Righty-o. I will chew on that tonight. Saké is making me in-effective.Our water is over 7.0 out of the tap and pretty hard. Maybe I should try to work in some more flour? It's 1000g flour, 80% water, 20% starter, 2% salt.
The starter was pretty stiff but never seemed to rise like it did in any video.
I thought I saw many recipes that used more starter...30% vs your 20%.
If your water isn't soft it is most likely the starter then.