starter from above
20g psyllium husks
450g filtered water
120g brown rice flour
50g buckwheat flour
45g quinoa flour
120g tapioca starch
15g natural sea salt
Olive oil
Coarse or flaky sea salt
Fresh rosemary

Put the psyllium husks in a large bowl and add the water. Mix together and leave it for 10 minutes to let it gel.

Mix in the sourdough starter.

Add the flours, starch and salt, and mix until it forms a smooth dough. I just use a spoon. No need to knead it, just stir until it is well combined.

Transfer the dough to a baking tin (greased if you want but I have an enamel tin and the bread pops out nicely without having to grease it). My tin is 20 x 30 cm.

Let the dough rise for 3-5 hours. I find that it doesn’t really rise much at this stage but it does feel slightly puffy.

You can also cover the dough and put it in the fridge overnight to bake the next day.

Press dimples into the dough with your fingers, then drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle sea salt over the top and then fresh rosemary. You can of course top it with whatever you like, but somehow I just can’t get past this basic and delicious combination.

Bake for 35-40 minutes at 220C until it is golden brown.

Leave it to cool for up to 30 mins in the tin and then transfer the loaf to a wire rack and let it cool completely for 2-3 hours. Unfortunately this is really important to stop it getting soggy and sticky – so you really do have to resist the temptation of cutting into your freshly baked bread! 

The good news is that if you reheat it in the oven at 180C for about 15 mins it will taste as though it is freshly baked (and will be warm). So you can make it ahead of time and store it in the freezer, then defrost and reheat. I cut mine into pieces so I can bring them out as needed. It is great sliced in half and popped in the toaster then spread with butter.