We did it! I've thought about making bagels before, but I always assumed they were really hard to make. I've been trying to experiment more with yeast lately, so I thought this would be a good time to give bagels a shot. If you know me very well, you know that when I get something on my mind to do - I'm going to do it. Yesterday I decided that we were going to make bagels.
I started to make them and realized I was out of all-purpose flour. I always have flour. I thought about substituting 100% whole wheat, but everyone, including my husband, knows that probably isn't going to work out well. So my husband volunteered to go out, in the POURING rain to get some flour.
He came with two things of flour, 8 beautiful sunflowers and my favorite chocolate. Yes, he is an amazing husband.
So then we proceeded to make the bagels. I have to confess, it was much easier than I expected.
It was a little bit difficult to stretch and shape them - hence some of our bagels looked more like those kruler donuts.
Clearly, I went a little overboard on the flour. When we were shaping the bagels, it seemed like they had way too much flour in them, but then they turned out perfectly once they were cooked. The directions tell you to smooth them, but I'm not exactly sure how to do that.
This is after they've been boiled. They look and feel kind of gross. The directions tell you that they should sink (mine didn't) and you should cook them for 1 minute on each side after they rise to the top. I cooked mine for 1 minute on each side as soon as they went into the pot, but I also did a test bagel at 2 minutes on each side, and I couldn't really tell a difference.
Look how beautifully golden brown and shiny they turned out! I've already eaten three in the 12 hours since we made them!
This is the original recipe, which I found at La Vida Locavore. It seemed a bit confusing and wordy to me, so make sure you give it a good read through before you start the process. And check to see if you have flour before you start. Or don't ... maybe someone will go get you some flour and flowers!
Water Bagels
Ingredients:
3 ½ cups flour (approximately)
2 packages (4 ½ teaspoons) dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 ½ cups hot water (120-130 degrees)
3 quarts water
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
1 egg white beaten with a teaspoon of water
Topping of choice (1/4 cup minced garlic, or ½ cup mined red onion or 1/8 cup coarse or Kosher salt or 1/8 cup sesame seeds or 1/8 cup poppy seed or mix and match as desired)
Baking Pans:
1 baking sheet, greased and sprinkled with corn meal (my usual parchment paper does not work, and do not skip the corn meal!!)
One 4 ½ quart sauce pan or stock pot.
Method:
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer measure out 3 cups of flour and the rest of the dry ingredients. Stir to combine. Pour in the hot water and stir vigorously with a spoon or the paddle attachment for two minutes. Add the rest of the flour a little bit at a time, until the batter gets thick and heavy.
At this point if you are using a stand mixer, attach the dough hook to knead. If you are doing this by hand, turn the dough out onto a well floured work surface. Knead for 10 minutes with a strong push-turn-fold method or by machine at medium-low speed.
If the dough is elastic or sticky, add sprinkles of flour. After kneading bagel dough should be firm and solid when pinched, so don't worry about putting in too much flour. You might use as much as another ¼ cup over the 3 ½ cups of flour, it all depends on how the dough develops.
Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let it rise at room temperature for 30 minutes, by then it will have doubled in volume.
While it the dough is rising, put the 3 quarts of water in a large pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the sugar and turn the water down to medium high. This should give you water that is just simmering.
Prepare your toppings and your baking sheet.
Shaping:
When the dough is risen, turn it out onto a well floured work surface. Punch it down without your finger tips. Divide the dough into 10 pieces, if you like to weigh them like I do, they should be between 3 and 4 ounces each. Shape each into a ball and cover with a tea towel to rest for two minutes.
There is a method that professional bagel bakers use to make form them into the torus shape. I suck at this method and it is hard to describe in print, so I am not even going to talk about it. The way to go with this is to flatten each ball between your palms. Then use your thumb to press a deep depression in the dough. Use your fingers to tear open a hole in the dough. Work the hole until it is about two inches across (I had not made bagels in a while and forgot this part, when my batch was done there were no holes in the bagels!). Smooth the edges so it looks like a skinny bagel with a big hole. If the dough is wet or sticky on the bottom, just rub it in the flour on the work surface.
Line up your bagels on the work surface and cover with a tea towel to rise for ten minutes. The idea here is to "half-proof" the dough, so they will sink when you boil them. Nearly everyone's first batch will not sink, they will be too proofed. Don't sweat it, it will not affect the final result in any way that you will be able to discern.
At this point pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees and set the a rack in the middle of the oven.
Boiling:
In batches of two carefully slip your bagels into the hot water. If they do sink, wait until they surface then cook for one minute. Turn over and cook for one minute on the other side.
Remove to the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the rest of the batch. The boiling in sugar water will give your bagels a nice shiny skin; this will come out even more when baked.
Now it is time to dress your bagels up! You can just brush them with the egg-wash if you like plain bagels, but I always make some kind of flavored bagel. Just brush the tops lightly with the egg-wash and sprinkle your topping on.
Baking:
When all the bagels are egg-washed and topped, slip them into the hot oven. Bake for 15 minutes then pull them out and using a spatula flip them over. This will give the bagels a more flattened appearance and brown the bottoms as well. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until brown and shiny.
Move the hot bagels to wire rack to cool. The toppings may look like they are burnt, but trust me they are not. These bagels are fast and easy and are a great way to give your family (or yourself) a breakfast treat on the spur of the moment.
"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"
Don't forget to bring us some tomorrow!!!
Posted by: mary | 09 April 2010 at 06:09 PM