Most home attempts fail for two reasons: Temperature (too cold) or Weak Biology (the yeast isn't strong enough). Our kit solves both. You get a mature, robust heritage culture (not a weak baby one), and the Launchpad heat mat guarantees the perfect temperature.

It turns a "gamble" into a guarantee, even for those with zero baking experience.

Unlimited. This isn't a single-use box; it is a permanent bakery setup.

• The Culture: Your starter is a living engine. Once activated, it grows and replenishes itself forever. You can make one loaf or 100 loaves a week. You can even split your starter and give it to friends to start them on their own journey!

• The Tools: Unlike cheap plastic kits, the tools in our Complete Sourdough Kit are professional-grade (Rattan, Stainless Steel, Wood) and built to last a lifetime of baking.

Yes! Unlike most kits, ours gives you the choice. You can create a classic wheat starter OR a 100% Gluten-Free starter, simply by changing the flour you use to activate it.

Because the freeze-dried culture in our kits is 100% free of gluten, it is perfectly safe for GF baking. Just feed it your preferred flour (like Buckwheat, Rice, or Sorghum) and you are ready to bake incredible gluten-free bread.

1. A jar or container

Our Complete Kit and Starter Pack both include the custom cloth cover and a band to measure the growth of your starter, but not the jar itself. Why? Because shipping glass is risky and unnecessary. Our cover fits any standard Mason jar, recycled jam jar, or even a sturdy drinking glass you already have.

• Pro Tip: Be wary of anyone trying to sell you a $25+ "sourdough jar." It’s usually just a standard kitchen jar with a logo on it. Use what you have already!

2. Flour, water & salt

Our kit contains the freeze-dried sourdough culture only. To bring it to life and start baking, you'll need to BYO flour, pantry salt and some tap water.

No. Unlike supermarket yeast packets or 'single-use' kits, the sourdough starter in our kits is a living, regenerative culture. Once activated, it replenishes itself endlessly. As long as you feed it, it will last a lifetime.

We have customers who have been using the culture from our kits for 10+ years. It really is Buy Once, Bake Forever.

It grows so abundantly that you can even split it and gift jars to friends and family to start their own sourdough journey!

Yes. Our kit is designed specifically for cold kitchens.

Temperature is the #1 reason beginners fail. Sourdough microbes need to be in the "Goldilocks Zone" (24°C–28°C) to thrive. If it is too cold, the culture simply sleeps; if it is too hot, it weakens.

• The Solution: Ours in the only Sourdough Kit to include the Launchpad™ heat mat to guarantee the perfect activation temperature, regardless of the weather.

• The Guide: Your kit also comes with a Room Temperature Card, so you can instantly see if your environment is in the "Goldilocks Zone" without any guesswork.

Yes! We designed this kit specifically for total beginners. More than 20,000 people have started their sourdough journey with our kits, and most had never baked bread before.

We don't just give you flour and luck; we give you a system. The Launchpad™ ensures your starter activates correctly, and our step-by-step video guides walk you through your first loaf. If you can follow a simple recipe, you can bake sourdough with our kit.

We have your back. Your kit comes with access to our support team. If your dough looks weird or you aren't sure about a step, just email us. We are real bakers, and we answer every single question to help you get that perfect loaf.

The culture is in a stable, dormant state. It can stay in the box at room temperature for 6 months (or up to 12 months in the fridge) before you activate it.

It is the perfect gift because the recipient doesn't need to start immediately.

The culture formulation contains traces of Milk/Dairy. It is therefore not currently suitable for vegans or those with severe dairy allergies.

We can ship to any address in Australia, USA and New Zealand.

Orders to customers in Australia and New Zealand are sent from Geelong, Victoria.

Orders to customers in the US are sent from Portland, Oregon.

Typical standard shipping time is 2-4 business days.

There are no additional tariffs or duties payable on any order from Sourdough Starter, and any taxes are included in the price on the product page.

The product price + shipping is the full amount that you will pay.

Yes. Unopened Kits can be returned for a full refund within 7 days of the date that you receive them.

If you would like to return your order, please email us with your order number and we will let you know where to send it back.

If your product has been opened, we are unable to accept it as a return.

Please note that we don’t cover shipping costs for change of mind returns.

Because the culture is dried and dormant, it is very hardy. It can easily withstand the temperatures in a postage van or mailbox, whether it’s a hot Australian summer or a chilly North American winter.

Yes, absolutely you can. You don't need to buy our kit (or anyone else’s). If you have some time on your hands and enjoy science experiments, you can grow a starter from scratch using just flour and water.

However, you should know the reality before you start. Growing a starter wild takes 10–14 days of daily feeding and discarding. You have to navigate "False Rises," risk mold infection, and waste about 80% of your flour during the process.

Up for the challenge? We recommend The Sourdough Journey’s 10-Day Guide. It is the most comprehensive free guide on the internet and shows you the reality of the process.

(Or, you can just get our kit and have an active starter in less than sixty minutes 😉)

The dry Sourdough Culture can be safely stored for at least 6 months before first activation. If you store it in the freezer, that time increases to at least 10 months. The starter culture is water-activated, so once you add water the first time you will need to continue ‘feeding’ it by stirring in some water and flour 1-2 times per week to keep it alive and healthy (instructions for this are included in the guides that come with our kits).

If you properly care for your starter culture by keeping in the fridge and feeding it 1-2 times per week, your culture will stay alive indefinitely, providing a perpetual source of yeast for your baking.

