Recipe: bagels

[mdlbear]

The Whidbey Island Bagel Factory's Clinton location isn't selling retail anymore (due to lack of staff). And they've been on reduced hours for months until then. As a result, I haven't had bagels and lox in months. I'd been hoping to find them at the grocery store next door, which was supposed to have them, but no luck. So rather than waste two hours driving to Oak Harbor and back for bagels, I decided to make some myself.

The recipe is derived from Real Homemade Bagels Recipe | Allrecipes, with a few obvious mods:

1. I started with a sponge, in part to make kneading easier in the absence of a stand mixer.
2. Rather than dump all the (remaining) flour in at once, I saved the last half-cup to knead in. It may still have ended up a little under-kneaded.

So here you go:

sponge:
    1.25c _warm_ water
    3tbsp white sugar
    1tbsp instant yeast
    0.5c  bread flour
    * Stir water, sugar, and yeast together in a mixing bowl.  Verify that
      the yeast is alive, healthy, and blowing bubbles.  Add flour.  Stir.
    * cover with a towel and  allow the sponge to rise for 20m.
Then add:
    1tsp  salt
    2tbsp vegetable oil
    3.5c  bread flour.
    * stir in the bowl (I don't have a stand mixer) until it becomes
      stiff and not sticking; then
    * turn onto a floured work surface and knead, adding flour as neeeded,
      until the dough bounces back when you poke it.
    * Return to the bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise 2 hours.
Forming:
    * Punch down.  Turn out onto a floured work surface and divide into 6ths.
    * Roll each blob into a cylinder, then join the ends to shape into a torus.
    * Let rest 15min while bringing a large pot of water to a boil.
Boiling
    4qt water.
    1c  honey or malt syrup (optional. I just scraped the bottom of a jar of honey)
    * Bring water and sweetener to a boil; preheat oven to 425° F
    * boil 3 bagels at a time, until they float -- 30s - 1m/side.
    * prepare plates of toppings -- I used sea salt and sesame seeds
Baking
    * Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, or spread with cornmeal
      (which I would have done if I'd been able to find any)
    * Dip bagels in toppings while wet
    * Bake until brown, ~55-20m.

Note: the original recipe said to preheat the oven to 400 and bake for 35-40 minutes. Othere say to pre-heat the oven to 475 and bake for 15-20m. I decided to use 425; I checked at 15 minutes and they were done. The idea of baking on a piece of parchment paper at over 451° Fahrenheit seemed like it was asking for trouble.

I think the last time I baked anything other than cookies must have been several decades ago.

Comments

Kindling

[ng_moonmoth]

The title page of the referenced tome specifically mentions that as "the temperature where book paper catches fire, and burns" (emphasis mine). Parchment paper is a different formulation, and barring any specific precautions on the box you got it in, should be safe at any temperature a household oven could reach. (I will not warrant this statement for pizza ovens or tandoors.)

Re: Kindling

[mdlbear]

The package says "oven safe to 425° F. There's probably some margin built into that, but...

[hangingbyastitch]

Nice! I've always wanted to make bagels myself, but never got around to doing it. How did they taste? How chewy are they?

[mdlbear]

They taste pretty good, modulo the fact that I think the ones I'm used to are either sourdough, or maybe left to rise overnight. A little lighter than I expected also, which probably means I didn't knead them quite enough. But still way better than the mass-produced toroidal rolls.

[mdlbear]

The texture is better the next day.

[susandennis]

whoa! that's quite the undertaking!! impressive.

[acelightning73]

Baking parchment isn't waxed paper; it's impregnated with a non-stick silicone coating, which is safe above 450F.

I remember baking bagels when I moved out of NYC and wasn't within walking distance of a little neighborhood bagel place. You're supposed to dip them in a boiling alkali solution (baker's lye)- usually it's baking soda in water, although the molasses makes them a little browner. I want a bagel,but it's the middle of the night here, and I can't drive, and I'd be stuck with supermarket bagels anyway.