Sourdough starter guides
Your starter is the heart of every sourdough recipe on this site. This hub brings together the key guides that show you how to create a strong, dependable starter and understand how it behaves in your kitchen.
A starter moves through cycles. After a feed it becomes active and bubbly, then slowly settles as its food is used up. Temperature, hydration and feeding strength affect how fast or slow this happens. Warm kitchens speed things up, cooler spaces slow them down. Once you learn what your starter looks like at its best, you can time your feeds and plan your baking.
Lots of bakers keep their starter at equal parts flour and water because it is simple. However, you can change flours, hydration or feeding frequency. Starters adapt easily, and the guides below show you what healthy activity looks like in any set up.
Getting started with sourdough starter
Once your starter is rising well, move on to a simple loaf from my sourdough bread hub or try one of the other recipes listed there.
If you want to learn the entire sourdough process, this Homemade sourdough is a good place to go next. It ties starter care, dough strength, shaping and baking into one guide.