It will continue to grow as you care for it, allowing you to share it with family and friends looking to start their own sourdough baking journey :) 

The Starter should always be kept in the fridge except for when you are feeding it or feeding it to use it.  It can stay at room temperature for at least 8 hours before you use it or put it back to sleep by popping it in the fridge.

If you are baking regularly (every day or two), you can keep your starter at room temperature, but you'll need to feed it at least every couple of days (vs. once or twice a week, if kept in the fridge).

No. This is the biggest myth in sourdough! While professional bakeries feed their starters daily, home bakers don't have to.

Once your starter is activated, you can keep it in the fridge and feed it just once a week (or even once a fortnight) when you want to bake. We teach you the "Weekend Baker" method in our guide.

The starter in our kits is strong and hardy - you'll be surprised how easy it is to keep it healthy!

Yes, adding any flour to your starter will activate it (including gluten-free flours).

No. If you have a strong culture - and you will! - you don't need expensive "designer" flour to bake great sourdough. We recommend a basic high-protein Baker's Flour which you can find in any supermarket. It is affordable and bakes beautiful loaves. (We recommend Laucke Wallaby in Australia, King Arthur “Blue Bag” in the USA, and Edmonds High Grade in NZ).

Gluten-Free option: Since the culture is GF-friendly, simply grab your preferred GF flour blend (Rice/Buckwheat/etc) if you’d like to bake gluten-free sourdough.

No. Once you have an active starter, you only need flour, water, and a pinch of salt. While buying artisan sourdough at a bakery costs $8–$12, making it at home costs about $1.50 in ingredients.

If you bake just one loaf a week, the savings alone will pay for this kit in a couple of months. After that, you are eating the best bread you’ve ever had for pocket change!

Sourdough is slow food, but it's mostly "waiting time," not "working time."

Once you've activated your starter (which takes one hour or less), the timing to bake a classic sourdough loaf is:

• Day 1 (in the evening): Mix and fold dough (approx 20 mins of actual work, spread over 2-3 hours).

• Day 2 (in the morning): Shape, then bake! (approx 1 hour).

Absolutely. Here are a few reasons why:

• Easier on Your Stomach: The long fermentation process acts like a "pre-digestion." It breaks down some of the gluten and hard-to-digest starches before you even eat it, which is why many people find it causes less bloating than regular bread.

• Steadier Energy (No Sugar Crash): Unlike standard white bread which can spike your blood sugar quickly, the natural acids in sourdough slow down how your body processes the carbohydrates. This leads to a slower, steadier release of energy.

• Unlocks Hidden Nutrients: Flour naturally contains compounds called phytates that "lock up" minerals like iron, zinc, and magnesium so your body can't use them. Sourdough fermentation neutralizes these phytates, effectively unlocking the minerals so you can actually absorb them.

• Feeds Your Good Bacteria: While the oven heat kills the live starter culture, the bread remains a rich source of "prebiotics." This is a specific type of fiber that fuels the healthy bacteria already living in your gut.

• No Artificial Preservatives Needed: The same acids that give sourdough its tang (acetic and lactic acid) are powerful natural preservatives. They prevent mold growth naturally, meaning real sourdough doesn't need the chemical additives found in commercial loaves. Supermarket bread often has 20+ ingredients (preservatives, sugar, improvers). Your sourdough has three: Flour, Water, Salt.

• The Gut Benefit: The long fermentation process breaks down gluten and phytic acid, making sourdough easier to digest and gentler on your gut than standard yeast bread.
  
  

Further reading on the health benefits of sourdough bread:

• The Health Benefits of Sourdough Bread: A Scientific Perspective

• Understanding and Selecting Sourdough for Health Benefits

• Sourdough Bread: Get Familiar With This Fermented Food
  

Maybe! But probably not…

Sourdough baking is an ‘easy to learn, hard to master’ sort of thing, so it will likely take you a few bakes to perfect your technique. But that’s all part of the fun - with each bake you will refine your technique a little more, and before you know it your loaves will be up there with the best of them!

When you first activate your Starter you should see some bubbles forming.

If this doesn’t happen consider the temperature of you room - for activation your Starter needs to be between 22 and 28 degrees Celsius, so moving it to a warmer space may help. If it is still not activating in a warmer space, give it another consecutive ‘feed’ within 6-8 hours of the first one and keep at room temperature for at least 6 hours - you should be able to see SOME bubbles (as long as you see even a few it means that your Starter is active).  The more you feed it and keep at room temp the more active it will become.

Your starter is hungry! Pour off the liquid and feed as usual by stirring in a little water and flour. Keep at room temperature for a couple of hours and make sure you see a few bubbles before popping back in the fridge.

Fun fact - the layer of liquid that can rise to the top of your starter is called 'hooch'. Who knew?

If you have forgotten to feed your Starter the best thing to do is give it a feed as soon as you realise, then keep at room temp and then feed again within 6 hours… repeat this process at least twice, and most of the time the Starter will reactivate - depending of course how long it has been since it originally had been fed.

If it activates - ie. shows even small bubbles - then it is still healthy and ok to continue using. You'll be surprised how hardy they actually are!

If none of the above brings your starter back to life, you can always drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do to help 😊

Sourdough Starter was born on the Surf Coast of Victoria, Australia. Our small family business is still based here, with all of our Australian and New Zealand orders packed and shipped locally.

In January 2026 we expanded to the USA, shipping directly to customers in North America from our location in Portland Oregon.