Other hobbies.

[ResolvableOwl]

Brilliant! This thread got hijacked by Sourdough Anonymous (-:

Just today I baked a potica, a traditional Slovenian yeast cake – in my slightly less traditional adoption (I confess that I'm officially incapable to stick to recipes…). My sourdough apparently loved the honey I put into the dough (although I have supported it with a bit baker's yeast). I apologise to myself for milling only half of the flour by myself . The filling is based on crushed pumpkin seeds and tarragon, that's where the colour comes from.

 

[soaplady30]

Being a sourdough parent can be a little nerve wracking in the early days but two things I've done that helped tremendously were to add pineapple juice to my new starter to create an acidic environment to help it fight off the baddies and use only 100% Rye. Sourdough *loves* Rye.

My process is 30g Rye to 30g water after it's been established. I use a small deli container currently but when it is young I'll start it off in jelly jar with a canning lid over a coffee filter to let it breathe. I live in a very warm and humid environment so my starter goes in the fridge until the day before I'm ready to bake and then I'll do two feedings several hours apart to wake it up. By putting "Rye Breadbury" in the fridge I can control the level of sourness and off flavors and stretch the feedings. It'll also allow it to feed slower and this gives it a better flavor.

A healthy sourdough should smell a little fruity, slightly banana-y. An unhappy sourdough will smell like bad cheese or boozy when it's starving. Both can be saved. When I do a feeding I put everything in another container (I save my discard for pancakes or quick breads) so that there is only what is left clinging to the container. You don't want there to be too many little yeasties competing for food.

Lastly, it took my current sourdough about a year to get a true full rise that doubled in size. Until then I would add a pinch of commercial yeast to the full amount of sourdough to help my rise. So hang in there, it does take a little while for it to be fully active and the more feedings the better it will do. I hope this helps. Let us know how it goes

Thank you for sharing this. Sourdough has been on my back burner for some time and just last week I saved some online info on the topic from the King Arthur site. Your personal experience is even better. I wish I knew how to get your post into my Evernote. I live in an old farm house and it is so hard to raise dough in cold weather. In any case reading your experience is helpful.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

BTW, sourdough can be “conserved” by stirring/kneading in so much flour that it becomes crumbly, and then dry. Useful as a backup when the active one went bad (don't ask me how many hibernating sourdoughs I have distributed everywhere). It is also possible to ship these! I put some 30 g into a mail envelope, sent it to a friend, and she revived it, and since then she has been baking quite some wonderful (as far as I can judge from her reports) loaves of bread with it.

 

[SPowers]

I cook and bake and I have a jar of sourdough in my fridge which hasn't been used in awhile. My other hobby is genealogy which I've been doing since the late 90's.

 

[Zing]

For some reason I am super hungry!

Is watching soap YouTubes considered a hobby?

I love to play the piano. And I'm a huge gardener just itching to plant. The new house we bought was on a weed patch. Last year I focused on the front yard. This year I'll focus on half of the back. Flowers and vegetables. My wife loves to can so we compete for basement space, soap vs jars.

And reading. The upside of the pandemic is we're back in our beloved book club of our former city. Currently I'm completely lost in a different world, a book full of resiliency, love, humor, pathos, tragedy, community, and the transformational power of books, literacy, and a librarian. It will be a novel that stays with me for life. Unforgettable characters -- and one of my favorite was a pack mule. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Henderson.

 

[Jersey Girl]

For some reason I am super hungry!

Is watching soap YouTubes considered a hobby?

I love to play the piano. And I'm a huge gardener just itching to plant. The new house we bought was on a weed patch. Last year I focused on the front yard. This year I'll focus on half of the back. Flowers and vegetables. My wife loves to can so we compete for basement space, soap vs jars.

And reading. The upside of the pandemic is we're back in our beloved book club of our former city. Currently I'm completely lost in a different world, a book full of resiliency, love, humor, pathos, tragedy, community, and the transformational power of books, literacy, and a librarian. It will be a novel that stays with me for life. Unforgettable characters -- and one of my favorite was a pack mule. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Henderson.

You and Mrs Zing seem like a great team.

 

[soaplady30]

For some reason I am super hungry!

Is watching soap YouTubes considered a hobby?

I love to play the piano. And I'm a huge gardener just itching to plant. The new house we bought was on a weed patch. Last year I focused on the front yard. This year I'll focus on half of the back. Flowers and vegetables. My wife loves to can so we compete for basement space, soap vs jars.

And reading. The upside of the pandemic is we're back in our beloved book club of our former city. Currently I'm completely lost in a different world, a book full of resiliency, love, humor, pathos, tragedy, community, and the transformational power of books, literacy, and a librarian. It will be a novel that stays with me for life. Unforgettable characters -- and one of my favorite was a pack mule. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Henderson.

