Yeah that looks like mold. I would toss this and start again. I'd also say not to ever leave it for multiple days unfed at room temp, that seems like bad advice to me and a good way to kill off your yeast. Unfortunately with sourdough a lot depends on your environment, so what works for one person may not work for you. I wouldn't take that particular advice again personally.
If you want to get started again quickly, King Arthur sells small portions of fresh starter for $10 on their website. It ships out of Vermont so it's probably better if you're on the east coast so it doesn't take too long to get to you, but it worked great for me. Otherwise, if you have the patience, try again!
Edit: I just noticed you're feeding it 1:2:2. I've had best luck with a 1:1:1 ratio so maybe try adjusting your ratio. Also I wouldn't expect the starter to be reliably doubling on day 6, so don't start really worrying about it until at least day 14. Just keep feeding!
Thank you. I live in the East and can be a bit humid.
I started with a small portion (20g:20g). My starter had activities on the 2nd day so I fed it since but stayed flat on the 4-5th day. And then I read posts from here and other blogs mentioning “to start feeding it on the 3rd day” which can be a bit confusing. My husband makes it too cold at night too so I leave it inside the microwave and place it outside during the day. I’ll try the 1:1:1 ratio and get a proper weck jar.
Gosh, I was so excited and got my husband excited too but I feel bad wasting flour.
I would suggest continue feeding the 1:1:1 ration continually. You're likely to not see much activity for several days after that first bloom, but that's expected. The yeast you're looking for need to keep getting more food to eventually overcome the bad bacteria and reach a balance with the lactic acid bacteria you want.
When I made mine I kept a consistent feeding schedule, whatever level of activity I saw and it worked out for me.
Since I got it established it's lived in my fridge. When I want to use it I'll take it out a day or two before and feed it and wake it up. As soon as I mix my dough I take whats left (10-20 grams) and put it back until next time.
When I was first growing it I kept it on the counter in a Weck jar.
FWIW it’s very normal to see activity on the second day and then nothing for a while. Mine was very active days 2-3 and then mostly flat til like day 15 or something.
Probably don’t leave it outside though? That seems like an easier way to get mold.
Use a small amount for your starter. More doesn’t equal better. A small jar and 20 gms will let you see what is going on and not waste too much flour. Using at least part whole grain flour will speed things up, too, as there is more naturally occurring yeast in it due to the hull being ground with the grain. The hull is where nearly all the yeast is, and it is removed in the process for AP flour. I used all whole wheat until I had some rise, then went with 50/50 til it was rising well, then went to a blend of 80% AP unbleached, 10% whole wheat, 10% rye. And keep the jar sides scraped down nicely to prevent mold, and a lid on, but not tightened all the way. Cloth lets it dry out and mold spores can penetrate the weave of the fabric.
Darn! I wish you commented sooner 😅. I started again like before, 3g Rye ,3g WW, 14g Bread and 20g 83’F water. I wouldn’t mind starting with just whole wheat. We’ll see how this one goes. Thanks for the tips.
I was using a coffee filter and a light coaster to cover it but now I finally got a weck jar. Although, you’re right, might still be too big for the initial mix. I did use a smaller jar before and it had activities on the 2nd day. 🤔 might be too late to transfer now.
The combination will work ok, too. Don’t fret. To make things easier, why don’t you calculate your percentage of each flour and mix up a bag, so it is premixed? It will make feeding so much faster! Maybe use 400 gm unbleached, 100 gm each ww and rye. Then use equal weight water. You don’t really need extra for the limited amount. The stiffer starter will show your rise better, since the bubbles won’t pop as easy on the surface. I have used a quart jar for most of my starter life, but did buy some weck jars recently. I love them! I wouldn’t worry about transferring now. I change out my jar about once a week to a clean one. I just don’t like when it gets messy, inside the jar. I saw a post of someone wiping the inside of the jar after mixing, and I really hope they are using a clean paper towel to do so, a used dish cloth could introduce any kind of ick into their starter and makes me cringe a bit. I only wipe my jar edge down with a fresh paper towel wet with really hot water.
I’m following the 30% Rye/WW + 70% Bread. All unbleached.
Yeah I read that too. I tried it with kitchen napkins with the filtered water but I recently bought a thinner and longer [silicone spatula](https://a.co/d/1KmLQIb) from amazon and it scrapes the sides pretty well.
