This sourdough kit includes the essentials for baking a fresh loaf. Here’s how it performed in the hands of a first-time bread maker.
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Sourdough had a major moment during the pandemic, when we were all picking up new hobbies to keep ourselves occupied.
True to form, as someone who is chronically late, I missed the peak of the sourdough craze. But heading into 2026, I’ve developed a newfound fascination with (and respect for) the process.
Catherine Ward, Prep Kitchen Manager at Taste of Home and resident sourdough expert, is a weekly (sometimes more) sourdough baker who dutifully feeds her starters at least once a week and uses every bit, including the discard. I picked her brain while embarking on this new endeavor, and with the help of a Nordic Ware sourdough kit, I had actual loaves on the counter within days.
Here’s how it went using a sourdough kit with literally zero prior bread-baking experience.
This kit from the trusted Nordic Ware brand includes the essential tools for making delicious sourdough.
A sourdough kit typically includes the tools you need to make, maintain and bake with sourdough starter—but not the actual ingredients. Most kits don’t come with active starter, flour or yeast, so you’ll still need to source those separately.
The Nordic Ware Deluxe 10-Piece Simply Sourdough Bread Baking Kit covers a lot of ground, though. It includes a baking pan with a lid that works for both proofing and baking, a glass starter jar with a temperature strip and tracker band, a Danish dough whisk, a retractable lame, a plastic bench scraper, a silicone lifting sling, a cotton proofing towel and a quick-start guide with recipes. The deluxe version also includes an Escali digital baking scale, which is especially helpful for precise measurements.
I generously consider myself a self-taught (very amateur) home cook. I can throw down, so to speak, when it comes to gravies, sauces and curries—anything that rewards intuition, flavor-blending, a little experimentation and a hefty margin for error. Baking is trickier, but I can usually follow a recipe well enough. That said, having never baked a single loaf of bread from scratch in my life, sourdough turned out to be a different animal entirely.
First up: the starter. I cheated and bought some from King Arthur. I don’t personally know anyone who makes sourdough—and certainly no one close enough to share starter.
I swiftly added the King Arthur Classic Fresh Sourdough Starter to my cart shortly after the Nordic Ware kit arrived. And the starter arrived quickly, in great condition, and became ripe and ready after just a few feeding cycles. It also came with a sourdough tips and recipes booklet, which I actually found more beginner-friendly than the one included in the Nordic Ware kit. Catherine agrees. King Arthur was her original go-to for discard recipes, and she still regularly makes sourdough waffles, chocolate cake and English muffins using their formulas.
I will say that maintaining and feeding a starter in those early days is not entirely unlike caring for a child. It requires near-constant attention—or at least, that’s how it felt.
Once my starter was ripe, the real challenge began. I found multiple recipes with conflicting advice, and TikTok wasn’t much help this time around. Influencers with their perfectly round, bronzed loaves made it all look far too easy. It wasn’t. Not for me.
I ultimately chose between two recipes: the one included with the Nordic Ware kit and the one that came with the King Arthur starter. The Nordic Ware recipe was very involved and required hours upon hours of prep work, no exaggeration. The King Arthur recipe promised loaves within hours, thanks to a bit of instant yeast. With a literal child to care for and a notoriously short attention span, the choice was obvious.
Using the King Arthur Rustic Sourdough Bread recipe, I combined my ripe starter with instant yeast, all-purpose flour, salt and lukewarm water. The dough only needed a few hours of rising and resting—thank you, instant yeast.
At the risk of embarrassment, I’m including a photo of my very first loaf here. It was oddly pale (too much flour? Not enough spritzing?) and a little flat. But honestly, it tasted pretty good. Slightly chewy, sure—which Catherine says may be due to cutting into the loaf before it cooled—but still miles better than typical store-bought bread, assuming your grocery store doesn’t carry loaves from a local baker.
As for the tools, I reached for the glass starter jar, Danish dough whisk and digital scale most often. These felt essential for feeding and maintaining the starter. The remaining tools came into play during mixing, shaping and baking, and while they’re nice to have, you could probably make do with comparable baking tools you already own.
What’s missing? A spray bottle for wetting loaves and a dusting tool for flouring before baking.
Overall, the Nordic Ware kit includes nearly everything you need to begin your sourdough journey, aside from active starter (or ingredients to make one), a spray bottle and a dusting tool. But the tools that are included feel well-made and thoughtfully designed—and likely higher quality and better value than piecing together a kit from Amazon alternatives.
Catherine points out that one of the most important factors in sourdough baking is internal temperature. “That’s probably the most important thing to ensure your loaf is baked all the way through,” she says. An instant-read thermometer would also be a welcome addition to the kit. Though, most home cooks probably already have one in their arsenal.
Even if your bread looks done, Catherine warns, you have to go by temperature. The thermometer should read between 190 and 205 degrees.
For a sourdough newbie, the Nordic Ware kit proved genuinely useful—even if it isn’t totally comprehensive. But I mean, I can’t reasonably expect it to include the oven, too.
The Nordic Ware sourdough kit is an excellent starting point for anyone curious about baking sourdough at home. With just a few inexpensive add-ons, you’ll be turning out homemade loaves sooner than you might expect.
The tools are thoughtfully designed and well-made, from a brand that crafts and sources the entirety of their product line here in the U.S. All the tools in the kit are genuinely useful, especially for beginners navigating the learning curve.
The Nordic Ware kit also makes a standout gift for aspiring bakers or anyone looking to level up their home-baking setup.
Not a baker? You can still give the gift of homemade sourdough with this bread baking kit.
You can shop the Nordic Ware Deluxe 10-Piece Simply Sourdough Bread Baking Kit at retailers such as Williams-Sonoma, Amazon (9-piece set) and Target. The deluxe kit retails for around $125, while the basic kit, which does not include the digital scale, goes for about $99.
You can make your own sourdough starter by combining flour and water and feeding it consistently until a stable culture of wild yeast and bacteria develops. This process requires patience, consistency, and a warm environment. Alternatively, you can purchase an active starter from companies like King Arthur, then feed, ripen and maintain it at home.
Nordic Ware products have been manufactured in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for more than 75 years. The brand’s ‘Made in America’ label represents more than just domestic production; it reflects a commitment to meeting strict U.S. manufacturing standards while supporting American jobs, families and local communities.
As a busy mom and first-time bread baker, I was the ideal candidate to test the Nordic Ware sourdough kit and see if it’s truly foolproof and beginner-friendly. I also consulted Taste of Home Prep Kitchen Manager and sourdough expert, Catherine Ward.
Catherine brings over 20 years of experience in restaurants, catering and test kitchens. She has also taught local cooking classes, covering a range of dishes from focaccia to paella. Sourdough is her current passion, and she regularly bakes using her well-established starter, making everything from classic loaves to creative recipes.
