December 20, 2020 - 1:41pm
How does hard vs soft water effect my sourdough?
I collected my hard red wheat start with hard water, no softening at all. I recently moved, and knowing that I'd be out of town for a month, I dehydrated the last bit of it. I tried re-hydrating it this last week, but it doesn't seem to be alive and active. I'e killed starts in the past, and that seems to be where it's headed. The only thing that has changed is the water. I am located only 10 minutes or so from my previous home, so the bacteria in the air shouldn't be that different (At least to my very limited knowledge!). Would the softened water, and the extra sodium it adds, have killed my start? And how do I prevent that from happening with the half of my start that I didn't re-hydrate?
Thanks so much!
Share
What was your procedure for rehydrating your starter?
I put my dry starter in a bowl, and added enough water to just barely cover it. After about 3 hours, I added a teaspoon each of flour and water, and then went on to my normal feeding schedule, feeding it in the morning, and then stirring it 12 hours later. I've re-hydrated this start this way before.
Thanks for your quick response!
Done as you have done but after the first actual feed waited till it activated before going onto scheduled feeds. It might very well have worked in the past simply because it did activate between the first and second feed. But like when making a starter from scratch should all go quiet and slow down then you slow down your feeds.
If it didn't activate after the first feed and then you went into scheduled feeds you will just be discarding and diluting inactive starter. Eventually whittling it down to nothing. Just fresh flour and water. The best you can do now is stop with the feeds, keep it somewhere warm and give it a stir every now and again. See if it picks up.
Could it be that you used chlorinated tap water + softened water with sodium? I've tested tap water vs RO and had much better performance for my starter. Maybe if you have some starter left you could try bottled water.
I have very hard water that is properly softened at the well. I have no problem maintaining a strong starter with my softened water. However, we soften our water with Potassium Chloride, instead of Sodium Chloride. Because of cost, I assume 95% of people use Sodium Chloride. But, we live on a farm and some of our water spigots are tied to our water softener and our softened water ends up in our grey water and septic leach fields. So, in order to protect our soil from too much salt, we opted to pay the $25 per bag of Potassium Chloride, costs us about $50 a month with our current water usage.
Anyway... I wonder if the higher Sodium Chloride content in your softened water is bad for your starter? Seems reasonable to suspect, since we know high amounts of Sodium Chloride in soil is bad for plants.