Bagels

I first wrote about bagel making back in May, 2017. I’ve tested out a couple of other recipes since that first success with admittedly varied results. Having a load of unbleached bread flour on hand put me in the mood to bake both pain de mie (post coming up soon I hope) and bagels, knowing they would be well received here at home.

Here’s the printable recipe PDF. The process is pretty standard as far as bread making goes. I like to use my 6-quart Kitchenaid - the bowl size is perfect. The yield for the base recipe is 8 bagels but I prepped a 1.5x recipe to give me 12. I figured as long as I was making them I’d go for more. They freeze beautifully.

Mix unbleached bread flour (I use King Arthur), fine sea salt, instant yeast and a skosh of brown sugar in your mixing bowl. Add in lukewarm water and 4 teaspoons of barley malt syrup (or molasses or honey) and blend together then knead on medium speed with the dough hook for 5-6 minutes (8-10 minutes if doing by hand). The base recipe is here. The dough should come together and be fairly smooth. Let proof for an hour or until doubled. I know that can be hard to determine - I like to take a photo at the start to give me the needed comparison later on.

It didn’t seem quite full enough after an hour so I gave it more time. Looks good now! Remember - cool kitchen, longer rise.

Place the risen dough on a lightly floured surface and divide into pieces about 100-113 g each. In this case it meant 12 pieces. Do a rough pre-shape, cover with a damp towel and let rest 15 minutes.

Now form each piece into a tight ball, cover again with a damp towel and let rest about 20 minutes.

Have a sheet pan ready lined with a lightly oiled piece of parchment. To form the bagels push your thumb through the center of each ball then, using both thumbs, gradually pull the hole a bit wider as seen below.

Then insert your index/middle fingers through the center and rotate the dough as you gradually enlarge the hole. What fun!

Place shaped bagels on a sheet pan lined with lightly oiled parchment and cover with a damp kitchen towel.

Just shaped

Let them rest/proof about 30 minutes, meanwhile heating your oven to 450ºF (425 convection)

Place 4 quarts water along with 3 tablespoons barley malt syrup in a pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling stir in 4 teaspoons baking soda - it will foam up!

Have a cooling grid placed over a separate half sheet pan.

Place 3 or 4 bagels into the boiling water, boil for 30 seconds then flip over and boil another 30 seconds. Lift out and place on the cooling grid. Continue the same process until all bagels are boiled.

Below are the boiled bagels ready for the oven. Kinda shriveled, eh?

Place bagels in the heated oven and bake 15-20 minutes - I tend to go the longer time frame for a nice deep golden brown result. Don’t open the oven for the first 10 minutes or they may deflate.

Yum!

Cool on a rack and enjoy!

Simple cream cheese is always good. These bagels freeze beautifully so we’re spacing out our enjoyment of them, treating ourselves every now and then. We’ve enjoyed egg/cheese sandwiches, PB with or without jam (with pickles for Steve!) and more cream cheese. What’s not to like!

Spring is still deciding what it wants to be. My tulips came up early and the flowers have been dunzo for a good week and a half. Oh my. Here they are a few weeks back.

Whatever you’re doing and wherever you are - enjoy! Until next time.