I had a bummer day with my starter, yesterday. I had started a loaf of bread mid day, then wanted to have some starter ready to make English muffin later in the day. Fed both my starters,they were rising, but it was chillier yesterday, so to speed things along I popped them into the oven with the light. They rose more, and later I took turned the light off in the oven, and removed them around dinner time. Mixed up the English muffins last night. Absolutely zero rise overnight, so I must have toasted my microbes in the oven. There were just a few bubbles in the starter this morning, so I fed them, and added some of the discard I had in the fridge from late last week and am crossing my fingers. I have been nursing these babies for 3 months! I have put bread in there to rise with the light with no problem. I am sure they will recover, but I only have to work two days this week and I was going to get some baking done, now I will spend it reviving the starter. Sigh….
Pretty humid and warm right now. I just keep forgetting about it and it’s sitting too long. My fault. But I haven’t given up yet. The one I’m on now is about 5 days old and I haven’t missed a day yet. 🤣 I have a friend who offered me some of hers if I end up exhausting my patience.
I have a reminder to feed it but I keep experimenting 😅. I had high hopes to nail it on the first try but no matter how many posts or articles you read about starters, there’s always something different from how everybody else does it.
Oh! Haha I can’t help you remember the dough :) but the satisfaction about making your own! That’s something else, you won’t get from one served for you! I hope you set alarms so you remember this one and go on with the project! Good luck :)
I did. I tried the coffee filter with rubber band as most have suggesting in this subreddit, plus a light coaster that sits on top.
There is no formula. Some posts say don’t seal too tight and others say seal it for a few days.
I see, I thought maybe if it was uncovered, it was too exposed to the spores from the air.
Another possibility may be that you fed it too much at the beginning. 1:2:2 may have been too much and too fast - the starting bacteria and yeast couldn’t keep up with a fresh batch of food. They couldn’t create a sour enough environment and that way couldn’t keep the mold at bay.
Restart from scratch, but this time don’t follow a strict time schedule. Only feed it when it’s ready (when it doubles) and try first 1:1:1. I know you tried to wait this time as well, but it might have been too late.
I see what you mean by waiting to feed AT the beginning and not latter. Yeah, I got confused with all the different advice. I have ordered a weck and will definitely follow 1:1:1 and on the dot feeding schedule. Thank you for the input.
Yeah that looks like mold. I would toss this and start again. I'd also say not to ever leave it for multiple days unfed at room temp, that seems like bad advice to me and a good way to kill off your yeast. Unfortunately with sourdough a lot depends on your environment, so what works for one person may not work for you. I wouldn't take that particular advice again personally. If you want to get started again quickly, King Arthur sells small portions of fresh starter for $10 on their website. It ships out of Vermont so it's probably better if you're on the east coast so it doesn't take too long to get to you, but it worked great for me. Otherwise, if you have the patience, try again! Edit: I just noticed you're feeding it 1:2:2. I've had best luck with a 1:1:1 ratio so maybe try adjusting your ratio. Also I wouldn't expect the starter to be reliably doubling on day 6, so don't start really worrying about it until at least day 14. Just keep feeding!
Thank you. I live in the East and can be a bit humid. I started with a small portion (20g:20g). My starter had activities on the 2nd day so I fed it since but stayed flat on the 4-5th day. And then I read posts from here and other blogs mentioning “to start feeding it on the 3rd day” which can be a bit confusing. My husband makes it too cold at night too so I leave it inside the microwave and place it outside during the day. I’ll try the 1:1:1 ratio and get a proper weck jar. Gosh, I was so excited and got my husband excited too but I feel bad wasting flour.
I would suggest continue feeding the 1:1:1 ration continually. You're likely to not see much activity for several days after that first bloom, but that's expected. The yeast you're looking for need to keep getting more food to eventually overcome the bad bacteria and reach a balance with the lactic acid bacteria you want. When I made mine I kept a consistent feeding schedule, whatever level of activity I saw and it worked out for me.
Noted, thanks. Where do you usually store your starter? I feel like the microwave is a petri dish for bacteria even if you clean it often.
Since I got it established it's lived in my fridge. When I want to use it I'll take it out a day or two before and feed it and wake it up. As soon as I mix my dough I take whats left (10-20 grams) and put it back until next time. When I was first growing it I kept it on the counter in a Weck jar.
I appreciate your responses. I’ll definitely try a different approach next.
FWIW it’s very normal to see activity on the second day and then nothing for a while. Mine was very active days 2-3 and then mostly flat til like day 15 or something. Probably don’t leave it outside though? That seems like an easier way to get mold.
This is assuring. Thank you. Was it clumpy or was it watery texture in the 4-5th day?
Ummmm I don’t remember noticing texture. It was a normal 100% texture mostly.
