The sourdough boom of 2020 left a lot of abandoned starters in the backs of fridges. But sourdough is worth doing properly, and it’s simpler than the internet makes it seem. Here’s how to start one from scratch, with Australian flour and Australian temperatures in mind.

What you need

• Unbleached flour (I use a mix of wholemeal and white bread flour from a local mill)
• Water (filtered if your tap water is heavily chlorinated)
• A clean glass jar
• A kitchen scale
• Patience

That’s it. No special equipment, no imported ingredients, no $40 artisan crocks.

Day 1: The beginning

Mix 50g wholemeal flour with 50g lukewarm water in your jar. Stir it well. Cover loosely with a cloth or the jar lid sitting on top (not sealed). Leave it on your kitchen counter.

In Australian summer, your counter is probably sitting around 25-30 degrees. That’s actually perfect. Warmer temperatures speed up fermentation. You’re already ahead of people in cold European kitchens who have to find warm spots for their starters.

Days 2-3: Patience

You might see some bubbles. You might not. Both are fine. Each morning, discard half the mixture and feed it: 50g flour (you can switch to a mix of 25g wholemeal, 25g white bread flour now), 50g water. Stir. Cover. Walk away.

The discard feels wasteful. I know. But in these early days, you’re building up the right bacterial culture and too much old mixture slows that down. Once your starter is established, you’ll use the discard for pancakes, crackers, and pizza dough.

Days 4-7: Signs of life

By day four or five, you should see consistent bubbling activity. The mixture should smell tangy — like yoghurt, not like nail polish remover. If it smells truly foul, something went wrong. Toss it and start over. It happens.

Keep feeding daily: discard half, add 50g flour and 50g water.

A common mistake here is seeing lots of activity on day two and thinking it’s ready. That early burst is usually from leuconostoc bacteria, not the lactobacillus and wild yeast you actually want. They take longer to establish. Trust the process.

Days 7-14: Getting predictable

By the end of the first week, your starter should be doubling in size within 4-8 hours of feeding. In a hot Australian kitchen, it might peak in as little as 3-4 hours. That’s your sign it’s getting strong.

At this point, you can start testing it: drop a small spoonful into water. If it floats, your starter has enough gas production to raise bread. If it sinks, give it a few more days of feeding.

The Australian flour question

This matters more than people realise. Australian wheat varieties have different protein profiles than North American or European wheat. Our bread flour typically runs 11-12% protein, which is fine for sourdough but won’t give you the exact same results as recipes written for American King Arthur flour.

For your starter, this doesn’t matter much. Any decent unbleached flour works. But when you start baking loaves, look for flour from smaller Australian mills — Laucke, Wholegrain Milling, or your local mill if you have one. They usually have higher extraction rates and more natural mineral content, which feeds your starter better.

Maintenance

Once established, you have two options:

Room temperature (daily baking): Feed once or twice daily. Use it whenever it’s at peak activity.

Fridge (weekend baking): Feed it, let it peak for an hour, then refrigerate. Take it out the night before you want to bake, feed it, and let it come back to full activity.

I bake about twice a week, so mine lives in the fridge most of the time. Friday night I pull it out and feed it. Saturday morning it’s ready.

Common problems and fixes

Hooch (dark liquid on top): Your starter is hungry. Pour it off and feed more frequently.

Slow to rise: Try feeding with more wholemeal flour. The extra nutrients help.

Inconsistent activity: Check your water. Heavy chlorination kills the bacteria you’re trying to grow. Let tap water sit out for an hour before using it, or use filtered water.

Mould: Throw it out. Start again. No exceptions.

The honest truth

A sourdough starter isn’t hard to maintain. It’s just a habit. Like watering a plant, but one that eventually makes bread. Stop overthinking it, stop comparing yours to Instagram starters, and just keep feeding the thing. It’ll work.