Blueberry Bagels

Many of you will be reading Valentine’s Day inspired posts this week. These bagels are my contribution. Bagels? Yes, bagels. Back in 2006, I worked at a bakery in downtown Denver. I also met Ryan. The bakery and his apartment were only three blocks from each other, so I would leave after my morning shift and come knock on his front door. Those Denver mornings that year were cold, but I remember most clearly the sound of his feet as he ran down the stairs. Still wearing my black apron, I also held a freshly baked bagel. We sat and ate together. We fell in love.

And now, fast forward almost eight years. We have a daughter together. She eats the blueberry bagels we now make in our kitchen. If you haven’t made bagels before, I’m here to offer you a perfect Valentine’s Day activity. For those of you with lovers…for those of you with friends…for those of you with children…it works. Because what smells better than blueberry bagels rising in your oven? And what tastes better than a toasted bagel with melted cream cheese? This is love in gluten-form, friends. Lucy, Ryan, and I will enjoy a batch of fresh bagels this Friday…and you should too!

Blueberry Bagels

1 TBSP honey
1 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup + 2 TBSP lukewarm water
3 1/2 unbleached bread flour
1/2 cup dried blueberries (rinsed in water)
1 TBSP melted butter (optional)
Cane sugar (optional)

Poaching liquid:
2 quarts water
1 TBSP baking soda
1 TBSP honey
1 tsp kosher salt

In a small bowl, stir the honey, the yeast and the salt into the lukewarm water. Place the flour into the bowl of a standing mixer (or any large bowl) and pour in the yeast mixture. Using a dough hook, or a large wooden spoon, mix on low speed for 3 minutes. The dough should form a stiff, course ball and the flour should be fully hydrated.

Resume mixing on medium speed for 3-5 minutes, or knead dough on a lightly floured surface so that the gluten can develop. The dough should have a smooth, satiny feel. If needed add more flour or water to achieve the desired consistency. Add the rinsed blueberries during the last two minutes of kneading.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and allow to rise at room temperature, for 60-90 minutes. After initial rise, divide the dough into 6 (4.5 ounce) pieces. Form the pieces into rolls.

Line 1 large sheet pan with baking parchment and mist lightly with spray oil. Poke a hole in a ball of dough and gently rotate your thumb around the inside to widen it to approximately 2 1/2 inches in diameter for a large bagel, two inches for a regular one or just slightly more than one inch for a miniature. The dough should be as evenly stretched as possible.

Place each of the shaped pieces two inches apart on the pans. Mist the bagels lightly with the spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator and allow to rest over night.

In the morning, remove your bagels from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours. After an hour, check to see if your bagels are ready for boiling. Fill a small bowl with cool or room-temperature water. The bagels are ready to be boiled when they float within 10 seconds of being dropped into the water. If they don’t float, let them sit at room temperature for 30 more minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Bring a large, wide pot of water to a boil, and add the baking soda and honey. Have a slotted spoon or skimmer nearby.

Gently drop the bagels into the water, boiling only a few at a time. After one minute, flip them over and boil for another minute. Remove the boiled bagels to a wire rack.

When all the bagels have been boiled, place the pans on the middle shelves in the oven. Bake for approximately five minutes, then rotate the pans. Continue baking for about 5 minutes, or until the bagels turn light golden brown.

Remove the pans from the oven and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle the bagels with cane sugar and remove to a wire rack. Allow the bagels to cool for 15 minutes before serving.

5/52

“a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2014″

(And thanks to the ever lovely Jodi for inspiring us all…)

I get home late on Wednesday night. My last class concludes at 8:15, and then I drive home from North Colorado Springs. On nights like tonight, my car takes at least a good ten minutes to warm up, leaving me shivering as I barrel down the interstate.

Ryan has been doing an amazing job at getting Lu to bed on the nights I teach. I come home and the house is eerily quiet. I find my husband at work on a new pendent or tinkering at a lamp. Lucy sleeps soundly in her room. But without fail, she wakes up within an hour or so of my arrival. It’s as if she senses that mama is near. And so I go into her bedroom, scoop her into my arms, and I gently rock or nurse her back to sleep. I don’t mind the interruption one bit.

Whole Wheat Apple Pie

Hello! To those of you who have followed me for years now, I’m so grateful you’re still nearby. And to my newer followers: I hope this space continues to welcome you. My talented husband, Ryan, has been hard at work…and I couldn’t be more pleased with my new site’s design. We’re still working out a few kinks, but I couldn’t wait a day longer to share it with you guys.

I’m also thrilled to announce I’ve created an entirely new site with one of my dearest friends. cord. As many of you know. I’ve become passionate about birth and pregnancy over the past few years. My own journey with Lucy was beautiful and empowering, largely because of the support I received from countless women who had already walked down the path of motherhood. My hope and prayer is that cord becomes a safe place for women to connect, to share, and to inspire each other. I would love for you to visit our site and to like our page on facebook. I won’t make much more mention of cord here, so if you’re at all interested in birth, we’d love for you to follow us.

