How To Make A Sourdough Starter | Easy Day-by-Day Instructions
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Learn how to make a sourdough starter from scratch with easy day-by-day instructions. Perfect for beginners! All you need is flour, water, education, and this simple method that works every time.
You might think sourdough was just a passing trend, but it’s far more than that.
Sourdough is a life skill—one worth passing down from generation to generation.
It’s simple, nourishing, magical, and delicious.
If you’ve tried sourdough before and felt overwhelmed, frustrated, or gave up altogether, this time will be different.
We’ll do it together, step by step.
What You’ll Need
- Flour: Whole wheat flour, trust me.
- Water: Any drinkable water will do.
- Clean pint jar + spoon: Wide mouth preferably and a long narrow spoon.
- Measuring cups: A 1/2 cup and a 1/3 cup.
How To Make a Sourdough Starter: Day-by-Day Instructions
Day 1: The Beginning
Morning:
- Add 1/2 cup whole wheat flour + 1/3 cup lukewarm water to your jar.
- Stir until paste-like consistency.
- Cover loosely with a plastic lid or cloth and rubber band and let sit for 24 hours.
- Tip: Place somewhere warm (70–75°F) to kickstart fermentation.
What to Expect: Not much, the flour and water are just getting to know each other. You may notice some small bubbles or a smell but if you see nothing, don’t worry about it.
Day 2: Feed the Starter
What to Expect: You may notice some slight growth or bubbles, not much though.
- Discard around 3/4 of the old flour and water mixture.
- Feed the small amount of old flour and water mixture with 1/3 cup lukewarm water + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.
- Stir and cover loosely.
- Tip: Place somewhere warm (70–75°F) to kickstart fermentation.
Day 3: Signs of Life
What to Expect: You may notice dramatic growth on this day! However, this is what is referred to as a “false rise”. Early on, the fast-growing bacteria take over and make it look beautiful and bubbly but by Day 4–5 they die off as acidity increases. This makes room for the real sourdough yeasts and lactic acid bacteria to take over — so the slump you may see is not failure, it’s just your starter rebalancing.
- Discard around 3/4 of the old flour and water mixture.
- Feed the small amount of old flour and water mixture with 1/3 cup lukewarm water + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.
- Stir and cover loosely.
- Tip: Place somewhere warm (70–75°F) to kickstart fermentation.
Day 4: Rebalancing the Starter
What to Expect: Your starter may look stunted! What happened!? As I mentioned on Day 3, your starter may have experienced beautiful growth but that is not the balance of bacteria we are going for. Day 4 is when the yeast and bacteria are starting to balance out.
- Discard around 3/4 of the old flour and water mixture.
- Feed the small amount of old flour and water mixture with 1/3 cup room-temperature water + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.
- Stir and cover loosely.
- Tip: Things have kickstarted now, you can use room-temperature water from now on to ensure your starter doesn’t over-ferment and get overly acidic.
Day 5: Happy Starter
What to Expect: Your starter should smell sweetly sour, have doubled in size and be bubbly and balanced! We’re close to being able to use it!
- Discard around 3/4 of the old flour and water mixture.
- Feed the small amount of old flour and water mixture with 1/3 cup room-temperature water + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.
- Stir and cover loosely.
Day 6: Consistency
What to Expect: Your starter should have doubled in size again. This shows us that we are achieving some consistency!
- Discard around 1/2-3/4 of the old flour and water mixture.
- Feed the small amount of old flour and water mixture with 1/3 cup room-temperature water + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.
- Stir and cover loosely.
Day 7: Make it Your Own
What to Expect: Your starter should have doubled in size again. We’re close to being able to use it! We will feed it once more for good measure before using it for bread.
- Discard around 3/4 of the old flour and water mixture.
- Feed the small amount of old flour and water mixture with 1/3 cup room-temperature water + 1/2 cup of a flour of your choice!
- Stir and cover loosely.
- Note: Choose a flour that you want to feed your starter with from now on and stick to it! I like to feed my starter with plain all-purpose flour. All-purpose flour is consistent, affordable, sweet, and versatile. However, if you like using whole wheat flour or want to try a new one, go right ahead!
Day 7 (evening): Optional Double Feed
What to Expect: Your starter should have doubled in size by the evening and look bubbly and healthy. If you’re an eager beaver to mix dough, you can give it another feed and use it to mix dough in the morning!
- Discard around 3/4 of the old flour and water mixture.
- Feed the small amount of old flour and water mixture with 1/3 cup room-temperature water + 1/2 cup of a flour of your choice!
- Stir and cover loosely.
Day 8: Mix Your Dough!
If you chose to do the evening feed last night, your starter should be doubled, bubbly and beautiful! You’re in the clear to mix your first dough! You can use my beginner sourdough recipe or whichever one you want to try.
Pick a recipe like Simple Sourdough for Beginners to get started and go from there. Keep things as basic as possible and you’re very likely to come out with an edible loaf!
DO NOT be discouraged if your first loaf is not “Instagram worthy” or aesthetically pleasing. At the beginning, all we should be aiming for is an edible loaf. An edible loaf as a new baker with a young starter is a major win! Keep going!
As you use and maintain your starter, it will become more resilient and predictable. As you practice, make mistakes, find solutions, your confidence will increase and the loaves will turn out better and better. It is all apart of the learning process.
If your loaf does not come out edible, or your starter isn’t progressing as it should, consider joining our private Facebook page for more help. I will be there along with many other beginner bakers to help you out.
Video Tutorial
How to Maintain Your Starter
Once your starter is established, it’s easy to keep alive for years. Learn how I feed, store, and use mine in this guide → The Basics of Maintaining a Sourdough Starter