Good question, Alyson! "Hot water" in this case of course doesn't mean boiling water, but water that's nice and toasty. This is because your starter has been in the fridge, which would generally live your dough a bit chilled. With so many ingredients (including cold starter) in the dough, it's unlikely that water from your kitchen tap is going to make your dough too hot for yeast to survive, but we've made this recipe with lukewarm water too, and it works nicely. 

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