Will Pedal for Coffeecake
I spent much of my time as a farm kid cruising the country roads on my bike.
Learning to bike ride on the farm differed a bit from what I observed my peers to be doing in town. They pedaled jauntily down the thoughtfully provided sidewalks, training wheels attached to their two-wheelers. In place of training wheels, I had a dad who was of the “toss ‘em in and let ‘em sink or swim” philosophy. I’m not sure of my mom’s view on the training wheels, but what I do know is that my dad seized the moment when my mom and grandmother went off for one of their ladies’ getaway weekends.
Across our front yard was a ridge with a gradual downhill slope, ending in a row of trees at the bottom. At the top of the ridge, Daddy would prop up my brother’s hand-me-down bike, (yes, a boy’s bike) plop me on the seat, and give me a push. Adrenalin flowed as the bike careened down the slope, with me inevitably steering it into one of the trees. Plop, push, careen, crash. Repeat. Repeat until I could begin to demonstrate some wobbly balance on the bike. This activity was the focus of the weekend, as biking competence was required by the time the ladies returned from their weekend away. When Mom and Grandma got home, Daddy proudly sent me out to the road to demonstrate my hard won biking prowess. Where I shakily pedaled for a moment or two, lost my balance and fell in the ditch. Which was awash with poison ivy. Mom had a cow, rushing me into a hastily run bath to wash off the toxin. Which must have worked like a charm, as I didn’t develop any poison ivy blisters at all. Mom, on the other hand, was covered with blisters within a few hours. Daddy got the last laugh, as it appeared that I had inherited his ability to survive poison ivy exposure with none of the dire consequences.
My biking improved, which was a good thing as I enjoyed my mother’s coffeecake immensely. Every now and again in the summer, Mom would pack up a breakfast picnic of her streusel coffee cake, freshly cooked bacon, orange juice and hot coffee to be eaten at a little brook, perhaps a half mile from our farmhouse. And of course, we got there on our bikes. It was a picturesque spot in which we kids could inhale our breakfast before clambering down to the creek side to explore, leaving Mom some luxurious time for eating and contemplation.
Baking this coffeecake demanded an investment of time and effort. The recipe was based on the Rich Yeast Batter adapted from the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook, circa 1950 . While Mom probably doctored it up with whole-wheat flour and wheat germ, what impressed me was that she had to beat the finished batter for 100 strokes prior to rising! The streusel with which she topped it provided the sweetness, as the cake itself was richly flavored with yeast and spices, but not much sugar. As so often happens with childhood favorites, this recipe set the bar for my taste in coffee cake.
While I have made a sourdough coffeecake for years, I discovered that I could bake a version of Mom’s with better flavor and nutritional balance, while cutting back on the time investment. She made the whole shebang by rising early in the morning, but my lazy self played with making the batter the night before and baking it in the morning, which worked just fine. No need to lose sleep over rising yeast batter! In characteristic fashion, I changed a few other things, too… like substituting oil for shortening, changing up the flour mix, increasing the spices, adding vanilla, substituting dates for sugar in the streusel…you know, just a few alterations. Amazingly after all that, it tastes just like I remember on the creek side.
Should you make it, you have permission to just eat it at home, no bike ride required.
Rich Yeast Coffee Cake with Streusel
Ingredients
- 1-½ cups flour (I used a mix of sprouted wheat spelt, and whole-wheat pastry
- flour; a blend of white whole wheat and all-purpose would work well)
- ¼ cup ground flaxseeds/flax meal
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2-¼ teaspoons instant yeast
- 2/3- cup almond or other alt milk
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup vegetable oil I use avocado
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- Streusel
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup flour
- 1- tablespoon brown sugar
- 1- teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons butter cut into bits
- 3 large Medjool dates pitted and chopped
- 1 to 2 teaspoons water
Instructions
- The night before, combine the flour, flax meal, almond flour, cinnamon, salt and yeast. Stir to mix well. In a second bowl beat together the almond milk, brown sugar, egg, oil and vanilla, until completely blended. Beat 100 strokes, until the batter smooths out. Cover and let rise for 1 hour. Prepare a 9-inch square baking pan by greasing or spraying thoroughly with cooking spray. At the end of the hour, stir the batter lightly and spread evenly in the baking pan. Cover with saran and refrigerate overnight.
- In the morning, remove the batter from the refrigerator and allow sitting at room temperature for about 45 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350° F. and prepare the streusel. In the work bowl of a food processor, combine the almond flour, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add the butter bits and chopped dates. Pulse to combine, until flaky. Add the water one teaspoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until the streusel is moist and crumbly.
- Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the batter and bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove and cool slightly before slicing.
Very nice! No starter bikes for us! I learned at 6 or so, on a full size girls bike. Had to stand to reach the peddles. Learned in the back yard, so it would not hurt so much when I fell.