My sourdough starter straight up died on me after a cross country move

I had a starter named 'Bubbles' that was going strong for almost three years, but it completely failed when I moved from Austin to Seattle last month. I think the change in tap water (or maybe the plane cabin pressure?) just wrecked it, because it never came back to life after feeding for a week. Everyone says starters are resilient, but mine wasn't. Has anyone successfully revived a starter after a big climate shift, or did I just have to start over from scratch?

2 comments

2 Comments

reesesullivan23d ago

You named your starter Bubbles? That's the real tragedy here. I've heard of starters getting moody with new water, but a full on death is rough. Maybe try bottled water next time, just to rule that out.

rosebennett23d ago

Wasn't there a whole thing about chlorine levels in tap water killing the good bacteria? I read that some cities change their water treatment at certain times of the year. Letting the water sit out overnight supposedly lets the chlorine evaporate, but that never worked for me. I switched to the cheap store brand spring water and my starter stopped having those dramatic mood swings.