My sourdough starter was flat for weeks until I changed one thing

I kept feeding my starter with tap water straight from the kitchen faucet. After three weeks of getting dense, sad loaves, I read a comment on a blog that mentioned chlorine in city water can kill the good yeast. I switched to using bottled water for my feedings, and my starter doubled in size within two days. Has anyone else had a simple fix like that make all the difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricia_lee7d ago

My old Brooklyn tap water killed my starter too.

patchen6d ago

Yeah, that "Brooklyn tap water" line hits home. The chlorine and other stuff they use to treat city water can really mess with the natural yeast. I had to switch to filtered or bottled water for my starter and it made a huge difference.