Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Plain Bagel Recipe

Day five of spring break ... already? I really think my break is ending very fast. Tomorrow will be Wednesday, and I have not done anything productive! I did have two failed trails on my pasta and also a batch of failed bagels because I did not use proper techniques. I guess my spring break is currently well spent on experimenting items that take a long time to prepare.

I got the inspiration to make bagels from my friend and co-worker, David, who had the brilliant idea of starting a pizza bagel shop somewhere in Los Angeles or even a food truck. I agree with him. There are no such thing as a place that specifically sells pizza bagels. I decided to find how difficult it is to make your own bagels.

Bagel Dough



Ingredients
430 g Bread flour
225 ml water (100-110F range)
20 g Sugar
15 g Maple agave syrup
10 g Active yeast
7 g Salt

Directions
1. Make sure the water is within 100-110F with a thermometer
2. Mix in the yeast until dissolved
3. In a mixing bowl and electric mixer with dough hook attachment, add in yeast mixture, sugar, syrup, and salt.
4. Begin stirring on medium speed and gradually add in the flour until firm dough is formed (about 8 minutes)
5. Kneed the dough a few times to make sure the dough has a springy consistency (if you push down it should come back up)
6. Put dough back in the mixing bowl and cover with warm, damp paper towel
7. Store in a warm environment for an hour (80-85F, I used my oven for this. Turn on the oven for a short while and wait for the internal temperature to get within that range)
8. Remove dough and roll into a 14 in roll
9. Split roll into 6 or 7 parts with a knife
10. Form bagel from each part
Note: There are different ways to form the bagel. I like to form it by putting my thumb in the middle of one part and my finger on the other side and begin swinging it in circles or punch a whole in the middle.

Cooking/Baking the bagel
1. Prepare a gallon of simmering water with 1/4 cup of honey
2. Poach bagels in the pot and simmer for 1-2 minutes on each side
3. Place poached bagels on parchment paper and a pan.
4. Bake at 450F for 10 minutes on each side

You can also add egg wash and other toppings, such as poppy seeds, sesame seeds, etc.
Here's a picture of the final result:

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