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Your sanitizer habit might be ruining your ferments.
Too much cleaning kills the natural yeast that make flavor better. I quit using it and my batches taste way more interesting. Just wash things well, don't go overboard.
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the_riley7mo ago
My first sourdough starter in 2020 totally failed because I was scrubbing everything with bleach like a maniac. I read online that you needed a sterile space, but it just killed all the wild yeast that was supposed to make it rise. Actually, that reminds me of this old book my friend lent me about farmhouse brews, and they just used well water and a wooden barrel. Anyway, I switched to just hot water and soap for my jars now, and the difference is huge. The flavors get weird and funky in a good way, not just plain. It's like the little microbes need some dirt to do their job right.
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amyk927mo ago
That line about microbes needing dirt really hits home. I see this pattern where people try to control everything too much and it backfires. Like with cleaning products, everyone wants a spotless house but then they kill off the good bacteria that keep things balanced. We get sold this idea that sterile is safe, but real life isn't sterile. Things need a bit of chaos to work properly, from bread starters to how communities grow. It's like we forgot that a little dirt is part of the process.
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shane_mason7mo ago
In Toledo, my uncle's bakery never used bleach for their starters. He just rinsed things with tap water, and the bread always turned out fine. I see all these online guides telling you to sterilize everything, but it feels like overkill. Remember when people baked in farmhouses with well water? They didn't have bleach. So maybe the microbes are tougher than we think. Your experience with soap and water sounds more realistic to me.
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