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Is this mold?

dannypounds's picture
dannypounds

Is this mold?

This is my spelt sourdough starter and i woke up to this today.  I stirred in part of it for the sake of contrast and comparison.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

If it is mould then the best advice would be to try and find a non affected part and salvage it. 

This is a case for Debra Wink. 

I'll message her for you. 

timko's picture
timko

Hi - i have had similar situations when I went on holiday. I carefully lifted up the  mould blanket and took a tiny portion of starter from underneath to use. All back to usual rise and fall  now with regular feedings.

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

Has happened more and more to me  this past year and I am not sure why. My starter is 9 yrs old and this year it has happened several times and I have been in 3 very different geographical locations !!  If you lift off a thick layer and then use a new utensil to transfer the portion to a sterile container and feed as usual you will be fine....till the next time. I watched a video the other day that was posted from a French bakery and the first thing the baker did was remove the lid from the pot of starter and scoop out a generous handful and discard it !! She then took out the next lower portion to use for her levain . You will be pleasantly surprised at how indomitable your starter is. Caroline

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/comment/326900#comment-326900

I think it might explain what is going on with your starter since it looks very similar to what is shown. I don't remember why I came across this a week or so ago but your picture reminded me of this thread.

Debra Wink's picture
Debra Wink

Not sure what kind it is, but it reminds me of one I grew on a raisin yeast water. It looked like crumpled silk fabric.

What I found with yeast waters was that mold only grew when yeast didn't. Your sourdough doesn't look like it has active yeast, judging from the tiny bubbles.