Phyllis' Gluten-free Sourdough Waffles

It's easy to make a sourdough starter with brown rice flour and warm water in a glass jar or plastic container, allowing naturally occurring yeast to grow over a few days. You can follow any basic directions for making and keeping a sourdough starter  (a web search will get you there); just use rice flour instead of wheat. It will bubble and rise, so leave plenty of head room. Replenish your starter after each use by adding 1/2 cup brown rice flour per cup of water. I usually leave the starter at room temperature to allow it to regrow, then refrigerate until the next use. If you love these waffles as much as we do (my husband looks forward to this Saturday breakfast all week), your starter will stay happily active. I use it for breads, too. I like to grind my own brown rice for extra flavor.

2 cups multiblend gluten-free flour mix

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 rounded tablespoon sugar

4 tablespoons buttermilk powder

3 eggs, separated

3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

1 cup brown rice sourdough starter

Additional water

Measure and whisk together dry ingredients. Beat egg whites to soft peaks and set aside. Mix together egg yolks, sourdough, melted butter and enough water to make about 3 ½ cups liquid. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Stir until just thoroughly moistened. Fold in the beaten egg whites, which guarantee nice light waffles. Cook in preheated waffle iron. If you like, you may add almond or hazelnut extract to the wet ingredients, or add cinnamon or ground cardamom to the dry ingredients. Waffles are fabulous topped with toasted walnuts or pecans and maple syrup, or Nutella, or jam and fruit. Use your imagination. You may also substitute ¼ cup of buckwheat flour for an equivalent amount of the multiblend mix.