Sourdough Starter for Baking Bread

Create beautiful homemade sourdough bread with our active traditional sourdough starter culture. Whether you are a complete beginner or an experienced baker, this starter gives you the foundation for naturally fermented bread with rich flavour, improved texture, and the satisfaction of baking from scratch.

Choose between Fresh Starter or Dried Starter, depending on your needs and timing.

Fresh or Dried – Which Should I Choose?

Fresh Starter
Our fresh starter is active and full of life, ready to feed once it arrives. It is ideal if you want to begin baking soon after delivery and enjoy working with a lively, established culture. The fresh starter arrives in a sealed pouch at 60% hydration and need to be fed with rye flour as soon as you receive it. It is ready to be used for baking with only 1-2 feedings.

Dried Starter
Our dried starter is perfect for gifting, travel, or keeping on hand for future baking. It can be stored for up to 9 months and simply reactivated when you are ready to bake. The dried starter are flakes in a sealed pouch and needs a couple of days to activate. It is great to have some dried starter on hand as a back-up, for when you are going away or if you have forgotten to feed your starter. It is also better to choose the dried starter if courier items to your address take generally longer than a week.
As a gift the dried starter is also more suitable so the receiver has some time to get organised.

Both options contain the same well-established starter culture and will produce delicious sourdough bread with proper care.

What You Receive

• Fresh or dried sourdough starter (your choice)
• Sent in a sealed pouch for safe shipping
• Sourdough Starter eGuide sent by email with feeding, activation, and care instructions. Please look for an email with the subject line: [KoruKai Herb Farm] Files available for your order

For more baking inspiration and recipes, our Sourdough Bread Baking Guide is also available separately.

Click here for more info on sourdough bread.

We have been baking bread for over 16 years now and our culture is strong and healthy. 

Please see below the ToC for our Sourdough Starter eGuide (sent via email). Please look for an email with the subject line: [KoruKai Herb Farm] Files available for your order

What You’ll Need

To care for and feed your starter, please have rye flour available. We also stock organic wholegrain rye flour, which is excellent for maintaining a vigorous starter.

Why Bake with Sourdough?

Natural sourdough fermentation has been used for centuries and is loved for:

• Deep, complex flavour
• Beautiful crust and crumb texture
• Traditional slow fermentation for increased nutrient retention and gluten breakdown
• Easier to digest than quick-rise breads
• A rewarding hands-on baking process
• A living culture you can keep for decades

Rye sourdough starters are famously robust, resilient, and forgiving, making them an excellent choice for both beginners and experienced bakers. They tolerate occasional neglect far better than many other starter types, while remaining active and reliable with regular feeding. More delicate starters often require closer attention, but rye cultures are known for their strength and consistency.

We use our rye starter for a wide range of baking including wheat loaves, rye bread, spelt bread, buns, pizza dough, ciabatta, crackers, and much more. It has become such a trusted kitchen companion that we even take it on holiday with us so we can continue baking fresh bread wherever we go.

Shipping Information

Shipping is via NZ Post overnight courier (no signature required) at the beginning of each week.Orders and payment must be received by Saturday 4pm to be shipped the following Monday (or Tuesday if Monday is a public holiday).
If you are using a rural address, please select rural delivery at checkout to avoid delays. Orders to rural addresses cannot be dispatched unless the rural surcharge has been paid. If you are unsure whether your address is rural, you can check using the NZ Post address finder.

Both starters are couriered in sealed pouches and do not include a glass jar.

What an Active Starter Looks Like

A healthy starter should become bubbly, airy, and expand well after feeding. For example, a refrigerated starter taken out at 9pm and fed with 110g rye flour + 110g lukewarm water can become beautifully active and ready to build dough by the next morning after around 12 hours at 20°C room temperature as seen in the below video.

This lively fermentation is the magic of sourdough—and the beginning of exceptional homemade bread.

Good luck and happy baking!

Sourdough Baking Equipment

To bake great sourdough bread at home, a few basic tools make the process easier and more enjoyable. Some items are essential—such as a jar for your starter, mixing bowls, and kitchen scales—while others can help take your baking to the next level. You can absolutely make delicious bread with simple equipment and add extras over time as your passion grows.

Glass Jar: You’ll need a clean jar or crock to keep your sourdough starter in. A glass jar with a secure lid works especially well, helping prevent the starter from drying out while still allowing easy monitoring of activity. Choose a jar at least twice the size of your starter so it has room to rise after feeding. Mason jars, clip-top jars, or similar containers are ideal.

A Dough Whisk or Wooden Spoon: To combine flour, water, and starter thoroughly, a sturdy wooden spoon or dough whisk is very helpful. A dough whisk makes mixing easier and helps reduce lumps in wetter doughs.

Mixing Bowls with Covers: You’ll need bowls for mixing dough and allowing it to rise. Bowls with tight-fitting lids are excellent because they help stop the dough surface from drying out. Alternatively, cover bowls with a damp tea towel, plate, or our beeswax wraps made especially for the bannetons. 

Kitchen Scale: A digital kitchen scale is one of the most useful tools for sourdough baking. Weighing ingredients gives far more accurate and consistent results than measuring by cups or spoons. It is especially important when feeding your starter and following bread recipes.

Proofing Baskets (Banneton) and Linens: Proofing baskets help shaped dough hold its form during the final rise, especially for artisan-style higher hydration loaves. They also create beautiful flour rings and patterns on the crust. If you are just starting out, a bowl lined with a clean tea towel works perfectly well.

Dutch Oven: Steam during baking helps create a crisp crust, excellent oven spring, and a light open crumb. A cast iron Dutch oven is a popular option because it traps steam naturally and maintains even heat. However, you can still bake excellent bread without one. Many bakers use a standard baking tray and create steam by adding a small amount of water to the base of the oven before baking.

Grain Mill: Freshly milled flour can transform your bread. Milling whole grains at home preserves flavour, aroma, and nutrients that can be lost over time in pre-milled flour. If you love baking and want to make exceptional wholegrain loaves, a grain mill is a worthwhile investment.

Lame: A lame is a simple tool fitted with a razor blade used to score dough before baking. Scoring controls how the loaf expands in the oven, prevents tearing, and allows beautiful artisan patterns. If you don’t have a lame, a sharp serrated knife can also work well.

Start Simple

Don’t feel you need every tool at once. Many wonderful loaves are baked with just a bowl, jar, spoon, and oven. As your skills grow, you can gradually add equipment that suits your style and helps refine your results.