riley860•8d agoProlific Poster

My poor sourdough starter taught me a water temp trick

I kept getting flat, gummy loaves no matter what I did. After 4 tries I finally checked my tap water temp and it was coming out at 130 degrees. I was basically killing the yeast before it even got mixed in. Started letting my water sit in a pitcher for 10 minutes to cool down and my last loaf actually doubled in size. Anyone else run into hot tap water ruining their rise? What temp do you guys aim for?

2 comments

2 Comments

phoenixb668d ago

What kind of pipes do you got? 130 seems crazy hot for a regular tap. I had a similar problem but it was my fridge water filter. Changed it after a year and forgot about it. Water started tasting weird and my bread kept coming out flat. My starter was sluggish too. Figured out the filter was old and dumping some kind of residue into the water. Ended up switching to bottled spring water for my starter feedings and mixing water. Works perfect now. My tap water is like a chemistry experiment gone wrong. Never bothered checking the temp though. Always just use room temp water straight from the pitcher.

reese_patel7d ago

Man its funny how we all find out the hard way that tap water is basically a wildcard for baking.