The night my sourdough starter went from sluggish to supercharged

I have been baking sourdough for about three years now, and my starter always acted kind of lazy. It would take a full 12 hours just to double after feeding, and my loaves came out dense and flat. Then about two months ago, I started using filtered water instead of tap water from my kitchen sink here in Phoenix. The change was almost overnight. Within a week, my starter was doubling in 4 hours and had a much stronger, fruitier smell. I guess our local water has a lot of chlorine that was killing off some of the good bacteria. Has anyone else seen a big difference just from switching water sources?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliot_king4d ago

Oh wow, that's amazing! I had the same problem with chlorine in my tap water too.

oliviapatel2d ago

Ngl the chlorine taste is awful, it took me forever to find a filter that actually worked.