New hobbies during lockdown

[DavideFitbit]

It's been a long couple of years for everyone, and although lockdown measures are not as strict anymore and life slowly returns to a new normal, it's interesting to see how many people have changed and have developed new hobbies, new passions or just had time to rethink about the old routine they had and the things they were doing. 

What about you? Do you have any new hobbies or is there a hobby in particular that you already had and that helped you to keep busy during lockdown? 😀

[Argali]

This is my new outdoor hobby,

Disc Golf

Disc Golf

 Disc Golf Starter set

[emili]

it isn't a hobby, but I rediscovered that I can stay in some nights of the weekend and enjoy Netflix or some other channel showing something that interests me. Before Covid, I would be out and about the entire weekend, surrounded by noise. it is kind of nice to be home too. 

[healthy2022]

Because of the Olympics and Tom Daley in particular, I've been trying to knit. Initially boring, but oddly soothing hobby! 😌

[NellyG]

I have just started doing mosaics. But I can't really say it is because of lockdowns, but I just started, so it was during covid! Here is my first piece I did - a bird bath (before I grouted it). I was pretty pleased with myself lol

 

[shipo]

Growing sourdough cultures and baking sourdough bread.

This is with "Artisanal French Bread Flour":

And this is from a 50/50 Organic Semolina and Organic Einkorn mix of flours:

[DavideFitbit]

That's an interesting hobby, @Argali! I had not heart of disc golf, but just checking it out online and it seems pretty cool! 

Yes, that's true @emili, many people rediscovered that being home and watching a movie is just as fulfilling and entertaining.  

I watched that on TV as well, @healthy2022! He was very good at that and it seemed to help him relax. 😀

That looks amazing, @NellyG! That's a beautiful hobby, mosaics always look incredible. 

Looks yummy @shipo! I tried some new cake recipes during the pandemic, but I'm yet to learn the art of baking bread, maybe I'll start with that this year. 😁 

[Lose2win67]

omgoodness. Yum!!

[healthy2022]

That looks soooo good!! Do you think you can share the recipe?

[shipo]

@healthy2022, if you're responding to me, I'd be happy to; if you can give me an idea of your experience when it comes to bread making I can tune the recipe for you.  The thing about sourdough is it's one of those, "I'm going to start the process today so I can bake in a week or two (or three or four, depending upon where you start)."  Said another way, you cannot whip a recipe out of your favorite cookbook in the afternoon and have a loaf on the table for dinner; in essence, that's the bad news, you'll need a fair amount of it to get the process going, and once "going", it will still take, at a minimum, two to three days to bake a loaf of bread.

The good news is sourdough bread is a true "fermented" food and in addition to what many, my self included, consider to be a superior taste, sourdough bread has significant health benefits over bread baked with commercial yeast (regardless of whether the bread is from a store, a bakery, or your own kitchen).  Regarding the health benefits, it has long been known sourdough bread has higher bioavailability of the essential minerals and nutrients compared to "regular" bread, what I have found interesting is recent studies are now showing true sourdough breads with no commercial yeast, and baked in the old-world "long slow ferment" method, are not only easier on your gut, they're actually beneficial to gut health.  For a number of years now, studies showing sourdough bread made with ancient grains like Einkorn, Spelt, and Emmer can be safely consumed by folks with what are commonly termed "gluten intolerances", and in fact, I have a number of folks in my circle who are highly gluten intolerant and yet can still eat as much of my sourdough Einkorn bread as they can get their hands on.

With the above in mind, I've recently come across a number of articles published over the last fifteen or so years talking about how slowly fermented sourdough made from standard wheat flour can also be consumed by folks with gluten intolerances.  Apparently the change the slow ferment makes in the chemical composition of the dough can not only be tolerated by folks with gut issues, the bread can actually start/aid the reversal/healing process for the gut.

Disclaimer: other than a few bites here and there, my gluten intolerant family and friends have yet to splurge on my bread made from say, organic bread flour, but the good news is the "few bites" haven't caused any issues where a similar amount of store bought bread would.

