My Sourdough Journey: Resources and Tips for Beginners

Starting sourdough? Here’s my journey and everything that helped me as a sourdough beginner, from simple resources to beginner-friendly tips.

Golden sourdough loaf with a tall ear and blistered crust, highlighting progress made after sourdough beginner trials.

Jump to:

What Got Me Into Sourdough
The Starter Struggle
How Joey (My Starter) Was Born
Resources That Helped Me as a Sourdough Beginner
Creating Joey
Different Starters, Different Tastes
Encouragement for Sourdough Beginners
For Every Sourdough Beginner Starting Today

What Got Me Into Sourdough

I didn’t join the sourdough bandwagon during the pandemic, and as a total sourdough beginner back then, I honestly didn't think I could do it. But after working at cooking classes for several years, my confidence slowly grew, and in 2024 I finally decided to give sourdough a try. Did I keep up with it? NOPE! I thought I killed my starter, panicked, and gave up. So what brought me back?

The Great British Bake Off, specifically the bread episode.
There’s something about watching dough come to life on that show that made homemade bread feel magical and romantic. And that’s exactly what nudged me back into the world of sourdough.

Slice of sourdough discard bread with an even crumb and soft texture, showing what a sourdough beginner can bake using leftover starter.

The Starter Struggle

One of my good friends has been keeping her sourdough starter for seven years, and she generously shared some with me. I went to her house, watched her feed it, and we even made a sourdough discard baguette together. I followed her instructions exactly… and still somehow managed to “kill” the starter two weeks later. At least, that’s what I believed.

Looking back, I now know it wasn’t dead at all — it was just really hungry. The texture had gotten thinner, and a little layer of hooch (that greyish liquid on top) started to form, which completely freaked me out as a beginner. At the time, it felt like I had messed up beyond repair, so I told myself sourdough just wasn’t for me.

A piece of sourdough starter floating in water during a float test, demonstrating how a sourdough beginner can check starter readiness. — Sourdough Starter Float Test

How Joey (My Starter) Was Born

After watching The Great British Bake Off and romanticizing homemade sourdough bread all over again, I decided to try one more time. But I don’t enjoy repeating mistakes, so before touching my friend’s starter again, I picked up a book called The Sourdough Whisperer. I devoured it in two days. It made me feel like I could make my own starter from scratch! I read people name their sourdough, so I asked my husband to name my starter, and that’s how Joey was born.

Sourdough starter at its starting level in a glass jar labeled Joey, showing the beginning stage for a sourdough beginner.

Fully risen sourdough starter with bubbles in a glass jar, a clear example of what an active starter looks like for sourdough beginners.

Resources That Helped Me as a Sourdough Beginner

These books, blogs, and videos were the things that truly helped me understand how to start a sourdough starter, troubleshoot little issues, and stay inspired throughout my journey.

Books
- The Sourdough Whisperer: The Secrets to No-Fail Baking with Epic Results
  This is the book that finally made everything click for me. It’s gentle, beginner-friendly, and explains things in a way that feels doable. I highly recommend it if you’re just starting out.
- Big Book of Bread
  Filled with delicious recipes and a very helpful section on troubleshooting common sourdough starter issues. Great if you enjoy understanding different styles of bread.
- The Perfect Loaf
  This book explains why things work, not just how. If you’re like me and want to understand the reasoning behind techniques, this is an amazing resource.
Blogs: They are all approachable and helpful in different ways, whether you need beginner tips, hydration explanations, or simple, unfussy recipes.
- The Clever Carrot
- The Perfect Loaf
- Alexandra’s Kitchen
- Farmhouse on Boone
YouTube
- LifeByMikeG: His sourdough series is super clear and made a lot of things “click” for me.
- Keep It Sweet Kitchen: She makes sourdough feel welcoming and approachable.
- King Arthur Baking Company: Always inspiring, especially when you need visuals or technique refreshers.

Creating Joey

When I started my sourdough starter, my plan was to follow The Sourdough Whisperer step-by-step. But the book also encourages you to trust your senses, and that opened the door for me to follow my intuition. If the mixture looked thin, I added more flour. Growing too fast? I fed it extra “food.” If it seemed sluggish, I gave it more nutritious flour. I didn’t follow strict ratios every single day. I simply adjusted based on what I saw, smelled, and felt.

And because I’m a note-taker by nature, I kept a little daily journal for my starter. I wrote down what time I fed it, what I used, how high it rose, how it smelled, the texture, and any tiny detail that felt important. Despite all the improvising, I was thrilled to find that Joey turned out incredibly healthy, reliable, and full of life.

Different Starters, Different Tastes

Close-up of a spoon stretching and mixing a young sourdough starter, showing texture and fermentation activity helpful for sourdough beginners. — Joey's webbing (young starter)

Close-up of a bubbly, active sourdough starter in a glass jar — the kind of healthy starter I learned from as a sourdough beginner. — Joey's webbing (young starter)

It wasn’t my intention to create Joey as a mild, nutty starter, but that is exactly who he turned out to be. Right now, Joey supports a community of lactic acid-leaning bacteria (LAB) that produces mostly lactic acid, which gives a softer and gentler flavor. It makes him perfect for baking bread for my husband, who prefers a less tangy loaf.

But I also enjoy the fuller sourdough flavor that works so well in traditional loaves and olive breads. So I asked my friend for a bit of her starter. Her culture has a different balance of yeasts and LAB, shaped by her own feeding habits and schedule. The result is a starter with a touch more brightness with classic tang.

Growing Joey from scratch helped me understand and care for my friend’s older starter so much better. And I am happy to report that both are thriving now, living side by side in the corner of my fridge.

Encouragement for Sourdough Beginners

Mindset:
Stay curious, be patient with yourself, and give your starter (and your bread!) the grace to be imperfect while you learn.
Practical:
Using a simple kitchen scale makes everything easier. It was essential for creating my starter and for maintaining it. And most sourdough recipes are written in grams (including my upcoming ones).
Process:
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. I’ve learned that starters are much harder to kill than you think, and even “messed up” loaves almost always taste delicious. Like anything else in life, more practice makes everything better!

A rustic sourdough loaf with pale crust and shallow rise, showing a sourdough beginner’s early baking attempt. — Very first sourdough loaf

Slice of sourdough bread showing uneven crumb and large holes, a common result for sourdough beginners learning bulk fermentation. — Very first sourdough loaf

For Every Sourdough Beginner Starting Today

If you’re feeling inspired to start your own sourdough journey, I’ll be sharing my detailed day-by-day starter notes and how I maintain them. And soon after, I’ll be posting my Sourdough Discard Bread for Two, Olive Sourdough Bread, and Cranberry Walnut Bread. They are thoughtfully developed for small households and are easy enough for sourdough beginners. I hope that your sourdough journey brings you as much joy as mine has brought me.
Happy baking!