February's Wrap-up
February’s task waded further in the yeast required
baking, specifically bagels. As my intimidation of bread making has not
totally dissipated I procrastinated again. I waited until the last
weekend of the month to tackle this task. Again,
it was pretty easy. My yeast proofed, which still feels like a mighty
accomplishment. (Do you know how many times I have flat out
killed it?) I whipped up the dough pretty quickly and then had to let it rest.
I used the recipe from Vegan Brunch. It stated that
the dough should be a little tacky. I thought I had achieved just the
right amount when I laid it to rest. However, when it was done rising it
was a little too sticky. I found it difficult
to separate into twelve chunks and to roll into balls. My dough kept
sticking together. It was fun to create the bagel shape, however, they
came out small. Whenever I stretched it out further it would shrink
down. The process of boiling them for a minute
on each side in a big pot of boiling water before baking felt a little
bit like being in a lab, which delighted my inner scientist.
I will admit to being disappointed by the final
product. They tasted good, but most of them were too small to slice and
toast as I am accustomed to doing. And I will admit that they didn't all get consumed before they turned green and moldy. I don’t blame the recipe, though. I
contribute it to user error and my novice bread
ways. The recipe says it should make twelve bagels and the picture
showed big puffy bagels. I’d be willing to give this recipe another try.
However, I would shape six bagels instead of the stated twelve. Perhaps
that would yield the big, fat bagels I was shooting
for.
March Task: Make Cleaning Products
When I had the idea for this project, one of the
first items to make the list was make my own cleaning products. I am no
stranger to the many posts floating in the ether that is the internet
describing in detailed steps just how EASY it
is to make laundry detergent at home. But I am perennially lazy and
unmotivated for such projects so I haven’t tried it yet. But I’ll be
damned if laundry detergent isn’t one of those things I intensely
dislike buying. Mainly because it is a pain to carry
around in my arm basket. But still.
For me, the impetus of this project is push through my laziness and attempt some of these things I would *like* to do but never get around to. I want to see for myself how easy or not something actually is. To determine for myself
whether it is more practical to do something myself or to keep paying for someone else’s efforts.
