Description
A fantastic bagel that will take you back to New York, whether you’ve ever been there or not.
Ingredients
- 440 grams bread flour (about 3 1/2 cups)
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 1/4 cup warm water (b/w 105°- 109°F
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 tablespoon oil for bowl
- Toppings such as Everything Seasoning, Dried Onion, Sesame Seeds
Instructions
- Place 2 teaspoons active dry yeast in the bottom of a medium sized bowl, and add the 1 1/4 cup of warm water and 1 tablespoon of barley malt syrup.
- Mix until combined, and then let sit for 5 minutes for the yeast to feed on the sugars and grow. You will see it reacting.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, or another bowl, if kneading by hand, add the 440 grams bread flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- Mix these together and then pour in the yeast and water mixture. Put the dough hook on the mixer.
- Turn the mixer on low, and let it mix for about 5 minutes. Turn off the mixer, unwrap all the dough from the dough hook, and continue mixing for another 10 minutes on a slightly higher speed, or until the dough looks smooth. I like to remove the dough from the hook a few times during this process. The dough will be cohesive, but a bit sticky.
- On an extremely lightly floured. or unfloured, countertop, knead the dough for about 1 more minute until it is smooth and elastic, and makes a nice looking dough ball.
- Lightly brush a large bowl with the 1/2 tablespoon oil and turn the dough to get it completely coated.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp dish towel. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until the dough has roughly doubled in size. Punch the dough down, and let it rest for another 10 minutes.
- Carefully divide the dough into 8 pieces (I used a scale to be extra precise, but it’s not necessary). My dough weighed 752 grams, so I made 8 balls of dough that were 94g each. Yours should be roughly the same weight.
- Shape each piece into a ball, pinching the bottoms of each piece of dough together. As you form each one, place them under a damp towel so that the outside doesn’t dry out. Then, one by one, take a dough ball and press it gently against the countertop (or whatever work surface you’re using) moving your cupped hand and the ball in a circular motion until the ball looks perfect. Let these balls of dough sit under the damp towel for about five – ten minutes to relax before beginning the next step.
- Preheat the oven to 425°, and place a large pot of water on the stove. When it reaches the boil, add 2 tablespoons of barley malt syrup stir, and lower the water to a slight simmer. Too much water activity will make your bagel ugly.
- To form the bagel itself, coat a finger in flour, and gently press your finger into the center of each dough ball. Stretch the ball with your hands, gently pulling the ring wider and wider, until it’s about ⅓ the diameter of the bagel and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. It will spring back a bit, but that’s ok. Do this to each ball of dough, until all eight bagel rings are laid out. Do not let them touch, or you will have a mess on your hands if you do.
- After shaping the bagels and placing them on the cookie sheet, cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
- Gently pick up and lower, one at a time, each bagel into the water. Simmer as many as you are comfortable with at a time. I do no more than 4 at once. As soon as 30 seconds has passed, use a spatula to flip over each bagel, and let them simmer for 30 more seconds on the other side. Flip them one last time to get the pretty side on the top then remove the bagels with a spatula and place them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, and sprinkle liberally with the seasonings of your choice. How many you can fit on one baking sheet depends upon how brave you are.
- Bake for roughly 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown (I usually check to see that the toppings aren’t burning, and take them out before that happens).
- Cool on a wire rack. The kitchen is going to smell like a bagel shop. Hold out until they have cooled. Then cut one in half, place it in the toaster, and slather it with the toppings of your choice.
- They will last a couple of days in a paper bag, and while they will get harder each day, carefully cutting them and toasting them will leave you with a bagel just like the ones you dreamed of ever since moving away from wherever you used to get them.
- Prep Time: 2 hrs. (Incl. 1 hr rise time)
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
Keywords: Bagel, Bread