Bagel Recipe

 Today I plan on making bagels. I believe I said I would share with you all the recipe so here it is...

Dough
1 tablespoon instant yeast
4 cups unbleached bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon non-diastatic malt powder, brown sugar, or barley malt syrup (I just use brown sugar)
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Water bath
2 quarts water
2 tablespoons non-diastatic malt powder, brown sugar, or barley malt syrup (again, I just use brown sugar)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar


Combine all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and knead vigorously, by hand for 10 to 15 minutes, or by machine on medium-low speed for about 10 minutes. Since you're using a high-protein bread flour, it takes a bit more effort and time to develop the gluten. The dough will be quite stiff; if you're using an electric mixer it will "thwap" the sides of th bowl and hold its shape (without spreading at all) when you stop the mixer. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and set it aside to rise until noticeably puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Transfer the dough to a work surface and divide it into eight pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll it into a smooth, round ball. Cover the balls with plastic wrap and let them rest for 30 minutes. They'll puff up very slightly.

While dough is resting, prepare the water bath by heating the water and sugars, to a very gentle boil in a large, wide-diameter pan. Preheat oven to 425.

Use a bagel cutter, or your index finger to poke a hole through the center of each ball, then twirl the dough on your finger to stretch the hole until it's about 2 inches in diameter (the entire bagel will be about 4 inches across). Place each bagel on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Transfer the bagels, four at a time if possible, to the simmering water. Increase the heat under the pan to bring water back up to a gently simmering bowling, if necessary. Cook the bagels for 2 minutes, gently  flip them over, and cook 1 minute more. Using a skimmer or a strainer, remove the bagels  from the water and place them back on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining bagels.

Bake the bagels for 20-25 minutes, until they're as deep a brown as you like, turning them over after about 15 minutes, which will help them remain tall and round. Remove the bagels from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.


Onion bagels: Bake bagels for 20-22 minutes (or until they're almost as brown as you like) and remove the pan from the oven, keeping the oven turned on. Working with one bagel at a time, glaze (1 egg white beaten until frothy with 1 tablespoon of water) and then sprinkle with minced, dried onion. Return the bagels to the oven to the oven for no more than 2 minutes. <--- That's what the recipe says but I usually roll the dough (before I let the balls of dough rest for 30 minutes) in onion salt. They do end up tasting kind of salty if you eat your bagels plain, but they taste fine with cream cheese.

Cinnamon-raisin bagels: Before letting the balls of dough rest for 30 minutes, roll one ball at a time in cinnamon-sugar and raisins until you reach your desired amount. Some of the raisins do fall out while they get boiled.

Blueberry bagels: Before letting the balls of dough rest for 30 minutes, roll one ball at a time in frozen blueberries. This gets tricky as the blue berries melt and some of them will fall out as you boil them. I recommend boiling these bagels last because the blueberries turn the water blue.



My friend, Nina, gave me a duct tape bowtie to put in my hair. It's really cute!

Bowties are cool.