What’s up with the water?

Well, the flours seem to be okay—although I have switched to Bob’s Red Mill anyway (partly because it’s reliably uncontaminated, and partly because it has a better texture, and just seems fresher, than the flours I was getting at the Asian market). I’m not baking as obsessively as I was during the more experimental phase about a year ago, so I can afford to pay what probably works out to about three times the total amount.

So this leaves a mystery: Why the mildewy bread? My best guess so far is that it’s something in the water. Our tap water tastes fine, but Point Richmond does have a dubious past as far as water is concerned. This Point In History: An Historic View of Point Richmond cites an account of the town’s water supply in the old days as “vile, tasting like rotten eggs, and very hard. Dead cats were found in it and sickness was on the go from it.” Mercifully, our water source has changed since then, but I got the Brita out all the same. I haven’t tried bread again with filtered water yet, but hopefully it will help when I do.