I always use water straight from the tap (unheated) and I’ve tried several brands of soft and dry yeast. And it’s not like it doesn’t rise at all, but it’s rising much more timidly than what I’ve seen elsewhere and after baking it’s definitely too flat.
either your yeast is dead or you’re killing it with water that’s too hot, hard to see why else it wouldn’t rise
I always use water straight from the tap (unheated) and I’ve tried several brands of soft and dry yeast. And it’s not like it doesn’t rise at all, but it’s rising much more timidly than what I’ve seen elsewhere and after baking it’s definitely too flat.
Yeast likes to be warm, cold water will result in slower rising.
Water could be overly chlorinated as well. They could try bottled water or let their municipal water sit out in a mixing bowl for 24 hours.