By The Eumundi Trading Co · Eumundi, Queensland
A sourdough starter is nothing more than flour and water, left to ferment at room temperature until wild yeast and beneficial bacteria colonise it naturally. That is the whole secret. No commercial yeast, no special ingredients, no equipment beyond a jar and a spoon. What you end up with — after five to seven days of simple daily feeding — is a living culture that will leaven your bread, develop complex flavour and, if you look after it, last you a lifetime.
This guide walks you through exactly how to create a sourdough starter from scratch in an Australian kitchen, what to expect at each stage, how to troubleshoot the things that commonly go wrong, and how to know when your starter is genuinely ready to bake with.
What Is a Sourdough Starter?
A sourdough starter is a fermented mixture of flour and water that contains naturally occurring wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria. These microorganisms are present on the flour itself, in the air and on your hands. When you mix flour and water and leave it at room temperature, you create an environment where they can thrive and multiply.
The wild yeast produces carbon dioxide — the gas that makes bread rise. The bacteria produce lactic and acetic acids — the compounds that give sourdough its characteristic tangy, complex flavour. Together, they do everything commercial yeast does, and considerably more.
A healthy, active starter will double in size within four to eight hours of being fed, develop a pleasantly sour smell reminiscent of yoghurt or mild vinegar, and produce a bubbly, aerated texture that looks almost sponge-like at its peak. Getting there from scratch takes patience — typically five to seven days — but the process is far more forgiving than most beginners expect.
What You Need to Get Started
The beauty of making a sourdough starter is how little you actually need.
Essential:
- A clean glass jar (at least 500ml capacity — larger is better)
- A kitchen scale (measuring by weight rather than volume produces far more consistent results)
- Flour — more on which type below
- Water — more on this below too
- A rubber band or piece of tape to mark the level of your starter after each feeding
- A spoon or spatula for mixing
- A loose-fitting lid or cloth cover — you want to cover the jar to keep dust out while still allowing gas to escape
Not essential but helpful:
- A thermometer to monitor your kitchen temperature
- A second jar for transferring your starter during feedings
- A proofing box or small cooler with a heat mat if your kitchen is very cold in winter
That is genuinely all you need. No specialist equipment, no expensive ingredients, nothing that requires a trip to a specialty store.
Choosing Your Flour
Flour choice makes a meaningful difference to how quickly your starter develops and how robust it becomes.
Wholemeal flour is the best choice for starting. Wholemeal (also called whole wheat) flour contains more of the grain — including the bran and germ — which means more naturally occurring wild yeast and bacteria. Starters begun with wholemeal flour typically show activity sooner and establish more quickly than those begun with white flour alone.
Rye flour is even better. If you can find it, rye flour is the fastest and most reliable medium for establishing a new starter. It is extremely rich in wild yeast and bacteria. Many experienced bakers use rye flour exclusively for the first few days, then transition to their preferred flour once the starter is active.
Plain white flour works but is slower. If wholemeal or rye is not available, plain white flour (not self-raising) will work. Expect the process to take a day or two longer.
Bread flour is a good ongoing choice. Once your starter is established, bread flour (higher protein content than plain flour) makes an excellent everyday feeding flour and will produce a strong, active culture.
In Australia, you will find wholemeal flour at any supermarket, rye flour at most supermarkets or health food stores, and bread flour at specialty food shops or online. Brands like Laucke, Defiance and Allied Mills are widely available and work well.
One important note: avoid bleached flour. Bleaching processes can destroy the wild yeast and bacteria that your starter depends on. In Australia, most flour is unbleached by default, so this is rarely a concern, but it is worth checking if you are using an imported brand.
Choosing Your Water
Tap water is fine for most Australian cities. The main concern with tap water is chlorine, which can inhibit the growth of wild yeast and bacteria.
If your tap water has a strong chlorine smell, there are two simple solutions: leave a jug of tap water uncovered on the bench for several hours before using it (chlorine dissipates into the air), or use filtered water. Either works well.
Do not use sparkling water, distilled water or heavily mineralised water. Plain, clean tap water or filtered water at room temperature is ideal.
Day-by-Day: How to Make a Sourdough Starter
The following process uses a 1:1:1 ratio — equal parts starter, flour and water by weight. This is the most reliable approach for beginners.
Day 1 — The Beginning
What to do: Combine 50g of wholemeal or rye flour with 50g of room-temperature water in a clean glass jar. Mix thoroughly until no dry flour remains. The mixture will be thick — more like a paste than a batter. Scrape down the sides of the jar, mark the level with a rubber band, cover loosely and leave at room temperature.