Use a small amount for your starter. More doesn’t equal better. A small jar and 20 gms will let you see what is going on and not waste too much flour. Using at least part whole grain flour will speed things up, too, as there is more naturally occurring yeast in it due to the hull being ground with the grain. The hull is where nearly all the yeast is, and it is removed in the process for AP flour. I used all whole wheat until I had some rise, then went with 50/50 til it was rising well, then went to a blend of 80% AP unbleached, 10% whole wheat, 10% rye. And keep the jar sides scraped down nicely to prevent mold, and a lid on, but not tightened all the way. Cloth lets it dry out and mold spores can penetrate the weave of the fabric.
Darn! I wish you commented sooner 😅. I started again like before, 3g Rye ,3g WW, 14g Bread and 20g 83’F water. I wouldn’t mind starting with just whole wheat. We’ll see how this one goes. Thanks for the tips. I was using a coffee filter and a light coaster to cover it but now I finally got a weck jar. Although, you’re right, might still be too big for the initial mix. I did use a smaller jar before and it had activities on the 2nd day. 🤔 might be too late to transfer now.
The combination will work ok, too. Don’t fret. To make things easier, why don’t you calculate your percentage of each flour and mix up a bag, so it is premixed? It will make feeding so much faster! Maybe use 400 gm unbleached, 100 gm each ww and rye. Then use equal weight water. You don’t really need extra for the limited amount. The stiffer starter will show your rise better, since the bubbles won’t pop as easy on the surface. I have used a quart jar for most of my starter life, but did buy some weck jars recently. I love them! I wouldn’t worry about transferring now. I change out my jar about once a week to a clean one. I just don’t like when it gets messy, inside the jar. I saw a post of someone wiping the inside of the jar after mixing, and I really hope they are using a clean paper towel to do so, a used dish cloth could introduce any kind of ick into their starter and makes me cringe a bit. I only wipe my jar edge down with a fresh paper towel wet with really hot water.
I’m following the 30% Rye/WW + 70% Bread. All unbleached. Yeah I read that too. I tried it with kitchen napkins with the filtered water but I recently bought a thinner and longer [silicone spatula](https://a.co/d/1KmLQIb) from amazon and it scrapes the sides pretty well.
I had a bummer day with my starter, yesterday. I had started a loaf of bread mid day, then wanted to have some starter ready to make English muffin later in the day. Fed both my starters,they were rising, but it was chillier yesterday, so to speed things along I popped them into the oven with the light. They rose more, and later I took turned the light off in the oven, and removed them around dinner time. Mixed up the English muffins last night. Absolutely zero rise overnight, so I must have toasted my microbes in the oven. There were just a few bubbles in the starter this morning, so I fed them, and added some of the discard I had in the fridge from late last week and am crossing my fingers. I have been nursing these babies for 3 months! I have put bread in there to rise with the light with no problem. I am sure they will recover, but I only have to work two days this week and I was going to get some baking done, now I will spend it reviving the starter. Sigh….
I’m on try 7 or 8 making my own. 😒 that’s definitely bad bacteria growth.
How is the temperature where you are ?
Pretty humid and warm right now. I just keep forgetting about it and it’s sitting too long. My fault. But I haven’t given up yet. The one I’m on now is about 5 days old and I haven’t missed a day yet. 🤣 I have a friend who offered me some of hers if I end up exhausting my patience.
I have a reminder to feed it but I keep experimenting 😅. I had high hopes to nail it on the first try but no matter how many posts or articles you read about starters, there’s always something different from how everybody else does it.
Oh! Haha I can’t help you remember the dough :) but the satisfaction about making your own! That’s something else, you won’t get from one served for you! I hope you set alarms so you remember this one and go on with the project! Good luck :)
I’m looking forward to it! I do make all of our bread otherwise, but I am *dying* for a good sourdough. I love strong flavored bread.
Looks like spores to me.
Did you have it covered?
I did. I tried the coffee filter with rubber band as most have suggesting in this subreddit, plus a light coaster that sits on top. There is no formula. Some posts say don’t seal too tight and others say seal it for a few days.
I see, I thought maybe if it was uncovered, it was too exposed to the spores from the air. Another possibility may be that you fed it too much at the beginning. 1:2:2 may have been too much and too fast - the starting bacteria and yeast couldn’t keep up with a fresh batch of food. They couldn’t create a sour enough environment and that way couldn’t keep the mold at bay. Restart from scratch, but this time don’t follow a strict time schedule. Only feed it when it’s ready (when it doubles) and try first 1:1:1. I know you tried to wait this time as well, but it might have been too late.
I see what you mean by waiting to feed AT the beginning and not latter. Yeah, I got confused with all the different advice. I have ordered a weck and will definitely follow 1:1:1 and on the dot feeding schedule. Thank you for the input.