Other Hobbies

[Sozial]

6 hours ago, coelian said:

I started cold showers every morning since Christmas last year, my tap water is about 10-12 C (low 50s). You don't really get used to it, some days I stare at the water and ask myself why I do it.

To be honest after the initial buzz, I think the main benefit for me is the psychological part about overcoming something difficult first thing in the morning. After a while you get less of that high. I went into a lake nearby a couple of times during winter but I find that my body takes too long to warm up and I'm super tired for the rest of the day so I'd rather stick to cold showers. 

At least physological it makes a good mood, because it releases endophines, but as you witnessed yourself the effect wanes over time since your body adapts.

 There is a dutch study about it, If you are interested in it.

 

 

 

[TheOrcKing]

On 8/27/2023 at 9:55 AM, gmpirate said:

I go the sour cream way, mostly whole eggs (couple egg yolks).  And I prefer a creamy final product vs hardened.  But yeah, surprisingly simple.

Seems we are on the same page in taste. I have used a bit of lemon juice with milk as a pseudo buttermilk in place of sour cream if I don't have any on hand. The one time I used just egg yolks was in a Basque style cheesecake. I think for that method, only or mostly egg yolks were fine.

 

On 8/27/2023 at 9:58 AM, redcell said:

Try making the crust by toasting pecans and then crushing them down to the consistency of graham cracker crust...it adds a nice richness to the crust.  Also, try experimenting with flavored liqueurs to flavor the cheesecake.  I was a bit skeptical at first, but the first time I tasted a cheescake made with Tia Maria, I was hooked.

Thank you for the ideas. I was thinking about a pecan cashew crust for an almond butter & something jam cheesecake recipe I have been tinkering with. First time (I think) I saw the pecan crust idea was from Chef Jean-Pierre. (Guy loves his Kahlua. Haha.) I never actually tried Tia Maria before. Now I'm interested.

 

On 8/27/2023 at 2:04 PM, Captain_Obvious said:

Landscaping. Absolutely obsessed with it to the same degree as my LEGO addiction. Relatively cheap hobbies at first, but quickly add up as I am never satisfied with just one plant or set. Funny, my 16-year-old self would be saying there's no way plants and LEGO would make up a good chunk of my life as I got older.

I used to have a green thumb as a kid in California. My Mother & me got that small excuse for a front yard real nice. Even managed to get a large red fern to grow. Then the family moved, and I became more preoccupied with school at the time among other things. Now the only landscaping I manage is mowing my lawn ....or Minecraft.

 

13 hours ago, Sozial said:

Even if it sucks for the first 10-20 times just go for the shock, because thats what it makes it so healthy.

I am handling the showers better. There still is an initial shock to the system but subsides in less than a minute now. Honestly my first experience was not as bad as I claimed it to be though still amusing in hindsight with all the glory of a drama queen. Ha.

Anyway, it is one heck of a way to wake up in the morning and helps get me going as a form of pre-workout. I am not sure how much I may keep the cold showers come wintertime. Then again, the straight tap water may actually be warmer than the chilling air outside. But for now, with this triple digit heatwave, the cold feels great.

[gmpirate]

CHEESECAKE:  What I've found that really helps with the process is proper mixing.  When I originally learned how to make the recipe was very stringent on mixing.  Don't over mix and be sure to stop and scrape the bowl between ingredients.  Whenever I strayed in my mixing the results were not as good.  Agree on the pecans.  Have been told to toast them first.  Baking times and temps are also key.  I go from a high temp, to a lower and then letting it sit in the oven after turning it off.  The process just varies how creamy or firm you like it.  But yeah, overall I was amazed at how simple it was to make a good cheesecake.  Amazed too because not many make a good one.  Over a period of a few months I was buying 30# blocks of cream cheese and experimenting daily.

A plain cheesecake with glazed fruit and whipped cream is probably my favorite but I feel I made a pretty good White Chocolate Raspberry.  With this one it makes a difference to make your own fruit glaze/syrup with fresh raspberries.  (oreo cookie crust)

[coelian]

On 8/28/2023 at 2:43 PM, Sozial said:

At least physological it makes a good mood, because it releases endophines, but as you witnessed yourself the effect wanes over time since your body adapts.

 There is a dutch study about it, If you are interested in it.

 

 

 

 

 

Yea I'm aware of the Dutch study, 30s is all you need. 

[TheOrcKing]

Touching base with finally firmly dipping my toes into breadmaking. Quite a bit of information upfront to digest ranging from tips & methods to ingredients & effects. Very daunting initially, even after all the research. However, after a few different breads, I find the process start to finish rather enjoyable and can confidently say I have a new permanent hobby.

So far, I have made a couple of milk bread loaves using the tangzhong or yudane method of "scalding" the flour. First & third ones used a slurry of 20 grams flour to 90 grams milk heated up in a pot until gelatinized then allowed to cool before resting in the fridge overnight making sure all the flour was thoroughly gelatinized and something about forming maltose. (Yay science!)

Second bread I took 50 grams heated milk poured on top of 50 grams flour mixing until everything gelatinized then rested in the fridge. Of the two methods, I prefer the first with the slurry as it is easier. Some of the milk will get boiled out but I can account for that by adding a smidge more than needed to compensate. Second method worked just as well but felt like more effort to mix well.

In between the breads, I tried making a walnut raisin cake. First iteration was a little dry like a brownie. Second attempt was better being more moist but perhaps too much. I am narrowing down the recipe with each attempt.