What to expect: Nothing much, and that is completely normal. Day one is quiet. The microorganisms are present but have not yet had time to multiply significantly. Leave it alone for 24 hours.
Temperature note: Aim for a kitchen temperature between 22 and 28°C. In Australian summers this is easy. In winter, particularly in cooler southern states, you may need to find a warmer spot — the top of the fridge, inside the oven with just the light on, or near (but not on) a heating vent.
Day 2 — First Signs of Life
What to do: Discard all but 50g of your starter (this is called the discard — more on why below). Add 50g of fresh flour and 50g of room-temperature water. Mix well, mark the level and cover loosely.
What to expect: You may see small bubbles beginning to form — tiny pockets of gas produced by the first microorganisms becoming active. You might also notice a slightly sour or tangy smell developing. Both are very good signs. If you see nothing yet, do not worry — some starters take an extra day or two to show visible activity, particularly in cooler kitchens.
Day 3 — Activity Increases
What to do: Discard all but 50g of starter. Feed with 50g flour and 50g water. Mix, mark and cover.
What to expect: Day three is often when things start to get interesting. Many starters show a burst of activity around this point — lots of bubbles, sometimes doubling in size, a noticeably sour or almost fruity smell. This early activity is driven by a specific type of bacteria (leuconostoc) that is very enthusiastic in the early days but will be replaced over the next few days by more stable, bread-friendly organisms. Do not be alarmed if your starter seems to slow down after this initial burst — it is normal and temporary.
Day 4 — The Quiet Phase
What to do: Discard all but 50g of starter. Feed with 50g flour and 50g water. Mix, mark and cover.
What to expect: Day four can feel discouraging. After the excitement of day three, many starters slow down significantly — fewer bubbles, less rise, a sharper or more unpleasant smell. This is the quiet phase, and it is completely normal. The early leuconostoc bacteria are dying off as the environment becomes more acidic, and the wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria that you actually want are beginning to establish dominance. Keep feeding. Keep going.
Day 5 — Stability Returns
What to do: Discard all but 50g of starter. Feed with 50g flour and 50g water. Mix, mark and cover.
What to expect: By day five, most starters begin to show more reliable, consistent activity. The smell typically shifts from sharp and unpleasant to pleasantly sour — more like yoghurt or mild sourdough bread. Bubbles should be returning, and you may start to see the starter rise more predictably after each feeding.
Day 6 — Testing for Readiness
What to do: Feed as usual. Then, four to eight hours after feeding, perform the float test: drop a small spoonful of starter into a glass of water. If it floats, it contains enough gas to be active and is likely ready to bake with. If it sinks, give it another day.
What to expect: A starter that passes the float test, has a pleasant sour smell and has visibly risen and fallen (you can track this with your rubber band marker) is ready to use. Most starters reach this point between day five and day seven.
Day 7 — Ready to Bake
By day seven, the vast majority of starters are active, reliable and ready for their first loaf. Feed your starter, wait for it to reach its peak (the point where it has risen fully and just begins to dome at the top), and use it at this peak activity for best results.
Why Do You Discard Starter?
The discard step confuses many beginners. Why throw away something you are trying to grow?
There are two reasons. First, without discarding, you would need to add increasingly large amounts of flour to keep the ratio right — within a week you would have kilograms of starter and an enormous flour bill. Discarding keeps the quantity manageable.
Second and more importantly, discarding removes the most acidic portion of the starter — the part that has been fermenting longest. This keeps the pH at a level where wild yeast can thrive. A starter that is never discarded becomes too acidic for the yeast to survive, which is why starters that are not maintained correctly eventually stop rising.
The discard is not wasted. From day three onwards, sourdough discard can be used in pancakes, flatbreads, crackers, pizza bases, muffins and more. It adds a gentle tang and a depth of flavour that is genuinely delicious even before the starter is fully mature.
How to Know Your Starter Is Ready
Your sourdough starter is ready to bake with when it consistently does all of the following:
- Doubles in size within four to eight hours of being fed, at your typical kitchen temperature
- Smells pleasant — sour, yeasty and alive, like good sourdough bread or yoghurt
- Passes the float test — a small spoonful dropped in water floats rather than sinks
- Shows a domed top at its peak before beginning to deflate — this doming indicates maximum gas production
- Has a bubbly, open texture when you look at it from the side of the jar — like a sponge
If your starter does all of these things reliably over two or three consecutive days, it is ready. Use it at peak activity — roughly when it has doubled and is just beginning to dome — for the best results in your first loaf.
Common Problems and How to Fix Them
My starter is not bubbling at all. Check your kitchen temperature. Below 18°C, fermentation slows dramatically. Find a warmer spot — the top of the fridge is often several degrees warmer than the rest of the kitchen. If temperature is not the issue, try switching to wholemeal or rye flour, which contain more wild yeast.
