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Starter Guide
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Sourdough Starter Guide
Day 1–14

What to do and what to expect — no guesswork. Includes short video clips showing you exactly what each stage looks like in real life.

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Follow along day by day with these short video clips. Each one shows you exactly what your starter should look like — so you know you're on track and not second-guessing yourself at 11pm.

Day 1
The Initial Mix
Mix 50g wholemeal flour with 50g water until it forms a thick paste. Cover loosely and leave at room temperature. You'll see a thick, slightly grainy mixture — and that's exactly right.
Temperature tip: If your house is cold, use tepid water to help things along. If it's warm, cool water is fine.
Day 1 · The initial mix
Day 2
Leave It Alone
Do nothing. Just leave it at room temperature. You might see a few bubbles, or nothing at all — and your wholemeal flour will start looking a bit weird and ferment-y. Both are completely normal. This is exactly what it should look like.
Don't touch it. Seriously. Just leave it and walk away. See you tomorrow.
Day 2 · Leave it alone
Day 3
First Feed
Discard roughly half so you're left with about 50g starter. Feed with 50g flour + 50g water (1:1:1 ratio). Switch to bread or plain flour from here. You'll likely see a sudden increase in bubbles — this doesn't mean it's ready, it's just early bacterial activity.
Day 3 · First feed
Days 4–6
The Quiet Stage
Your starter may look quieter, flatter, and less active than before. This is the stage where most people think they've failed. You haven't. Keep going. Discard down to about 50g and feed 50g flour + 50g water daily.
Don't restart. What looks like failure is actually your starter finding its balance. Keep feeding consistently and it will come good.
Days 4–6 · The quiet stage
Days 10–11
Feeding on the Scales
Continue the same daily feeding routine. You'll start to see more consistent bubbles and a stronger rise. The texture will become lighter and more aerated. Use your scales every time for accuracy — eyeballing ratios is how things go wrong.
Days 10–11 · Feeding on the scales
Days 10–14
Signs Your Starter is Ready
Keep feeding consistently and watch for these signs. Your starter is ready to bake with when it does all four of these things reliably:
The most important one: It should be doubling in size consistently within 4 to 6 hours of feeding, and doing it predictably every single time — not just occasionally.
It doubles in size within 4 to 6 hours of feeding
Bubbles are visible throughout — not just on the surface
It rises and falls on a consistent, predictable schedule
It smells slightly tangy — not foul or unpleasant
Your starter didn't die. You just didn't wait long enough.
Download the full guide as a PDF

Includes troubleshooting, what to do when it's ready, and all the detail from this page in one handy download.

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