And because there is much newness here tonight, I wanted to share something tried and true: one of my favorite recipes that I return to month after month, year after year. Because is there anything more comforting than a warm apple pie? This apple pie is made with a flaky whole wheat crust. The whole grain flour adds a lovely nuttiness to the pastry, and you can also feel a little bit better when you go back for that second slice.

So here’s to new and old. Thank you for growing with me over these past four years. I can’t wait to see what’s to come.

Whole Wheat Apple Pie

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

16 tablespoons (or 2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup ice-cold water.

6-8 medium granny smith or pink lady apples

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 lemon, squeezed

At least one hour before you plan on baking your pie, assemble crust. In a food processor, pulse together flour, salt and, sugar. Cut butter into small cubes, add to food processor, and mix until butter is fully incorporated (the mixture will be course and grainy). Pour in 1/2 cup ice-cold water. Pulse until dough begins to come together. Divide dough into two sections and pat into discs. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to chill for at least one hour, up to two days.

When ready to bake your pie: remove pie crust from refrigerator for 30 minutes, or until soft enough to roll out on counter. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Peel and thinly slice apples. Stir in sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Set aside. On a lightly floured counter, roll out one disc of pie dough into a 12-inch round, about 1/8 inch thick. Carefully transfer pie dough to a nine-inch pie pan. Fill pan with prepared apples. Roll out the other disc of pie dough. Cut into desired shapes (I used a small flower cutter). Arrange shapes on top of apples. Sprinkle with raw sugar, if desired. Place pie in preheated oven. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, then lower temperature down to 350 degrees for an additional 30-40 minutes, or until the apples are tender. Allow to cool slightly before serving with ice cream or freshly whipped cream.

Monet

Anecdotes and Apple Cores

7 months of Lucille Amelia (and 4/52)

“a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2014″

She’s seven months old. And I’m sitting here with a heavy heart. I have days like this. Days where I feel overwhelmed with the uncertainty and the sheer terror of life. Days when I think about my lost sister, about my friends, about people who are facing far more than they ever should. But as I drove home from campus tonight, I also thought about what I’d tell my daughter when she was seven, when she was seventeen, when she was twenty-seven and driving home, feeling scared of life’s unpredictable twists and turns.

And I realized I’d tell her this: death and terror never have the final word. Although it may seem like darkness surrounds, there is a present and unfading light to be found in this world. We find it in faith…in family…in friends. And when those terror-filled times come, we’ll find it even amidst the confusion and fear.

Lucy, you truly have been a bringer of light. After a season of darkness, your presence has filled our family with laughter. You’re seven months old and you couldn’t be any more perfect. You talk to us from the moment you wake, and you smile at delight when we walk into the room. You weigh nearly twenty pounds and I feel it in my arms as I carry you throughout our day. You’re crawling now, an accomplishment you made just shy of the official seventh-month mark. (if you want to see a video…find me (@cakestand) on Instagram!) We’ve yet to baby-proof our house, but it’s happening…this weekend. Standing is your new favorite activity, and you’ll gladly reach for our hands or a table or the side of your crib for support.

You still want to breastfeed all the time, and I’m happy to do it. We breastfeed at night. We breastfeed at the coffee shop. We breastfeed on our couch, on our bed, on our kitchen floor. You like broccoli and apples (maybe tolerate is the better word), and I have a feeling we’ll keep breastfeeding for quite a while more.

There’s so much more I could say about you. But know this, love and light and laughter are the words that come to my mind when I think about you.

Monet

Anecdotes and Apple Cores

Very Best Pound Cake

You need to make this. I’ve tried my share of pound cake recipes, and this, by far, is my favorite. In fact, I might even go as far as to say: this is my favorite recipe of all time. Butter, cream, delicate cake flour, and sugar come together beautifully in this dense and moist cake. I made this pound cake on Friday afternoon and my house smelled of browned butter all weekend. I knew I’d found THE RECIPE, when I took my knife to slice it into manageable pieces. As my serrated knife made contact first with the slightly crunchy exterior and then with the buttery, dense middle, I called out to Ryan, “this is going to be HEAVEN.” And it was.

In other, non-butter news. I taught my first week of classes at the community college here…and I’m thrilled to be back at work. My students seem lovely (we still like each other…it’s only been one week) and Lucy was a champ with her papa. I’m navigating essay assignments and stored breastmilk. I’m eating dinner on campus (yet again) while checking my phone to make sure that Lucy’s finished her bottle. It’s far more complicated than what work was before…but I’m happy to be doing it, and I feel blessed to have such a great community to support me (and Lucy) in the process.

Very Best Pound Cake

2 sticks (1 cup butter) room temperature

3 cups sifted cake flour (sift before measuring)

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups granulated sugar

7 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup heavy cream

Cinnamon Sugar (optional)

Do not preheat oven. Line two standard loaf pans with parchment paper.

Stir together sifted flour and salt into a bowl. Beat together butter and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add half of flour, then all of cream, then remaining flour, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down side of bowl and then beat at medium-high speed for an additional 5 minutes. Batter will become creamy and satiny.

Spoon batter into prepared pans and rap against counter once or twice to eliminate air bubbles. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar if desired. Place pans in cold oven and turn oven on to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake until golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out with just a few crumbs adhering, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan for 30 minutes before removing. Allow to cool completely before slicing.