Congrats on your new arrival, Nanette! We don't usually bring up the issue of chlorinated water unless there's a problem growing your starter. If you suspect that your tap water may be highly chlorinated, then you may want to consider switching over to bottled water, but we wouldn't worry too much about it if your starter seems to behaving as it should. Brita filters do claim to reduce the taste and odor of chlorine in waters, so you could give that a try as well, though really there's no need to worry at this point. As to your second question, the exact amount of time your starter takes to become fully active will vary based on a number of factors, including the strength of the starter and the ambient temp and humidity, but often it takes around 4-8 hours. You'll know it's ready when, as Susan describes here, it has "doubled in volume, and shows signs of just beginning to sag under its own weight". When it passes its peak level of activity, it will start to fall again, and you'll often notice more bubbles just at the surface, rather than throughout the mixture. For an even more detailed, visual walk-through of the process of building up your starter, please visit our Sourdough Baking Guide and for more info on feeding and maintaining your starter, please visit this companion blog article. Hope this helps and happy baking! Mollie@KAF

• Reply