There is something absolutely stress relieving for me when it comes to baking. Bread doesn’t lie. It can’t be manipulated. Put in the same ingredients, in the same order, at the same temperatures, and you will get the same product every single time. Dough is honest through and through… the rising of the dough is called “proofing” for God’s sake.

The dough doesn’t care if you’re having a bad day. The dough isn’t going to be ruined if your shirt doesn’t match your shoes. The dough will always be the dough. No more, no less. I guess that’s why I find solace in baking… the predictability of it. It’s not like life at all in that way. It’s more like God in its stability.

Life has been nothing other than chaos since my first ER visit in January of last year but my bagels have always been the same.

It didn’t matter if I was stressed out of my mind about upcoming surgeries. It didn’t matter if I was grieving my lost marriage. It didn’t matter if I was white  knuckling it through a med switch. My bagels were still a stable, predictable source of comfort in my life.