My starter smells terrible — like acetone or vomit. This sounds alarming but is usually a sign that the starter is very hungry and needs feeding more frequently. Try feeding twice a day (every 12 hours) for a day or two. The smell should improve significantly within 24 hours of more regular feeding.
There is liquid on top of my starter. This grey or dark liquid is called hooch — it is alcohol produced by the starter as a by-product of fermentation, and it is a sign that your starter is hungry. Pour it off, discard more than usual and feed. Increase feeding frequency if it keeps appearing.
My starter rose well on day three and then stopped. This is the normal quiet phase described in day four above. Keep feeding. It will recover.
I see something pink, orange or fuzzy. This is mould and it means the starter has been contaminated. Discard it entirely, clean the jar thoroughly and start again. This is rare but does happen, usually when a jar has not been properly cleaned or when the starter has been left unfed for too long in a warm kitchen.
Maintaining Your Starter Long Term
Once established, a sourdough starter is remarkably easy to maintain.
If you bake regularly (once or twice a week): Keep your starter at room temperature and feed it once or twice a day. This keeps it active and ready to use at short notice.
If you bake occasionally: Store your starter in the fridge between bakes. A refrigerated starter only needs feeding once a week. Take it out the night before you want to bake, feed it, and leave it at room temperature to become active again.
If you are going away: Feed your starter generously, put it in the fridge and it will be fine for two to three weeks without attention. Feed it again when you return and it will recover within a day or two.
A healthy, well-maintained sourdough starter can genuinely last decades — passed down through families, carried across the country, kept alive through a remarkable range of conditions. There are bakeries around the world using starters that are over a century old.
What to Bake First
Your first loaf does not need to be ambitious. A simple white sourdough loaf — flour, water, salt and your starter — is the perfect place to begin. It will teach you more about how the dough behaves, how your kitchen temperature affects fermentation, and how to shape and score than any other recipe.
Once you have baked a basic loaf successfully, the world of sourdough opens up quickly: whole grain loaves, rye breads, enriched doughs, sourdough focaccia, flatbreads, pizza, brioche. The starter you create this week is the foundation for all of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to make a sourdough starter from scratch? Most starters are ready to bake with in five to seven days. Some take a little longer, particularly in cooler kitchens or if made with white flour only. By day ten, virtually every starter — even those that seemed slow to develop — is active and ready.
Can I use any flour to make a sourdough starter? You can use most plain flours. Wholemeal and rye flour establish starters most quickly due to their higher wild yeast and bacteria content. Avoid self-raising flour (it contains baking powder which interferes with fermentation) and bleached flour.
What temperature should my kitchen be? Between 22 and 28°C is ideal. Above 30°C, fermentation speeds up significantly and you may need to feed more frequently. Below 18°C, fermentation slows and your starter may take longer to establish. Australian kitchens in summer are generally perfect; winter in cooler states may require finding a slightly warmer spot.
Do I have to discard starter every day? Yes, during the establishment phase. Discarding keeps the quantity manageable and maintains the right pH for wild yeast to thrive. Once your starter is established and stored in the fridge, discard only when you feed (once a week or before baking).
Can I use my starter straight away on day five? If it is passing the float test, doubling reliably and smelling pleasant, yes. Many starters are genuinely ready by day five. When in doubt, give it another day or two — a fully mature starter will produce a better loaf than one that is borderline ready.
What if my first loaf does not rise properly? The most common causes are: starter that was not at peak activity when used, dough that did not ferment long enough, or shaping that was too loose. All of these are learnable. Your second loaf will almost always be better than your first.
The Bottom Line
Making a sourdough starter from scratch is one of the most satisfying things you can do in a kitchen. It requires nothing expensive, nothing hard to find and no particular skill — only flour, water, patience and the willingness to pay attention to something living for a week.
What you end up with is genuinely remarkable: a culture of wild yeast and bacteria that belongs to your kitchen, your climate and your hands. No two starters are exactly alike. Yours will be your own.
Ready to bake? Our Farmhouse Sourdough Starter Kit brings together all the essential equipment — banneton proofing basket, dough scraper, scoring lame and more — in one beautiful set, delivered Australia-wide from Eumundi, Queensland.
→ Shop the Farmhouse Sourdough Starter Kit
Further reading in this series:
- What Equipment Do You Need to Bake Sourdough? The Beginner's Checklist
- Why Does My Sourdough Keep Failing? The Most Common Beginner Mistakes
- Sourdough Starter Kit Australia: The Complete Buyer's Guide
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