How long does a sourdough starter take to make?

Usually ten to fourteen days before it is strong enough to raise a loaf, though it will look active well before that. Warmth speeds it up and a cold kitchen slows it down, so treat the day numbers as a guide rather than a schedule.

Why has my sourdough starter stopped bubbling?

If it is around day three or four, this is normal and almost everyone panics here. The first burst of activity comes from bacteria that die off as the mixture turns acidic, and there is a lull before the yeast takes over. Keep feeding it. If an established starter has gone quiet, it is usually too cold or hungry.

What is the liquid on top of my starter?

That is hooch, a dark liquid that forms when a starter is hungry. It is harmless. Pour it off or stir it in, then feed more often or keep the starter somewhere cooler.

Can you use tap water for a sourdough starter?

In most of the UK yes. If your water is heavily chlorinated, leave it out in an open jug overnight and the chlorine will off-gas. Chlorine will not kill a starter outright but it does slow one down while it is establishing.

Do I need to throw away half my starter every time?

While you are building one, yes. Without discarding, the volume doubles at every feed and the acidity keeps rising, which holds the yeast back. Once it is established and living in the fridge you can feed it far less often.

How to make a sourdough starter

A starter is flour and water left somewhere warm until it comes alive. That is genuinely all it is. The reason so many people fail is not technique, it is that nobody warns them about day four.

Sourdough rolls made from a mature wild yeast starter, the end point of the two week process

8 minute read · Written by the bakers at Kongwa Bakes, Medway

What you need

A jar that holds about a litre. Clear, so you can see what is happening.
Flour. Wholemeal or rye to begin with, because the wild yeast lives on the bran and there is far more of it there than in white flour.
Water at room temperature.
Kitchen scales. This is the one thing worth being fussy about, because cups measure volume and flour settles.

No special equipment, no bought culture, no pineapple juice. People have been doing this with flour and water for several thousand years.

The method

Day one

Mix 50g wholemeal flour with 50g water in the jar. Stir until there is no dry flour left. Cover it loosely, a lid resting on top or a cloth and a rubber band, because it needs air but not flies. Leave it somewhere warm. Around 24 degrees is ideal; the top of the fridge works in most kitchens.

Day two

You may see bubbles already. Here is the thing nobody tells you:this early activity is usually not the yeast. It is typically bacteria that thrive briefly and then die off as the mixture gets acidic. It is a false start, and people who think it means success get a nasty surprise two days later.

Feed it anyway: discard about half, then stir in 50g flour and 50g water.

Days three and four, where most people quit

The bubbling stops. The smell turns unpleasant, sometimes like old socks or nail varnish. It looks like nothing is happening and something has gone wrong.

Nothing has gone wrong. This is the handover. The early bacteria have made the environment too acidic for themselves, and the wild yeast that actually raises bread has not got going yet. Keep feeding.

If you throw your starter away, it will almost certainly be on one of these two days. Do not.

Days five to ten

Keep discarding half and feeding 50g flour and 50g water once a day. At some point in here the yeast takes over. The smell changes from unpleasant to sour and faintly beery, and it starts rising and falling predictably between feeds.

Once you see it moving, switch to white bread flour if you want a white starter, or carry on with wholemeal. Either is fine.

Days ten to fourteen

Now you are looking for consistency, not drama. A ready starter reliably doubles in four to six hours after a feed, then sinks back. If it doubles once and then does nothing for two days, it is not ready.

The float test is the usual check: drop a teaspoon of starter in water and see whether it floats. It is a reasonable signal, not proof. A starter that doubles on schedule and smells right is ready whether or not it floats.

A finished sourdough country loaf, the result of a mature starter and a long slow ferment — What a healthy starter eventually gets you. The starter is the easy part to keep alive; the loaf is the part that takes practice.

Keeping it alive

Once it is established, a starter in the fridge needs feeding roughly once a week. Take it out, discard most of it, feed it, leave it out for a few hours until it is active, then put it back. If you forget for a month it will probably still come back after two or three days of feeding. They are much harder to kill than people fear.

The dark liquid that appears on top is hooch, and it means hungry rather than dead. Pour it off and feed.

When to actually throw it away

Almost never, with one exception: fuzzy mould. Pink, orange or green fuzz, or anything with the texture of fur, means bin it and start again. That is contamination, not fermentation. A grey liquid, a sharp smell, or a layer of separation are all normal.

What we are not going to pretend

This will get you a working starter. It will not get you our bread, and it would be dishonest to suggest otherwise. The gap between a live starter and a good loaf is hydration, shaping, proving time and knowing your oven, and that is a few years of Saturdays rather than an article.

If you want to understand why the loaf you buy is or is not the real thing in the first place, readwhat real sourdough actually is. And if you would rather skip the two weeks entirely, that is what we are for.

Questions we get asked

How long does a sourdough starter take to make?: Usually ten to fourteen days before it is strong enough to raise a loaf, though it will look active well before that. Warmth speeds it up and a cold kitchen slows it down, so treat the day numbers as a guide rather than a schedule.
Why has my sourdough starter stopped bubbling?: If it is around day three or four, this is normal and almost everyone panics here. The first burst of activity comes from bacteria that die off as the mixture turns acidic, and there is a lull before the yeast takes over. Keep feeding it. If an established starter has gone quiet, it is usually too cold or hungry.
What is the liquid on top of my starter?: That is hooch, a dark liquid that forms when a starter is hungry. It is harmless. Pour it off or stir it in, then feed more often or keep the starter somewhere cooler.
Can you use tap water for a sourdough starter?: In most of the UK yes. If your water is heavily chlorinated, leave it out in an open jug overnight and the chlorine will off-gas. Chlorine will not kill a starter outright but it does slow one down while it is establishing.
Do I need to throw away half my starter every time?: While you are building one, yes. Without discarding, the volume doubles at every feed and the acidity keeps rising, which holds the yeast back. Once it is established and living in the fridge you can feed it far less often.

All our sourdough guides