Thanks for the book suggestion. I am going to get it as my next selection from my audio book service. It sounds like a good read.

 

[Zing]

You and Mrs Zing seem like a great team. ♥♥♥

I think we are, too -- except we don't make documentaries like you and Jersey Boy.

 

[Ladka]

... Just today I baked a potica, a traditional Slovenian yeast cake – in my slightly less traditional adoption ... The filling is based on crushed pumpkin seeds and tarragon, that's where the colour comes from.

I live in Slovenia and bake a potica several times a year. Having been making it for over fifty years I consider myself qualified to solemnly declare that your potica looks fine. The traditional potica has walnuts in the spread, and potica with tarragon (but without pumpkin seed) is my second favourite recipe. Mmm, potica!

 

[GGWP]

Great topic! I'm a baking-, painting-, gardening-, and most recently soapmaking- hobbyist! Love each of these activities and they have brought me so much peace. This weekend I'm going to plant this year's cherry tomatoes and baby peppers, next to my blooming herbs and ever-so-growing strawberries. I've had experience with tropical fruit planting as well. Not sure I will get any fruits from them, but it's nice to see the variety and how they are growing stronger every day

 

[ResolvableOwl]

I have a jar of sourdough in my fridge which hasn't been used in awhile. My other hobby is genealogy which I've been doing since the late 90's.

Not totally mutually exclusive. People with sourdough genealogy since the late 90s (or mid-80s) aren't unheard of.

I live in Slovenia and bake a potica several times a year. Having been making it for over fifty years I consider myself qualified to solemnly declare that your potica looks fine. The traditional potica has walnuts in the spread, and potica with tarragon (but without pumpkin seed) is my second favourite recipe. Mmm, potica!

Thank you! Glad it passed the test! Yes, I know well why walnut potica is so popular. But I also love tarragon, and since I had no Slovenian around here to prevent me from a recipe cross-over, I did it. The pumpkin seeds came into play since I have them at hand (but no walnuts), and this Styrian recipe tipped the scales. Taste wise they can't really shine, which is a bummer. Next time I'll roast them before milling.

 

[Miffybear]

Wow! Beginning to feel as if I should list all my other activities! Thanks for all the sour dough information as I have just received some starter from a friend so that I can make my first sourdough loaf. Been making various other types of bread since lockdown and would never go back to store bought (unless in Italy where we get it from our local bakers). Like others on here, I grow my own veg and have jars of jams stored in a spare bedroom, along with the jars of honey and now the soaps! Perhaps every house should now come with an office and a hobby room? I did start learning the saxophone at the age of 61!

 

[Ladka]

...Taste wise they /pumpkin seeds/ can't really shine, which is a bummer. Next time I'll roast them before milling.

Yes, do roast them, their taste will profit much.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I think we are, too -- except we don't make documentaries like you and Jersey Boy.

Jersey Boy wants to make more!

 

[SPowers]

SPowers said:
I have a jar of sourdough in my fridge which hasn't been used in awhile. My other hobby is genealogy which I've been doing since the late 90's.

Not totally mutually exclusive. People with sourdough genealogy since the late 90s (or mid-80s) aren't unheard of.

My sourdough recipe isn't that old - it's maybe 3 or 4 years old at most.

 

[beckster51]

Since being home more I have taken up indoor hydroponic and aeroponic gardening. So much to learn but my diet is better for it. I have dwarf tomatoes that are 285 days old and still producing. Have grown all my own smoothie greens since the pandemic started, my lettuce as well. I am definitely not a gardener and can't grow a thing but am learning to do this indoor gardening. It is so calming watching my greens grow. I actually started with doing microgreens and read what others posted.

I have been very interested in getting into growing hydroponic vegetables. Are there any resources you recommend that I should read to learn more about this? I would love to grow some vegetables that would not be eaten by all the squirrels in my back yard.

 

[KimW]

I have been very interested in getting into growing hydroponic vegetables. Are there any resources you recommend that I should read to learn more about this? I would love to grow some vegetables that would not be eaten by all the squirrels in my back yard.

My hubby has a youtube channel on how he grows hydroponics. I'm not sure if it would be acceptable to post the link here on SMF, so PM me if you'd like the link.

 

[maryloucb]

Sourdough - Keys to my eventual success in Sourdough, and making a soft sourdough loaf with a soft chew:
1.) Feeding starter at same time everyday and finding the right storage spot (a spot with a consistent environment of temp, humidity, etc, throughout the day/night). Turned out a kitchen drawer was the best spot in my house.
2.) Feeding my starter at least twice, with an hour or so between feedings, before making bread.
3.) Using the right amount and right types of fat. Can't find the article now, but there was a study done, I think in the 1940s, which showed an equal amount of solid fat and liquid fat up to total of 3% Baker's Percentage, provided the most rise.
4.) Preferment. Half the flour, all the water and all the starter of recipe. Mix well, cover. Allow to sit it the same location of the starter (in my case the drawer) until it at least doubles. This can take anywhere from 2-4 hours. Mix in remaining flour and other ingredients.
5.) I stopped using other people's recipes. LOL
ETA: These loaves are 100% sourdough - no commercial/store-bought yeast. I made a store-bought yeasted bread for the first time ever the other week. I used the same method I use for Sourdough, and the bread was so soft as to not be desirable. Too funny!
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I like how your dog is just waiting patiently for one of those loaves to fall onto the floor!

