A dishwasher method and apparatus providing an algorithm varying the speed of the recirculation pump that recirculates washing liquor present in the washing compartment so as to assure quiet pump operation is disclosed. The speed of the recirculation pump is varied by a control device that carries out the washing cycle. A true-running monitoring unit checks the operation of the recirculation pump. During a fill phase of the washing cycle, an inlet valve is opened, the recirculation pump is switched on and the algorithm provides stepped variation of the recirculation speed using a default value step, a test step in which a true running check is performed, and a modification step in which the default value is modified in response to the result of the test step, for use in the next iteration of the algorithm.