My first attempt at a sourdough starter looked like a science experiment gone wrong because I kept using tap water from my kitchen sink.

Jake Chen · 2026-04-02T11:45:05.899011+00:00

After that gray sludge disaster, a baker in Seattle told me the chlorine was killing the culture, so I switched to filtered water and got a proper bubbly rise in just five days, anyone else have a simple fix that saved a project from total failure?

richardk263mo ago

Nah, tap water worked fine for me.

5

thea_anderson826mo ago

Oh man, that gray sludge phase... I think my first starter looked like something I should have buried in the backyard. My fix was the oven light, because my kitchen is always freezing. Left it on with the door cracked and it finally woke up, like a cranky little pet.

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wendyc536mo ago

My apartment is so cold I had to use a seedling heat mat under the jar, and that thing finally took off like a rocket.

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