Saturday, May 22, 2010

Week 3 of My One Small Change For May: More Bagels!

I will save the world with bagels, I tell ya!  A plain bagel here, a cheesy bagel there, and it all adds up!  Peace will be born in the bagel!  Well, maybe not, in point of fact...but I've been having fun making them and eating them, and that's gotta count for something!  

If you've been in the know, you're aware that I've been participating in the One Small Change movement begun by Hip Mountain Mama's blog.  I have been following along and hearing about other's changes every step of the way, and I am so excited to be a part of such a large-scale (in terms of overall impact) movement that starts with such small-scale changes in our everyday lives.  I gather so much motivation from others like me who want to make a difference but can only do so much in their own lives - but isn't that all it takes?  I'm not the only one who cares about the impacts on my environment, on my neighbors, on my family, and on my own body... that makes me feel like we're not all terribly doomed.    

A recap of some of the changes I've made this year (some I've shared with the community and some I haven't):

*I've stopped using plastic produce/bulk item bags and instead use ripstop nylon bags hand-made in Eugene, OR (so they're local, too!)  
*I've been hanging our laundry to dry on a clothes line I installed in our basement 
*My husband and I are toilet-training our kitty (yes, training her to use the actual toilet as opposed to a litter box) to eliminate the need for litter (currently, we use eco-friendly litter, made of corn, wheat, or newspaper)
*We've made a commitment to support local alternative energy sources by signing up with our energy supplier to include the price of clean wind/green energy offsets on our monthly bill.     

I'm currently in the process of May's small change:  making oft-used bread-goods at home rather than buying them at the store (bagels and flat-bread, thus far).  I'm pleased with the outcome.  

This is my second batch of bagels for the month of May.  This time, I used the same basic dough recipe but I made a few tiny adjustments.  I substituted about 1/4 cup of millet flour (because that's all I had on hand) for some of the whole wheat flour, added 1 teaspoon of vital wheat gluten, used honey instead of sugar, added about 3 tablespoons of pesto to the dough, and omitted the oil because the pesto was pretty oily on its own.  The pesto added a nice, subtle dimension.  Yummy.  Yet still not flavorful enough for my refined taste buds.  It may be the flour that's the problem.  I'm interested in trying a dough with less whole-wheat flour, perhaps half and half - I feel like no matter what flavors I add or toppings I use in a predominantly whole wheat dough, that wheaty taste is going to stand out.  But right now I have to use up what I have (two huge jars of the stuff) before I can justify getting some lighter flour.  

My bagel-forming technique has improved, but as you can see, there are some cracks in the bagels where seams opened up during the boiling process.  No worries, though.  

They were well-liked this morning for breakfast with some vegan cream-cheese.  On the side, we had a few dollops of plain soy yogurt with warm gooey apricots (dried fruit, soaked overnight in the fridge, then boiled down until the liquid is a little syrupy).  Mmmmmm, breakfast.      
My overall thoughts on the process of making bread-goods: 
*It saves money, though I'm not sure how much.  I'm going to guess a couple dollars, no more.  But two dollars per week is nothing to balk at.
*For every batch, I avoid purchasing a product that comes enclosed in an earth-hating plastic bag.
*It's been fun expanding my cooking repertoire, and it gives me confidence that I can make other awesome foods that I've taken-for granted as being difficult or tedious.
*I love knowing exactly what goes into the food my family consumes.  I can make healthy choices and trust that the ingredients are fresh.         

Gripes:  
Just one -
*I'm still figuring out how to best manage my time when it comes to yeast-rising, letting dough stand, getting chores done around a recipe schedule, etc.  Bagels and flat-bread are easy and take no more than two hours out of my day, but when the time is broken up between several rest-periods, I feel like I can't really get much done in the intervals.  I think I just need to plan things out a little better - i.e. have a basket of laundry ready to be thrown into the wash on the first rise, then hung up to dry on the second, etc.  I feel like I'll be more efficient this way.  I just need a bit more practice and tweaking. 

If you ask me right now, I'm thinking I can keep this up.  After May, perhaps I'll slacken the schedule to every other week.  Then we'll be able to enjoy bagels every other day.  That will be the good life.  *Sigh*              

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