 

[Quanta]

I also knit and nålbind. When I first wanted to learn nålbinding, I couldn't find a needle for it at any local yarn shop so I made my own. I was attending violin making school at the time and had access to wood scraps and a woodworking shop. After that I started making lots of needles out of various kinds of wood and even some really fancy colored acrylic ones (using acrylic blocks sold as pen blanks for turning). All told, I think I made more needles than mittens, lol. The green mitten in the picture was my first, and the needle shown "in action" was my first needle. Nålbinding makes a very thick, warm fabric. Later I also made a couple drop spindles (the one pictured is spalted pecan wood) and dyed some roving that I spun into single-ply yarn with the correct twist for nålbinding.

After violin making school I got a job driving a school bus, and one day spun some yarn as the kids were loading onto the bus to go home. The elementary kids were utterly fascinated, the middle schoolers were moderately interested, and the high schoolers pretended not to be, lol. The elementary kids all wanted a pinch of wool to take home.

While I was working as a bus driver, I got a second job at the woodworking supplies store I frequented because I figured if I was spending all my available time and money there, I should be paid for it. I had a knitted drawstring bag I kept in my pocket at that job with various kinds of wooden and acrylic nålbinding needles that I'd show to customers to demonstrate the finish that could be achieved with a particular polishing abrasive we sold. I sold a lot of that abrasive. I also sold a lot of those needles out of my pocket, and sent people to the local yarn shop for nålbinding lessons when they bought needles from me. Then the yarn shop bought a bunch of needles from me, too.

I am also a PC gamer, if that can be called a hobby. I built my own gaming computer.

I also do a little gardening. There is a strip of "grass" between my house and my neighbor's that never would grow proper grass, always weeds. So I pulled out the weeds, put down weed blocking fabric and mulch, and put big planters spaced out along the strip. I have an olive tree, some flowers that my grandfather planted for my grandmother at their house (which we dug up and kept after my grandparents both passed away and the house was sold), jasmine, honeysuckle, hibiscus, and lots and lots of aloe vera. The aloe vera propagate so quickly that several times I've had to tip out the pots and transplant all the babies into plastic cups of dirt which I gave away at work. I did have two kinds of lavender but they both died, unfortunately.

Lately I've also been making lots of lotion sticks. I mean lots. I've been making them for myself and family for maybe 8 or 9 years, but a coworker one day saw me using one on my hands and asked what I was doing. I told her it helped my hands not itch from the gloves (at my current job we have to wear nitrile gloves 10 hours a day). She said she needed something for that, since the gloves made her hands itch, too. So I gave her a couple samples, she ordered more, and everyone else got curious when they saw me giving it to her and wanted some too. I've sold lip balms to coworkers as well.

I have made candles off and on since shortly after high school. Back then I used paraffin, now I use soy wax.

I have also recently started making syndet shampoo bars and conditioner bars. I think I finally have a recipe that makes shampoo bars that harden properly. I've been using failed shampoo as body wash just to use it up, lol. So far I have made one batch of a sprayable leave-in conditioner that one of my sisters and I are testing (we have the same hair type).

I have also made laundry detergent (liquid detergent, not the soap some people use for laundry). Soon I am going to experiment with making a window/hard surface cleaner, and probably air freshener/linen spray.

I also do calligraphy, which I taught myself when I was around 8 or 9 years old. My parents gave me one of those Sheaffer fountain pen kits with the ink cartridges and different nibs and a booklet that taught how to use the pen. When I was older I taught myself more complicated techniques and have done several jobs addressing envelopes for wedding invitations. I did all the calligraphy for my own wedding invitations. I can even do Copperplate reasonably well but I'm a bit rusty as I don't practice much anymore.

I also do a little sewing but it's strictly on an as-needed basis. I made my knitting bag, and I make my own pajama bottoms out of flat sheets bought on clearance, using an old pair of very comfortable, very worn-out pajamas as the pattern. I also made all the curtains in my house.

I guess that's it. I do seem to rotate hobbies so I'm not doing all these at once.

 

[KimW]

I like how your dog is just waiting patiently for one of those loaves to fall onto the floor!

It is definitely her jam. As soon as she hears the oven timer beep, she's in there and she often will sit right there for 1.5 hours, waiting.