[SunsetRunner]

I too started making and baking sourdough, in fact my starter will be peaking about 10:00 am this morning and I'll start making the dough. I include spelt flour in my go to recipe and find it delicious. With my established starter it takes about 2 days to make a loaf but hands on time is only about an hour. I'm retired so I have the time and it is a healthy fermented food if you don't have celiac disease or are gluten intolerant. I love the process and am looking forward to making the dough today, giving a long proof overnight in the fridge, and baking tomorrow.

 Stay strong, bake on 😎

[shipo]

@SunsetRunner, spot on!

I learned early this year the "old world" method was to make your dough up to a couple of weeks in advance and then put it in the "root cellar" for the first proof; I've essentially been doing the same thing in the refrigerator and the longer the proof, the more sour the bread.  🙂 

One more tease; I used to work in Germany and love their dark pumpernickel breads, so I tried making it; epic fail.  Why?  Because I followed an "American" recipe which uses cocoa and molasses to achieve the "dark" color of pumpernickel.  I went back to the drawing board several times, and my most recent attempt was a smash hit; knocked it out of the park; here's a photo:

The above loaf doesn't have a drop of molasses or a speck of cocoa powder; so how did I get it to go dark?  Cooking time; this loaf spent 18 hours in the oven and could have probably gone a few more.  🙂

[SunsetRunner]

Hey@shipo, that's really great! I have about 30 min. before I start the first set of stretch and folds. I'll figure out how to upload a picture and show it after I bake a batard tomorrow.

 Take care

[DavideFitbit]

Wow that looks soo good, @shipo! I had the privilege to try German bread in Germany a few times, and I learned that they're experts at baking break 😀. That looks fantastic. 👨‍🍳

Thank you for sharing your experience as well, @SunsetRunner!  Stay strong, bake on 😎. 

[shipo]

Thanks @DavideFitbit, that was my fifth attempt at making bread as close as is possible to a German pumpernickel without having a brick oven.  It's a lot of work because 100% stone ground Dark Rye flour (not sure "flour" is the correct word here) is very difficult to work with and because the oven needs to simulate a long slow cool-down of a brick oven.  As much as I enjoy such heavy breads, I won't be making pumpernickel more than a few times per year.  🙂

[Heather-S]

Reading! At the start of the pandemic, I bought a Kindle for myself and began to devour books! I read 79 books in 2020! 

I love my Kindle because it’s so easy and portable. Easy to read at night in bed, sometimes I even read while I walk on my treadmill. Plus, I can have library ebooks sent right to my Kindle so not only does it save me money, I like supporting my local library. 

[DavideFitbit]

It looks great, @shipo! I'd love to learn to bake some bread, but I'm still trying to figure out the easiest cake recipes, so it's gonna take a while, but I love German culture and that looks really good. I know it'll be worth it to learn this! 😀

That's a very important one, @Heather-S! I actually bought a Kindle a couple of years ago and I barely used it until the pandemic started and I remembered why I bought it in a first place. I'm glad I got back to reading and was able to get out of the automatic pilot mode I was in. Thanks for sharing! 😁

[NellyG]

@shipo I have also recentry started making sourdough using my own starter. I mostly do a wholegrain and seeds one and it is really good. I enjoy the process of making it too - not a lot of kneading for one! Though it does the time and you need to have the days planned ahead - when to get the starter out of the fridge, when to start with a following morning where you have time to bake it.

Your pumpernickel looks amazing!

[shipo]

Thanks @NellyG, that loaf of pumpernickel was a pain in the hind parts to make as dark rye flour is super sticky and hard to work with; and then there is the special cooking instructions.  The taste was quite literally spot on compared to the bread I used to be able to buy when I was living in Germany, and I will make it again, but not very often, maybe once every three or four months.  🙂

Congratulations on making your own sourdough, it takes a lot of patience to get to the point where you're consistently making something which you look forward to eating.  Regarding your "wholegrain and seeds" metric, the pumpernickel loaf pictured above was chock full of caraway seeds and "rye berries" (which are just visible in the picture).  🙂

[DavideFitbit]

Very interesting hobbies, @Zize55! Let me know how it goes with the comic book or anime, I love all of those. 

I haven't seen many users into filmmaking, that's a fascinating hobby to have. I've been watching a lot of older (Classic) movies with my dad recently, and it was during the pandemic that I discovered this whole new world of movies that I didn't know much about before. 😀