This soft and pillowy vegan gluten free millet bread is a sourdough made with millet and pumpkin seeds
A while ago I shared a recipe for gluten-free sourdough and was thrilled to hear how much people loved it! But deep down I always knew I could make it better, easier, and more accessible. As part of my new goal to share more simple and accessible recipes I thought I should revisit this one. So, how did I change this one from the original gluten-free sourdough? Well, this one is made with the more accessible millet flour, is made and baked same day, and well, tastes ten times better!
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Ingredients
- arrowroot or tapioca flour
- millet flour
- psyllium husk (not powder)
- salt
- millet
- pumpkin seeds
- gluten free starter
How to Make Gluten-Free Millet Bread
As gluten-free bread doesn't rely on gluten development, there is no need to knead or work the dough. This means that, unlike regular loaves, you can put in much less time and effort to achieve a nice loaf of bread. To begin to make this millet bread, you'll need a sourdough starter. I covered how to make a starter in this post, but simply put you either buy one dried, get one from a friend or bakery, or make your own. Once your starter is established you'll need to maintain it with regular feedings. I find gluten-free starter needs to be fed more regularly than a wheat one, so I feed mine weekly. You can read more about feeding your starter in this basic sourdough post.
What You'll Need to Make Millet Bread
Once you have your starter there are just a few other things you'll need for this recipe:
- A proofing basket or bowl
- Gluten-free flour, I opted for millet and tapioca in this recipe
- Water, filtered is best
- Psyllium husk
- Salt
- Seeds or grains (I use pumpkin seed and millet in this recipe)
- A scale
- A dutch oven or heavy-lidded pot
Why use Millet Flour?
In my last sourdough post I used a blend of flours, but I know that some were difficult for readers to find. Millet flour, on the other hand, is inexpensive, readily available, and has a much more pleasing crumb than rice flour. If you cannot find millet flour I would try replacing it with sorghum or even the blend I provided in the recipe linked above. One warning about millet flour, however, is that it should be avoided for those who have thyroid issues as it contains goitrogens—much like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage.
How to Store Your Millet Bread
Like all bread, this sourdough should be stored at room temperature (bread should never go in the fridge as the moisture will make it spoil faster). Personally, I like to keep my loaves cut-side down a cutting board so that it can breathe and moisture won't get to it. If you prefer to wrap your loaf, I recommend using beeswax wrap and storing it on the counter. Like classic sourdough, this loaf gets a little hard if it sits out too long, so for longer storage, I recommend slicing the loaf then freezing it. The bread toasts from frozen wonderfully.
Much like rye bread, gluten-free loaves like this need to 'cure'—or set up. For best results let your cooked loaf sit on the counter overnight before cutting into. The worst-case scenario of cutting into it too early is a little gumminess.
Millet Bread Substitutions
- use other seeds like a sunflower in place of the pumpkin seeds-or skip them altogether.
- skip the whole millet if you don't have millet seeds
- if you don't have millet flour, try using a blend like the one used in this recipe
- there is no substitution for the psyllium husk, but you can play around with the powder (in a smaller amount)
How to Make Millet Bread
Making millet bread isn't very hard. As there is no gluten, you do not need to fold and knead the bread. It is a simple method of mixing all the ingredients together, waiting, shaping, then letting proof for a few hours to rise. You can see a quick little Reel of it here.
Millet Bread (Sourdough)
This millet bread is soft and pillowy and can even be eaten untoasted when fresh.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp millet starter
- 75 g millet flour
- 75 g arrowroot or cornflour
- 150 ml water
Bread
- 100g arrowroot or tapioca flour
- 200g millet flour
- 25g psyllium husk (not powder)
- 10g of salt
- 425 ml lukewarm water
- 50g millet
- 75g pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- The night before, combine the starter, water, and flours in a bowl. Cover and let rest overnight.
- The next day combine the arrowroot flour, millet flour, psyllium, salt, millet and pumpkin seeds in a bowl. Stir to combine.
- Add the water and the starter mixture from the night before to the flour. Stir to combine. The mixture will be wet and sticky, much like pancake batter, this is good! Walk away and let the mixture absorb the water. I recommend using this time to take a shower or a small task that takes around 20 minutes.
- When you come back to your dough it should have more of a 'bread' consistency. Take the dough out of the bowl and knead a bit to form into a ball.
