Well, no longer.
Bagels are NOT hard, you just need to plan ahead. This is the deal with bagels:
1. You start with a sponge and let it sit for 1-2 hours to ferment. If you leave your sponge longer your bagels will be more airy and less dense - I think it's a matter of preference.
2. You mix your starter with the remaining ingredients and knead for 7 minutes. The dough should be very firm. It will not be sticky, nor will the dough be warm or cold.
3. Shape the dough into balls and allow to rest for 20 minutes, covered with a wet towel. This allows the gluten to relax.
4. After the 20 minutes, shape the dough by poking a hole through the middle of the ball with your thumb, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet & spray with "Pam". Spray the bagels with Pam and cover with plastic wrap, making sure that the bagels have room to rise and that they're fully covered.
5. After 20 min. "water test" the bagels. Fill a bowl with cold water and drop in one of the bagels. If it floats, they're ready to refrigerate. Place in the refrigerator for 8 hours and up to 2 days. This is called "retarding" the dough.
6. Retarding the dough is important. The cold causes the dough to rise very slowly which gives you the dense texture of a bagel. After the 8 hours, the bagels are ready to be cooked and baked.
7. Did you know that bagels are boiled? Fill a large pan with hot water and bring to a boil. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Once the water is boiling, add 1 Tbl. of baking soda. Place bagels in the pot, making sure they have room to move around. Don't overcrowd. Boil bagels 1-2 minutes on each side. The longer you boil, the chewier the crust will be. Place boiled bagels on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes, turn your tray and bake an additional 4-5 minutes. Bagels should be nice golden brown. If you want to top your bagels, sprinkle them with topping after removing from water and before baking. Remove bagels to cooling racks and cool completely. Store in zip-lock bags.
Extra bagels can be frozen for later use. If you don't want to cook and bake all your bagels at once, you can have fresh bagels over several days and bake what you need. One batch of dough makes about 24 medium bagels. If you're not in the mood for A LOT of bagels, I'd cut the recipe in half.
These are variations I made (if you're adding seasoning & ingredients to the dough, add it to the sponge before adding the additional flour):
- White, Chopped green chiles and Parmesan Cheese, topped with grated Parmesan
- White, topped with grated Parmesan and Sesame seeds
- Wheat (2 C. wheat flour instead of white), topped with Cinnamon Sugar
- White, topped with Parmesan cheese and Roasted Chile & Garlic seasoning
- White, Craisins & Pine nuts, topped with white sugar
- White, chopped fresh pepper, Parmesan cheese & Chipotle seasoning, Parmesan on top
- Wheat, added cinnamon, rolled the boiled bagel in cinnamon sugar after boiling *
*This made a GREAT bagel with crunchy cinnamon sugar crust all over, but you need to bake it on a baking sheet that has sides as the sugar turns to syrup. BIG mess in the oven - not good!
I know that this sounds like a lot of work, but if you break it down, you'll find that bagels are VERY user friendly. The 1-2 hour rise time for the sponge gives you a lot of time to do other things. Mixing the initial sponge takes less than 5 minutes. Mixing the dough takes less than 5 minutes, and 7 minutes kneading time. 5 minutes for shaping into balls and 20 minutes of resting time that you can be doing something else. Poke the holes, another 5 minutes and you're off the hook again for about 20 minutes. Then they "retard". You don't have to worry about anything till tomorrow. It takes about 25-40 minutes to boil 24 bagels, depending on how long you boil and 10-15 minutes baking time. Not too bad.
Give them a try, you won't be sorry. Let me know how you do, I'd love to hear.
Here's the recipe:
Sponge:
4 C. unbleached, bread or all purpose flour
1 tsp. instant or quick-rise yeast
2 1/2 C. lukewarm water
Mix all together in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest 1-2 hours.
Dough:
1/2 tsp instant or quick-rise yeast
4 C. flour (more or less as needed to make stiff dough)
1-1 1/2 Tbl. salt
2 tsp. honey
Mix all together with sponge and knead with dough hook for 6-7 minutes till dough is very stiff and firm but still pliable, satiny and smooth.
Shaping & Boiling:
Vegetable oil spray
1 Tbl. baking soda (for boiling bagels)
toppings:
sesame seeds, poppy seeds, kosher salt,
finely chopped onions tossed in a little oil, etc.
If you want to see the full article with pictures, go to www.finecooking.com and type Classic Water Bagels in the search bar.
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