Bagels!!!

Hey All.  Right now I am trying to avoid breaking something as the Packers keep scoring on the Steelers.  It has been challenging to be a Vikings fan in Madison these last few weeks leading up to the Super Bowl.  Oh well…maybe next year.  Either way, to distract myself for a bit I thought I should write up another post.  Today’s post is BAGELS!  After the pretzel rolls turned out so well I started to get motivated to make my own bagels.  After stressing out for awhile about trying to reproduce a New York bagel, getting the proper texture, a crunchier crust on the outside with a soft and airy inside, I just decided to make some.  I have to say that they might not have been “New York” bagels but they were pretty darn good.  The bagels were especially tasty right out of the oven with a healthy amount of cream cheese.

This recipe was relatively simple…maybe even easier than the pretzel roll recipe.  However, for my first attempt I went with a recipe that requires some planning because the dough needs to rest for about 12 hours.  Also after some research it seemed that if I wanted to have a more authentic bagel recipe I would need to go find some barley malt syrup (found it at Whole foods).

One tip is that the bagel dough is stiffer than standard bread dough so if you have an electric mixer with a dough hook then you should use that rather than kneading by hand.  But it was well worth the effort and planning…plus fresh bagels was a wonderful way to start a Monday morning.

Bagels

Ingredients:

4 cups bread flour
2 tsps salt
1 tbsp barley malt syrup
1 ½ tsp active dry yeast
1 ¼ cups warm water (about 80 degrees)
3 tbsp cornmeal

Makes 8 bagels

1. In an electric mixer with a dough hook, combine the bread flour, salt and malt syrup.   Add the yeast and water and mix on a low speed until the dough comes together.  Increase the speed and continue to mix until the dough is uniform and smooth.  That will take about 10 minutes.
2. Divide the dough into eight portions.  Roll each portion into a ball and cover with either a towel or plastic wrap to rest for 5 minutes.
3. After resting form each dough ball into a ring by rolling the ball into a long strip.  Once the strip is about 7 inches long (wraps completely around your hand) press the ends together to form a seal.  If the dough starts to dry out as you are handling it just add about a ½ tsp or ¼ tsp of water and knead until the dough is smooth again.
4. Place the dough rings on a cornmeal-dusted baking sheet and cover tightly with plastic wrap before refrigerating overnight (12 hours-18hours).
5. Remove the dough rings from the refrigerator and let rise for 20 minutes before boiling.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
6. Fill a large soup pot with 4 inches of water and add about a tbsp of salt and a tbsp of barley malt syrup.  Bring this mixture to a boil.
7. Drop two or three (depending on the size of your pot) dough rings at a time into the boiling water.  The rings should float, after 20 seconds flip the dough ring over for another 20 seconds.  Remove the rings from the water and place on a wire rack to dry.
8. After a few minutes on the wire rack move the dough rings to a parchment paper covered baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes or until they are a beautiful golden brown and crisp.
9. Enjoy!

So this recipe is for plain bagels but can easily be modified for topped bagels.  If you wanted to jazz up the plain bagel, after the dough rings come out of the boiling water just dip them into any topping before drying.  The plain bagel was delicious but next time I am thinking about topping with either sesame seeds or fresh garlic!  Wow, just thinking about fresh warm bagels is making me hungry again and it is about 8:30pm.  Well, I better go find something else to distract me from the game before I raid my fridge again.  Hope that you give this recipe a try and Happy Eating.