My sourdough starter went from dead looking to bubbling over in just 4 days after I switched to filtered water

I was about to toss it out but then I read somewhere that tap water chlorine can kill the yeast, so I grabbed a $5 Brita pitcher from Target and now my starter is doubling in 6 hours flat without fail - has anyone else had their starter suddenly bounce back after changing something small like water temp or flour brand?

2 comments

2 Comments

karent751mo ago

Filtered water is almost always the magic fix people overlook when their starter goes flat. Took me three failed attempts before I realized my tap water had enough chlorine to nuke the yeast overnight. A basic pitcher filter turned my starter from sluggish to explosive in under a week.

emmafisher1mo ago

Right @karent75, to be honest I thought people were just being dramatic about the water thing... then I switched to filtered and suddenly my starter had more bubbles than a hot tub at a party. It was like night and day, seriously. I had been blaming the flour, the room temperature, even the phases of the moon, but nope, it was just the city water treating my yeast like a science experiment. A simple Brita pitcher fixed everything in like four days, I couldn't believe it. Now I'm paranoid and only use bottle spring water for my starter, which feels a little extra but I'm not risking it again.