Beautiful bagels
Making bagels at home never occurred to me before, until I saw my girlfriend Lisa post her beauties. This is a commercial yeast based recipe, so it’s incredibly easy and doesn’t require the stretching and folding that Sourdough requires. I looked for an overnight cold proof recipe, as I wanted to do the mixing the night before and the baking the next day.
For mixing the dough, I highly recommend a stand mixer and dough hook. Bread flour also gives a more authentic bagel chew. It’s about 2 hours prep before you can put them into the refridgerator overnight, but don’t have to be me and make these at 9pm at night. Feel free to prepare earlier and leave them in the fridge longer.
Ingredients
1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons, 7g) instant yeast
2 cups (16 oz, 480 ml) warm water (about 100°F)
5 cups (25 oz, 700g) bread flour, divided
2 tablespoons (1.5 oz, 42g) barley malt syrup or 1 TB molasses
1 tablespoon table salt
1/4 cup (2 oz, 56g) granulated sugar (for boiling)
2 teaspoons baking soda (for boiling)
1 egg white, whisked lightly
Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, caraway seeds or kosher/coarse sea salt for topping (optional)j; Everything Bagel recipe below
Everything Bagel seasoning (mix all the ingredients together, and store in a sealed container until ready to use)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
1.5 tablespoons dried minced onions
1.5 tablespoons dried minced garlic
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt , use less if you use fine ground salt
INSTRUCTIONS
In a bowl for a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl combine the water, yeast and 3 cups of the flour . Mix to form a thick batter. Cover the bowl and set aside for 30-60 minutes.
Add the barley malt syrup or molasses and salt. If using a stand mixer, switch to the dough hook. Add flour and mix to combine. Knead 5 minutes on medium/low speed. If working by hand, stir in as much of the flour as you can, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in the remaining flour. Knead 5 minutes. Form the dough into a smooth ball.
Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat the dough. Cover the bowl and set aside to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper then sprinkle the paper with flour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly. Divide the dough into 12 even pieces. This step is important, don’t worry about them being exactly even, as you don’t want to be adding to the dough as it won’t roll as smooth. Use a cupped hand to roll each piece into a smooth ball, sometimes a little water on the counter surface helps make it tacky. Try to make them as smooth as possible. This ensures a prettier bagel in the end.
To form a bagel, poke your finger all the way through the center of a ball to make a hole. Use two fingers to gently widen the hole. Continue gently stretching to form the bagel or twirl the dough around your fingers to widen the center hole. The hole should be 1 - 1.5" wide.
Place the bagel on the prepared sheet pan and continue to form the remaining bagels. The dough will probably spring back a bit so you can go back and re-stretch them once you're done forming all the bagels. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 15 minutes then place the pan in the refrigerator overnight.
In the morning, take the pan out of the refrigerator and unwrap it. Preheat the oven to 450°F. In a large pot combine 1 gallon of water with the sugar and baking soda and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to keep the water at a rolling simmer. Set a cooking rack over a clean sheet pan and place it next to the stove.
Lift a bagel off the sheet pan, holding it by the center hole so it stretches a bit as it goes into the water. Boil the bagels for 30 seconds on each side. Depending on the size of your pot, you can boil 3-4 bagels at a time. As you remove the boiled bagels from the water, set them on the cooling rack to drain.
Line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Place 6 of the boiled bagels on each sheet pan. You could fit them all on one pan but they may rise enough to stick together as they bake. I like all the sides to be crusty so I leave plenty of room between them.
Brush them with the foamy egg white, then top with your seasonings. I did a combination of poppy seed, plain, everything bagel, and sesame.
Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let them cool 15 minutes. You can serve these fresh or halve and toast.
Original bagel recipe from baking-sense.com
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