William Alexander's Hazy Apple Sourdough Starter
I'm not quite sure why, but I decided to try William Alexander's Hazy Apple Sourdough starter to get a new levain going. This is leading to some questions:
1) Am I wasting my time and effort since there are already yeasts present in the flour and I could get a levain going (using Deborah Wink's method) without bothering with the apple? Or will I get (at least to start with) a different strain of yeast going by using the apple ( just picked a hazy looking one from the organic bin at Whole Foods) or a different character to this levain?
2) By day three (today) I'm supposed to be seeing a bit of "foaming". All I see are some very teeny, tiny little bubbles formed around the edges. Is that enough, or should I really see some activity? I did learn my lesson last time I began a starter that my house is too cold, and I'm keeping this coddled and warm using my microwave oven (turned off, of course) as an "incubator" at about 78 to 80 degrees.
3) Does anyone know enough about the chemistry of this "apple water" I'm creating to tell me if it's going to be acidic enough to kill off the bad guys when I add the flour? Or am I going to have to add in some pineapple juice anyway? (If so, IS there a point to using the hazy apple method?).