Starter ball for sour dough

Hi Louise,

I would imagine that the ahswer is that the dough has had spores of some sort of mould in it that have managed to thrive in the cool fridge environment.

As for any other food that goes mouldy in the fridge, Iwould be thinking twice about using it.

IF (and this is a big if) the interior looks OK, perhaps you could take some of that as a seed for a new starter.  If that doesn't show signs of the 'black death' and is active in the normal way, then perhaps you could use it.

Other than that, I would say it is back to square one.

Good luck with your projects.

Farinam

I would toss it too!

IF (and this is a big if) the interior looks OK, perhaps you could take some of that as a seed for a new starter.  If that doesn't show signs of the 'black death' and is active in the normal way, then perhaps you could use it.

Agree with that.

A dry, stiff starter can 'hold on' for several months in a cool (1C to 3C pref) and dry environment. Under those conditions it is less likely to be overtaken by undesirable moulds. Reactivating a 2 month old starter to baking strenght would take at least 2, perhaps 3 cycles (feeds).

Also, the stiffened ball should be made of a mature, well acidified starter. That is going to be more resistant than a young, neutral starter with a smaller population of desirable bacteria and yeast (particularly by the time additional 'thickening' flour is added). To keep for several months I would stiffen up a starter that is a little past its prime.

We bury the stiffened ball of starter in flour, and look for ways of reducing humidity in the storage vessel (such as venting the lid). Wholemeal flour is always used.