Grayish "crust" on top of starter
Hey everyone,
I'm pretty new to sourdough but have maintained a successful starter for about a month now, and gotten some great breads out of it too. I've been feeding it 2x/day (roughly once every 12 hrs) with the ratio given in the handbook of 1/4 c starter, 1/4 c flour, & 2 Tbs water.
I got sick 2 weeks ago and fed it only 1x/day for several days. It still rises and falls normally, but about half of the starter turned a grayish-black. I've been trying to scrape some off and mix in the rest, but it will still separate once it rises.
I bumped the feedings back up to 2x/day, and the gray color turned much lighter, but it doesn't show any signs of going away. It's started to smell notably different as well--not bad, but sweeter.
Is the gray part alright to use for baking? Is there anything else I can do to get rid of it?
If you keep up with your feedings, your starter will eventually regulate itself back to normal. A few quick questions:
Take a very small amount of the "grey" starter, like a tsp or less, add a lot of food and let it grow. Something like 1starter,10 flour and 8 water. Stir it often and it'll be back to normal before too long. Can you bake with the grey, yeah, if it's active it should be ok. Enjoy!
I agree with the previous comment. Take only about a tablespoon of starter and feed it maybe 50g of water and 50g of flour (or something similar). It should get back to normal and self-regulate.
Grant