I'm an off again on again bread baker newbie. This is my second time trying
to get a starter going but, thanks to the faq and this group, I realize I
was doing it right the first time.

Couple of possible problems. When my starter didn't look like it was doing
something, I added a teaspoon of refined sugar (I was out of honey and
didn't have grapes). It finally started bubbling up but developed a little
black mold. I threw away the dried part along with the mold and added flour
and water. This is pancake batter consistency.

It's been cold lately and I now realize that's the reason it's taking longer
to get the starter going. Wasn't sure what the yeast content of the air was
during the cold vs warm air.

Should I be concerned about the mold that developed to the point I should
start over? Currently it's frothy on top and some bubbles on the bottom.

I can't get a definite answer whether flour goes stale or bad. The flour I
used is fairly old. Should this be a concern? I ran out of it and started
using a fresh package of King Arthur's.

I started a new starter using foam from the first batch but don't feel like
beginning at the beginning again if I don't have to.

Thanks folks.

To get black mold on your starter, something seriously went wrong. What
exactly - hard to tell, probably starving to death or near death through
lack of feeding.

The question is why you are using possibly old (does it smell moldy?)
white flour instead of full grain flour (best is freshly milled rye
IMO)?

If you think you are doing it right, get black mold and put sugar in to
get some activity, think again.

You want to develop a culture which is adopted to the environment it
will be living which is water and grain products. Once active, it is
very rapidly multiplying and needs to be fed accordingly.

On my web page is a series of pictures documenting the initial process.
See if your process has anything in common and/or if you can get some
ideas from there.

Samartha



drhowarddrfinedrhoward wrote:
>
> I'm an off again on again bread baker newbie. This is my second time trying
> to get a starter going but, thanks to the faq and this group, I realize I
> was doing it right the first time.
>
> Couple of possible problems. When my starter didn't look like it was doing
> something, I added a teaspoon of refined sugar (I was out of honey and
> didn't have grapes). It finally started bubbling up but developed a little
> black mold. I threw away the dried part along with the mold and added flour
> and water. This is pancake batter consistency.
>
> It's been cold lately and I now realize that's the reason it's taking longer
> to get the starter going. Wasn't sure what the yeast content of the air was
> during the cold vs warm air.
>
> Should I be concerned about the mold that developed to the point I should
> start over? Currently it's frothy on top and some bubbles on the bottom.
>
> I can't get a definite answer whether flour goes stale or bad. The flour I
> used is fairly old. Should this be a concern? I ran out of it and started
> using a fresh package of King Arthur's.
>
> I started a new starter using foam from the first batch but don't feel like
> beginning at the beginning again if I don't have to.
>
> Thanks folks.

--
remove -nospam from my email address, if there is one
SD page is the http://samartha.net/SD/

On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 14:56:45 GMT, "drhowarddrfinedrhoward"
> wrote:

>I can't get a definite answer whether flour goes stale or bad. The flour I
>used is fairly old. Should this be a concern? I ran out of it and started
>using a fresh package of King Arthur's.

If you want to start a culture from the flour alone, I recommend that
you obtain freshly milled organic whole grain wheat flour. I got mine
from Whole Foods Market out of a bin. An employee said that they turn
that flour over every week, so it was the closest I could come to
freshly milled.

I mixed equal volumes of that flour and organic whole grain rye flour
with two volumes of distilled water and covered it. I put the jar on
the top of the water heater in an enclosed insulated room where the
ambient temperature was 80F. It activated in a couple of hours and
created lots of foam.

I was meticulous about sanitary procedures, as though I were
performing a lab experiment. The starter came out smelling just fine.
I feed it once a week and have made bread with it a couple of times.
The sponge always activates in a couple of hours after mixing the
starter in and bubbles into a lot of foam.

1. Use freshly milled organic whole grain wheat flour.
2. Use distilled water.
3. Follow strict sanitation procedures.

HTH