My last bread best as I could describe was a pizza sandwich or a mortazza I believe. I made a 100% hydration dough using 500 grams flour to 500 grams milk (it should have been 400 grams milk for 80% hydration but I kind of goofed). It was a sticky dough for certain but using a no-knead cold fermentation method (and a little olive oil), it turned out perfectly. I would even say it was the best gosh darn thing I ever made by golly. It was like a huge grilled cheese sandwich ....but pizza.

Next on my list, brioche.

Additional, egg white whipped with a little milk makes for a nice double glaze.

[gmpirate]

1 hour ago, TheOrcKing said:

Touching base with finally firmly dipping my toes into breadmaking. Quite a bit of information upfront to digest ranging from tips & methods to ingredients & effects. Very daunting initially, even after all the research. However, after a few different breads, I find the process start to finish rather enjoyable and can confidently say I have a new permanent hobby.

So far, I have made a couple of milk bread loaves using the tangzhong or yudane method of "scalding" the flour. First & third ones used a slurry of 20 grams flour to 90 grams milk heated up in a pot until gelatinized then allowed to cool before resting in the fridge overnight making sure all the flour was thoroughly gelatinized and something about forming maltose. (Yay science!)

Second bread I took 50 grams heated milk poured on top of 50 grams flour mixing until everything gelatinized then rested in the fridge. Of the two methods, I prefer the first with the slurry as it is easier. Some of the milk will get boiled out but I can account for that by adding a smidge more than needed to compensate. Second method worked just as well but felt like more effort to mix well.

In between the breads, I tried making a walnut raisin cake. First iteration was a little dry like a brownie. Second attempt was better being more moist but perhaps too much. I am narrowing down the recipe with each attempt.

My last bread best as I could describe was a pizza sandwich or a mortazza I believe. I made a 100% hydration dough using 500 grams flour to 500 grams milk (it should have been 400 grams milk for 80% hydration but I kind of goofed). It was a sticky dough for certain but using a no-knead cold fermentation method (and a little olive oil), it turned out perfectly. I would even say it was the best gosh darn thing I ever made by golly. It was like a huge grilled cheese sandwich ....but pizza.

Next on my list, brioche.

Additional, egg white whipped with a little milk makes for a nice double glaze.

Wow, bread making is pretty difficult and you really jumped in with a bunch of variables.  It's hard enough just learning to bake basic baguettes or developing a sourdough starter.  To bake in a home oven there's so much tinkering involved.  I'm hoping to find a commercial kitchen and really get serious about baking bread with commercial deck ovens with steam injection.  There's a couple quasi home deck ovens you could get.  One was "simply bread".  Home ovens simply lack the high temps and bounce ability of a commercial -- and steam!  Here's the link to the "simply bread" deck oven.

https://www.simply-bread.co/post/deck-oven-comparison-for-baking-enthusiasts-which-model-is-best-for-you

[TheOrcKing]

On 3/3/2024 at 12:52 AM, gmpirate said:

Wow, bread making is pretty difficult and you really jumped in with a bunch of variables.  It's hard enough just learning to bake basic baguettes or developing a sourdough starter.  To bake in a home oven there's so much tinkering involved.  I'm hoping to find a commercial kitchen and really get serious about baking bread with commercial deck ovens with steam injection.  There's a couple quasi home deck ovens you could get.  One was "simply bread".  Home ovens simply lack the high temps and bounce ability of a commercial -- and steam!  Here's the link to the "simply bread" deck oven.

https://www.simply-bread.co/post/deck-oven-comparison-for-baking-enthusiasts-which-model-is-best-for-you

I did jump into near the deep end of the pool, and I do have a slight tendency of picking something 'easy' then proceed to make the thing more challenging for myself (like whipping a meringue with honey on a rainy day when I was just getting back into baking). Mistakes were made along the way, but I am meticulous about procedure and proportions. Usually by the following day I figure out what went wrong or can improve.

That simply bread deck oven looks snazzy. If I were to become serious with my breadmaking, that's the ticket. Right now, I am just a crusty casual with my countertop convection oven. Haha.

Sourdough is something I am interested in though I feel like I need some more practice with preferments to begin with. And baguettes are on my to do list. For the moment I have a brioche made with almost as much butter as flour (228 grams butter to 250 grams flour) chilling in the fridge and will be ready by tomorrow.

Side note, fourth attempt at my walnut raisin cake and I think I have it!

[TheOrcKing]

Been a couple weeks since the last.

The "buttery brioche" I mentioned above turned out fine. Very rich in taste. I could recommend trying what I did (using almost as much butter as flour) once just to taste for yourself. Otherwise, regular brioche (in the realm of 40%-50% butter) will do fine for anything. It is quite the versatile style of dough. I did use a little too much flour around the end for the final shaping causing the dough to not stick to itself when baked making the fancy three strand loaf pattern a bit flimsy but amusingly could stretch like an accordion. Ha. It was real friggin' neato seeing the inner layers like that.

Moving along, I went back to experiment with the scalding method for a honey milk bread recipe. And by that, I mean I scalded all the flour. I warmed up the milk on the stove to near the boiling point (185F/85C), added the other ingredients of salt, honey, & butter, then poured that on top of the flour and mixed until everything was absorbed. Let that sit in the fridge for a couple days then I took a little water to hydrate some yeast and squeezed that "yeast water" into the dough. Everything else was the usual procedure. Loaf turned out very soft and kind of chewy. Made me think of a Hawaiian sweet roll. Used an egg glaze with only the yolk this time. Nice touch.

Presently trying different pizza doughs & styles. New favorite for me now is a thin crust pan pizza with cheese first then toppings finished by three "racing stipes" of sauce on top akin to Detroit-style. I feel like a kid again.

Next up some potato bread 'cause why not. Haha.