A Buckwheat Sourdough That Holds Its Crust

Gluten-free bread has a reputation. This recipe was designed to refute it. The structure comes from a long ferment, a hydrated dough, and a careful bake — not from gums or starches doing the work of gluten.

Ingredients

• 300 g whole buckwheat flour
• 100 g brown rice flour
• 50 g potato starch
• 100 g active gluten-free sourdough starter
• 400 g warm water
• 9 g fine sea salt
• 15 g psyllium husk (whole, not powdered)

Method

1. Whisk psyllium into the water; let it gel for ten minutes.
2. Combine flours and salt in a large bowl. Add the starter and the gel.
3. Mix to a sticky, cohesive dough. Cover and rest one hour.
4. Shape gently into a round and place seam-down in a floured banneton.
5. Cold-proof in the refrigerator, eight to twelve hours.
6. Preheat a Dutch oven to 250°C for forty-five minutes.
7. Turn the loaf onto parchment, score, and bake covered for thirty minutes. Uncover and bake another twenty until deeply browned.
8. Cool completely on a rack — at least two hours — before slicing.

The crumb is dense and damp the first day. By day two, it slices clean and toasts beautifully.