Mouldy starter

PCrighton

I began making sourdough bread perhaps a month ago after many years of seeing it in my bread book.

I followed a beginners guide from this site and spent a week making my starter. Then I started making breads (a couple from here so far and one that was made in a bread machine), taking the starter out and adding 100g of water and 100g of flour. As I only have time at the weekend to make a sourdough bread, I put the starter in the fridge, getting it out at the end of the week to feed it again, before using it the next day to make a bread.

All was working well but then I was away for a weekend so I left it in the fridge for two weeks. I got it out last night and it had gone mouldy - both on the sides of the jar and a spot on top of the starter. From what I'd read, it seemed fine to leave the starter until needed again (within reason obviously, but two weeks seemed OK),

I decided that if I took off the top of the starter and took some of what was underneath that would probably be OK, refreshing with new water and flour just like I was. So I have done that. Is that OK?

But, the starter consistency had changed - the top had solidified more than it had previously (what was underneath was still more liquid).

Why did it go mouldy?

I read about scraping anything on the sides of the jar down, but that doesn't seem practical - it's always sticky and can't be cleanly scraped off the jar sides!

Is may jar too big - it only fills it about 10% of the way up the jar?

Should I be taking a small amount of starter and refreshing it in a new jar from time to time (maybe each week)? That way the jar could be clean and only have a little bit of starter plus new water/flour. That's sort of what I've done now - used a (clean) beer glass covered with cling film until the mouldy glass has been washed up.

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Sean Jean 2016 August 12

Eating mouldy starter is like playing Russian Roulette. It can be extremely dangerous! 

See the picture taken from a bbc.com article & link below regarding getting gangrene also known as "St. Anthony's Fire" that in medeival times was caused by eating bread from a baker who used mouldy starter. It is clearly documented here in the painting "the garden of earthly delights" by Hieronymus Bosch.

Please do not eat bread made from mouldy starter!

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160809-hidden-meanings-in-the-garden-...

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