Bagel Time

I started another batch of bagels last night and baked them this morning for breakfast.  This time I made six “everything” bagels and six plain bagels.  I used Jeffery Hamelman’s technique and recipe from his book “Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes”.

The basic ingredients for bagels include high-gluten flour (King Arthur Sir Lancelot), diastatic malt powder, salt, yeast and water.  That’s it.  The rest is technique.

I began by bringing the ingredients together in the mixer.  I mixed for 3 minutes on first speed to incorporate and then another 5 minutes on second speed to develop the dough.

After mixing, I let the dough rest for 1 hour at room temperature.  After resting, I divided the dough into four ounce portions and shaped them into bagels.  I let them rise in the refrigerator overnight.

The next morning I brought a large pot of water to a boil to which 5-6 tablespoons of malt syrup had been added.  I boiled the bagels for one minute on each side and then placed them in an ice bath for 4 - 5 minutes to cool.

Once the bagels had cooled down, I placed them top-side down in a plate of “everything” toppings.

I then baked the bagels at 500 for fifteen minutes on a baking stone.

They turned out great except that I had too much salt in the toppings.  I’ll be cutting the salt in half next time.

For the plain bagels, I simply skipped the toppings step and put them straight into the oven.  They turned out great as always.