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We loved bagels, so what started out as a quest for a really good homemade bagel recipe for us, became another thing entirely!  Although far from perfect, my first bagels were actually better than many of the loaves of bread I had started experimenting with.  I realized that the recipes I used to learn the art of bagel-making had some valuable lessons about bread in general!  I am sure the culinary institutional way of teaching breadmaking is much more methodical and doesn't start with bagels, but this was my path and I found it very satisfying to get here on my own.  But the art of bread is a lifelong learning process of trial and error, as I've discovered from some of the world's best bread bakers, and the beauty of bread is that although it can be perplexing at times and humble you to the point of humiliation, it is more often than nought very forgiving.  

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Although I love the taste of bread, I believe it has far more things to teach us than just what tastes good.  Dough is an amazing creature.  The more things I produce, the more I recognized the parallels the lifecycle of bread has with our own human lives.  Each time I make a batch of bagels or a loaf of bread I am creating a living thing, which then has to be set free and we patiently wait and watch it grow into some other form, at which time we wrestle it and shape it into a final mature form, where it can then be tempered, specialized, and hardened into a final golden appearance, at which time it is ready for its final resting place...our stomachs!   Dough has a creation stage, a growth stage, a forming and maturing stage, a hardening stage, and ultimately a dying stage.  Bread isn't anything until we create it, and then we have the responsibility of seeing it through its complete lifecycle until it is ready to impart sustenance on whomever is lucky enough to partake of it.  And then the bread is used by our bodies in nourishment...from dust to dust.  Bread is the perfect nutritional product that can sustain life with a little water when nothing else is available.

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Even more fascinating to me than bread's lifecycle is that bread is one of those few things in this world that transcends all cultures, ethnicities, nationalities, generations, and socioeconomic positions.  It is the great equalizer!  The wealthiest and the poorest among us make and consume bread, as does every race and ethnic background, gender, etc.  And they all equally find that homemade bread can bring a sense of peace and comfort that few products can.  It may simply fill an empty stomach or it may transport someone back to their grandmother's kitchen as a child.  Either way, there is a comfort in homemade bread. 

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Every culture has their own style of bread for which they are known.  We all can associate Baguettes with Paris; Focaccia, Pizza Dough, or Ciabatta with Italy; Pumpernickel with Germany; Irish Soda Bread with Ireland; Milk Bread with Japan; Naan with India; Fry Bread with Native Americans; Sourdough with San Francisco; and so many more.  Bread is an intimate part of every culture, and most importantly, it is meant to be shared and broken with family, friends, and strangers.  It is that concept of transcendence and sharing on which Oh Mie Stelle exists.  We hope that all can come into our bakery, enjoy a bagel, a loaf of bread, or a pastry that takes them back to another time, or perhaps transports them into a better place.  Wherever it takes you, we hope that you will share it and savor the feeling of fullness and richness with which bread leaves us - not just in our stomachs, but in our hearts.

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May you have the blessing of fresh bread and a full cup each and every day!

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Crissy Kuhl

Owner - Oh Mie Stelle! Bakery