Just started my sourdough starter making yesterday, and today at 23hours after my first mix of whole rye flour and water, I found this darker top layer.
I'd like to know if it's normal or has it gone bad?
(I don't think it's hooch because I didn't see any liquid formed.
But I could be wrong, maybe it's like the beginning stage of forming hooch, so that's why I didn't see any liquid?)
I doubt it's gone bad a day in. I assume it's in a covered jar, right? If you're concerned, scrape it off.
FWIW I used Maurizio's guide (https://www.theperfectloaf.com/7-easy-steps-making-incredible-sourdough-starter-scratch/#h-making-an-incredible-sourdough-starter-from-scratch) and it worked fine.
placing a lid on top.
I did scrape it off yesterday, and so far at 15 hours after yesterday's feeding, it seems to be just fine!
I was so worried because I had screwed up once.
Thanks for the recipe! will definitely look into it!
rye will do that sometimes if it dries out. Also, to help things along, I used distilled water so I wasn't asking the new culture to fight against the chlorine in tap water and just used a good whole wheat flour. Keep it warm as much as you can, but otherwise just keep at it. DO NOT lose heart if it bubbles up then subsides. It will come back.
The top layer might just be dried out or have reacted with the air. I think I’ve seen this happen with a rye starter. I doubt there’s anything wrong with it, especially if it smells fine.
but did not screw it tight. So the lid was just sitting on top of the glass jar.
Thanks for sharing your personal experience. It's relieving to know that this isn't that uncommon!
I had failed once and found white fuzzy mold on the inner upper part of my glass jar.
So, I boiled the glass jar, the spoons a night in advance this time to avoid contamination. Hopefully this time it'll workout just fine!
Let us know how it progresses.
I sometimes put a layer of plastic wrap directly on my rye starter to keep a skin from forming, but this might not be a good idea before the starter is established.
goop with a thin layer of water. Just gently float a tabelspoon of water on top of the goop and stir it in later when you add another bit of flour. You can repeat this too after the feed to keep it from drying out. You can actually use this as an indicator on starter progress. The water will stay clear with little activity but when yeast numbers rise (or you shake it up) yeast will cloud up the water with their activity and not separate. How old is the rye flour?
If still concerned, start up a second starter and compare them for fun. As long as the starter is small using only a tablespoon of flour max per day, there is little waste.