I own a Rattan round proofing basket, bought from Breadtopia. Before I use it,k I spritz it with a small amount of water and then coat it with rice flour. It works great to keep the dough from sticking and when I am finished I use the sprayer in my sink to spray off the leftover flour. I then let it dry and put it back into the closet for the next use.
The last use however, I left it a bit damp (unknown to me) and for the sake of space I put it into my clay clothe with the lid on it. When I opened it a week later both items had a dark gray, hairy mold. The clothe clean up quite easily but the rattan basket did not.
Use it ruined, can it be saved? Spraying it with Clorox seems the best way to get rid of the mold, but I know that chlorine and yeast do not do well together. I’ve tried soap to wash it, but you can still see dark spots on the rattan.
Do I just pitch it and say that I learned my lesson, or can it be saved?
@dmorrison007, in my humble opinion I believe that you will not be able to successfully remove the mold from the rattan proofing basket. Mold is insidiously hard to kill and the residue of whatever you might use to attempt to kill it would more than likely be toxic not only to your sourdough but for human consumption. My humble advice is to purchase another proofing basket and totally discard the one you have.
My humble opinion, never use water to clean on wood items like that. Just use a stiff brush, a little dried on flour won’t kill anyone. And when flouring, use oil spray, not water. No water, no mold…
Before you throw out the basket, try spraying with full strength white vinegar until saturated, then let sit for an hour or so, or even let dry thoroughly. If there’s any residue, you can then soak in a few changes of water, and let dry completely in the sun. Good luck!
That’s a great idea, unfortunately I just threw it away and bought another one. This time however, I let it sit out and dry for a few days before storing it.
Thanks to everyone for their help.