My sourdough starter went from sad to STRONG in just 2 weeks - heres what fixed it

I started my first sourdough starter back in January and it was totally flat and lifeless for like 10 days. I was about to toss it but then I switched from tap water to filtered water and started feeding it every 12 hours instead of once a day. After 2 weeks it finally doubled in size and I got my first real rise on a loaf. Has anyone else had a starter that just wouldnt take off and what did you change?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamesfox22d ago

Dude, your "sad to STRONG" thing reminded me of my buddy Mark. He tried everything with his starter for like three weeks and it was basically just wet flour that did nothing. Then he found out his girlfriend was putting the jar in the dishwasher on the sanitize cycle and it was killing all the good bacteria. Once he started hand washing it, boom, it took off in like four days. So sometimes it's not even the water or the feeding schedule, it's something dumb like that.

thompson.nathan22d ago

Same thing happened to me, switching to filtered water was the game changer.

nguyen.tara9d ago

Oh man, that's brutal. Can't believe a dishwasher cycle would nuke a starter like that. Makes you wonder how many other tiny habits are messing with people's sourdough without them realizing it.