Let’s Bake Bagels
Let’s Make Bagels
They say the best bagels come from New York City. While I do love NYC bagels, I have to say the best bagels come from my oven. Yes, I am confident that when you make bagels at home, you will be blown away by the flavor and texture over store bought bagels. Now am I saying not to go to your favorite local bagel shop or cancel that trip to Manhattan you were planning to sample all the bagels? No way. I still think that commercial bagels are some of my favorite baked items to get when I’m out. I just think you should try homemade ones too. They are easy to make and if you time it right can be coming out of the oven as you are ready to have breakfast or brunch. Get that cream cheese and lox ready!
Fresh baked bagels in your home are something special.
It’s an easy one to make. Just take your time.
What are the basic ingredients?
Chef Tom Bagels
bread flour 95% 475g
whole wheat flour 5% 25g
Water 60% 300g
kosher salt 2% 10g
instant yeast 2% 10g
Honey for poaching liquid 10g
½ sheet pan
Bench scraper
Stainless steel bowl for mixing
Wide diameter pot
Slotted spoon
Straight dough method
This dough will work fine with standard grocery store bread flour. But I will say that using high gluten flour will enhance the chewiness of the bagel.
You can also enhance your bread flour’s strength by adding about 5 grams or 1% vital wheat gluten. (I’ll have a post on vital wheat gluten soon) What the VWG does is make your gluten in your bread flour just a bit stronger. It’s like gluten helper.
You’ll find that this dough comes together pretty quickly. It may take a bit of mixing but it doesn not need to be smooth. Start with combining all the ingredients in a bowl. I use a rubber spatula and then change to a flexible bench scraper or just my hands. You can mix this dough in a mixer but I prefer doing it by hand. (in a mixer, you’ll mix for 4 minutes on slow and 4 minutes on fast)
If you are mixing by hand, you’ll get a sort of shaggy dough in the first minute or two. Try to round it a bit and then give it an hours rest. I just cover it with a towel and walk away. I know you are thinking that there needs to be more than that. But during that time is when the hydration happens. Just let it do its thing. The dough does not need you to watch it.
After an hour of hydration rest, you can give it a stretch and fold. Wet your hands and pull the dough out of the bowl with a flexible bench scraper. You can do the stretch and fold in the bowl but I find it’s easier to do it on the bench. The dough will become easier to stretch but it will be relatively dry compared to other doughs. Fold it in thirds and then stretch it out again and fold it in thirds for a second time. Then return the dough to the bowl. I like to give 3-4 stretches over about 90 minutes to 2 hours with 20 minute rests between them. Then you are done mixing.
Scale the bagels to 100-125g each. I last did 125g bagels and they were pretty big. I got 6 out of this batch. Round each dough ball roughly. They don’t have to be perfect. Cover and let them rest for 5-10 minutes. Then come back and round them for final shaping. Flatten one of the balls out to a small circle about ¼ inch thick. Then start to roll the dough up on itself, tightening as you go. You should have about a 6 inch cylinder when you get it rolled up. Set this aside and repeat the process with the other dough pieces. Come back to the first one again and stretch it out to about 12-14 inches. Make a ring out of the cylinder by overlapping by two inches. Place your hand inside the ring and join the two ends together by rolling the joined portion on the bench with the heel of your hand, back and forth. You should have a bagel with the two ends joining; overlapping by 2 inches. The hole should be about 2-3 inches in diameter. This may seem like a very large opening, however during proofing, poaching and baking, the hole will get smaller.
“It’s at this point that many students may say, couldn’t we just poke a hole in the center and be done with it? You could but it would not be very authentic. And I think the look is not as nice when you do it that way. The shape is thrown off. This goes way back in Polish Jewish tradition. They were originally made to honor the king of Poland, King John Sobieski. He was a noted horseman and the bagel was made to represent a stirrup. Try it both ways and see which one you prefer. I’m just old school. ”
Place the bagels on a prepared baking sheet. I like using a heavy duty pan with a Sil-Pat. You can also use a pan sprayed piece of parchment in place of the Sil-Pat. Give the bagels room to proof as they will be in your refrigerator overnight. Spray some plastic and cover the bagels. Let them proof from 8-24 hours in the refrigerator.
Fill the wide diameter pan with water and 10g of honey. I use between 1-1½ gallons of water.
Do not get the pan of bagels out of the refrigerator yet. You want to put them in the poaching liquid cold. Bring the water and honey to a boil. Preheat your oven to 450°F. Gently release the bagels from the Sil-Pat or parchment. Since they are cold from the refrigerator, they should hold their shape. However if they are too soft, return them to the refrigerator to firm up. If you are ready, place 1-2 bagels in the boiling liquid upside down. Let them poach for 30 seconds.
With a slotted spoon or spatula, turn them over after 30 seconds. Let them poach for another 30 seconds. Remove the bagels from the water and place back on the pan. Repeat until all the bagels have been poached. Place whatever toppings you like on the wet bagels. I prefer popply, sesame and everything. Your taste may vary. Place the pan in the oven for 20 minutes. The bagels should get some oven spring and become quite smooth and crisp during baking. Bake them to your desired color. I like mine pretty dark. You can let them cool on a rack or right on the pan.
Get your good cream cheese and smoked fish out for these bagels or make an egg sandwich with one. There are lots of possibilities to use bagels. Try them toasted with peanut butter. It’s salty, creamy and crunchy. Let me know what your favorites are.
Chef Tom
