wet levain, local breads
I am on day 9 of my wet levain from "Local Breads"
I am feeding every night, equal water and flour, and stirring for 30 seconds every 8 hours (approx). To hasten fermentation I have tried going with warmer water.
It has the consistancy of a thin pancake batter and when I go to stir, there is always liquid sitting on top. I am near the border in Canada and ambient temperature is 67 degrees. I keep the levain in the warmest part of the house but don't want to jack up the heat just for this. I realize that this adds time to rising etc., but don't know if my wet levain is behaving properly or not. It is usually somewhat bubbly when I go to stir, it smells like sweet beer but I can't imagine something so thin could rise. Mine certainly hasn't. How do I know it is ready? (note - there are no strings, spiderwebs, or gluten chains of any kind)
On another note, I have started the stiff dough levain in a separate bowl to compare. Any thoughts?
B