- Dust your basket with a little rice flour (if you don't have a basket line a bowl with a clean tea towel and dusted with rice flour).
- Place the dough in the basket and cover it with a damp tea towel. Let rest and rise in a warm spot for 5-6 hours (if your house is warm this could be as little as 3-4 hours).
- After resting the bread should be puffed and slightly shiny, there may even be some small cracks on the surface, now it is time to bake it!
Bake it
- To bake your loaf, begin by heating your pot in the oven at 500° F for about 30 minutes.
- Once the pot is heated, take it out of the oven. Flip the bread onto a sheet of parchment (you can slash the loaf if you want, but it is not necessary), then lift the parchment into the pot (be careful, it is hot!)
- Cover the pot and return it to the oven. Turn down the temperature to 450° F for 20 minutes then remove the lid and bake for another 20-25 minutes, or until golden.
- Remove the pot and let the bread cool.
Notes
While adding arrowroot to the starter seems odd, it helps with the structure of the loaf and works as a binder.
Isabelle Bouan says
Great recipe !
Ellie O'Hara says
Hi. You say to use a "millet starter", but can I just used a packaged GF sourdough starter?
Sophie says
yes, that will totally work. I just used millet to make it a millet loaf, but any gluten-free starter would work.
Christina says
Do you mean millet or millet flour in the starter? It says millet in the ingredients list, but 'flours' in the instructions.
Sophie says
oops! That should be millet flour! Thank you, I'll change it now.
Aida says
I've been making this for a while now, playing with the flours a little. But this is actually great. Thank you
Sophie says
Thank you! I'm so happy to hear that you enjoy it <3
Michelle McKinnon says
Hello, could you please suggest flour amounts if I opt out to use the pumpkin seeds, husk or other grain. I would like to be able to make a sourdough with a combination of millet flour, tapioca or cassava flour. Thankyou!
Sophie says
Hi Michelle, no need to add any more flour if you opt-out of the pumpkin seeds or whole millet seed (just use the recommended amount of flour called for in the recipe). I don't recommend skipping the psyllium husk—it acts like gluten here and helps hold the bread together—I'm not sure how the loaf will turn out without it. I don't have much experience using cassava flour but according to a resource I found you can do a 1:1 replacement by weight! So I would try with 1/4 (or 50g) to start and see how that works. Hope that helps 🙂
Sophie
Cindy Fry says
Hi - thank you for this recipe. I have a question about psyllium husk. Your list says 'not powder' - I found a psyllium husk product that is 'whole flakes'. Will that work?
Sophie says
Hi, I think that should work. The type I get are like a husk. Here is a photo of what I use.
Monika Schulz says
Should I use dark (unhulled) or light (hulled) buckwheat flour?
Sophie says
Hello Monika, either will work! The darker buckwheat will have more flavour, but otherwise, there won't be much of a difference. 🙂
christine says
Hi, how can I make a millet starter myself? tnx
Sophie says
Hey Christine, you can either take an existing g/f starter (you can often get them locally off of Facebook groups) and begin to feed it millet flour to make it a millet starter or follow the directions here to make a gluten-free starter (swap the wheat flour for gluten-free). You also can use another gluten-free starter in this recipe such as buckwheat or rice, etc 🙂
kelly tolster says
I want to start making my own bread and I am also a huge fan of Sourdough bread so I cannot wait to try this one. Thanks for the recipe!
Nithya says
Hi Sophie,
I want to try out this recipe in a bread machine. Would you know if this can go directly into a bread machine without any changes to the quantities mentioned?
Sophie says
Hello Nithya, I haven't used a bread machine but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I know bread machines knead the dough, but as this loaf doesn't have gluten it won't need to be kneaded like a normal loaf of bread. Can you skip the mixing part of the cycle and just bake in it?
Mariangela says
Hi I have just made my first sough dough starter with millet flour using your recipe , I just wanted to know: do you replace the 2 tablespoons of the starter that you use for the bread or do you feed it later. With the starter I have made until now with wheat flour I replaced the amount I had used every time I made bread.
Sophie says
I always feed mine later, usually only when I have about a tbsp. left, but if you use it often feel free to feed it eveytime 🙂
Caitlin says
Would it be okay to add herbs and spices like garlic and Rosemary to the dough? I’m assuming the answer is yes but wanted to ask just in case that would mess it up somehow!
Sophie says
hey Caitlin, yes that would totally work! Good luck 🙂