April 22, 2020 - 3:55am
Do I really need to throw it away?
My starter is a year or so old. It's rye wholegrain, around 80% hydration. It's a good worker.
My last refresh for the first time I didn't change to a new container. Life got a bit busy and I forgot it for 6/7 days. I went back to find a streak of furry white mould on one part of it.
I searched here and found people I trust saying 'throw it'. Really? (sob, sob).
I scooped out some from the non-mouldy side and mixed in with fresh flour and water in a new container. I've left it out hoping it'll rev up quickly and then I can refresh and refresh a few times in a row to get the good boys in it taking over again.
But now I'm doubting myself. Is this advisable/a good strategy? Do I really need to start again?
Thanks.
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You should be fine. It can be tough to start a starter, but many here have abused a starter much more than that, and it still refused to die. Refresh a few times and it will be good to go.
It's good to hear my instincts are not crazy.
the furry bit of mould is just like the 'flower' - there will be more of it below the surface
I think you' have the right approach, but I'd recommend at least a week of daily refreshments before baking with it.
Thanks Martin.
+1 Barry & Martin - No need to discard it completely. You've got the right idea. The micelial fungi likely have a slower reproduction rate than the bugs you want to dominate your starter, at the temperature at which you're likely growing it (~25˚C). So if you take a bit from the least mouldy part and dilute it well (more dilute than your usual habit for starter refreshment probably) into clean flour and water and incubate, the sourdough bugs should outgrow the fungi. But as suggested above, it'll take a few serial refreshments (making sure to avoid any fuzzy parts when extracting the next refreshment's seed) and close scrutiny to give the 'good' bugs a chance to outrun and ultimately evict those fuzzy squatters.
Stay safe. Forza.
Tom
Good to hear you! Thanks for backing up the above. I'm working on encouraging those good bugs back in force.