It's Alive!

Hey, Mom! Look at how well my sourdough starter is doing!
With the oven fixed, I am filled with a desire to bake stuff. Hubby was gone all day Saturday at a debate (he's the team adviser), so I was free to throw flour around without restraint.
When I was single in TX and had no life, I used to bake bread from scratch all the time. I was got quite good at it, if I do say so myself.
Then I got Hubby, and the puppies, and bread from scratch took too much time. When we were dating Hubby swiped his parents' bread machine for me (they never used it), but I never quite got the hang of it.

Poor Flour, to Come to Such an End
So I jumped back in with a loaf of wheat bread on Saturday. I think I should have stuck with white for my first time back. Sure, they look nice, but the taste leaves something to be desired. (Well, mom seemed to like it, but she always likes my bread, so I take her judgement with a grain of salt.)
Actually, a few grains more salt probably would have helped.
I used it for Hubby's toast this morning and he declared it dense. He smiled when he took his first bite, then pretended to try to feed it to the pups. So I had mercy, made him a slice of commercial toast, and let him feed mine to the pups.
I brought in a slice for Boss Man to try (he bakes bread too). I warned him about what Hubby thought. He didn't have the option of feeding it to the pups, but he agreed with Hubby's assessment. We debated too little salt, too much flour, and the age of my yeast and flour (!). We agreed whole wheat is tricky.

Sourdough
On Saturday I also fished out a souvenir package of San Francisco sourdough starter. I'm not sure how old it is, so it might be either brave or insane of me to try it.
It didn't look like much Saturday, a white sludge on the bottom and a liquid on top. I thought paste. Hubby said puke, which shows how long it's been since he saw any puke.
But when I came down Sunday morning it was all frothy and the liquid was on the bottom. Smells right too. So I have hope it will work out.
Of course, it doesn't look like the picture anymore, I gave it a brisk stir this morning and added a little more flour.
I'm supposed to let it work on the counter for three days and then transfer it to the fridge for a few more. So it should be ready to go by this weekend.

Cookies?
Hubby, of course, has been campaigning for chocolate chip cookies since we scheduled the appointment to get the oven fixed. It's not that I'm denying the boy on purpose, he's the one that ate all my chocolate chips. And I need butter, softened at that. So we're looking at tomorrow or Wednesday before he gets his wish. (I think another reason he turned on the sourdough is because I'm growing it in the cookie jar, which was my chef jar when I was single.)
And I want to bake cinnamon rolls too. More yeast based items! But, again, I need butter.

Knitting?
Eh, what's that?
Actually, I'm working on a pair of bed socks for my mom. Yeah, don't worry, she doesn't like surprises.
Which is ironic considering she, Aunt K, and my niece "dropped in" for dinner Saturday. Keep in mind, they live four hours away.
Anyway, it worked out because I was able to show her the yarn I'm using. Multi-colored mystery acrylic from my stash. She wanted easy care and not to warm.