Hi there.
I rehydrated a dehydrated sourdough starter from cultures for health back in March and began baking with it in April. It has done fairly well but over time, I did sometimes neglect to feed it 3-4 days at a time (left it out at room temp) and would get a dry film on top. I googled it and learned I could just remove the dry layer, feed, and use as long as it was doubling in time. Now here I am later in my journey learning all things about the dangers of sourdough starters and mold. I used to cover my starter with a coffee filter and figured it was just drying out, it hasn’t done that since I changed to placing a loose lid on the top and have been storing it in the fridge. I am scared that one of the many times I peeled off this dry layer, that it may have been mold I didn’t know to look for. I never saw pink/orange (that I recall-didn’t know it was something I needed to look for) nor did I ever see fuzzy mold. The starter was always doubling in about 8-10 hours and smelled sweet and yeasty when I used it.

I type all of this out because I am fearful that my starter may have been compromised at some point but I just kept feeding it and didn’t know…. I have never gotten sick from the bread nor has my family but I still want to be sure that this is safe to use in the future or if I should buy another starter to rehydrate and use?

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