Living as I do in the geographic center of nowhere, and having much free time on my hands, I decided to try my hand at bagel-making.
I used a recipe from The Joy of Jewish Cooking by Gil Marks. I followed the recipe exactly except that I only had quick-rise (bread machine) yeast, no plain “active dry” yeast. I substituted an equal volume.
So, after mixing, kneading, rising, dividing, rising again, shaping, rising again, boiling and baking, my bagels were kind of… eh. Better than what I can get at the Culpeper, VA Safeway, but rather airy and light in texture. They were chewy, but not dense enough. Any idea where I went wrong? Did the yeast screw everything up?
I can’t help much, I’m afraid. I am relatively competent at baking, but my attempts at bagels – and I do love good New York style bagels – have been not so hot. I’ve improved each time I’ve tried, but my latest attempt still only rated an “eh”.
One thing I have discovered that may help you is that there seems to be a lot of variation in bagel recipes. Between the ones in my various cookbooks and ones I’ve found on the web I’ve seen a lot of inconsistency in baking times, boiling times, the amount of yeast to use, etc. I suspect the recipes I’ve run across were arrived at by guesswork by people who aren’t really bagel fans. It may be the case that the recipe you’re using is another such recipe.
Hopefully someone who is a lot more knowledgeable than either of us will show up soon!
My recommendation is to get a copy of “The Best Recipe” (I am referring to the original book, the newer volume may have changed the content and/or the method) by the Staff of Cook’s Illustrated at your library. They have a recipe for bagels in there and if you read the introduction to the recipe you will see that they have tried MANY things in developing their recipe and technique. That should help a lot. Their recipes are very detailed and they don’t leave anything to chance/misinterpretation.
My main problem with their recipe is that it is a lot of work and only makes nine bagels.
Also, one tip I have seen; instead of making a snake and sealing the ends to form the shape, you can make a ball and make a hole in the center. That appears as if it would work better; you don’t have to worry about the seal holding, etc.
Thanks for the tips. I will see if my local library has that book. The problem isn’t with that recipe, it’s with bagels. They’re an asston of work, hardly worth it for most people. Any recipe that seems to indicate otherwise will never approach the “real thing.”
BTW, I’ve tried both snake and poke methods, snake is definitely better, in the sense that it how real bagel guys do it, therefor the end product looks “twisted” more like a real bagel. With the poke method, the hole tends to disappear due to the natural elasticity of the dough+ the final rise.
Thanks for letting me know your experience with the poke method; I will remember that if/when I do try that recipe and definitely use the snake method.
I just wish the recipe I recommended to you would be for a larger number of bagels. If it were for 18 or so, that would be fine. They ARE a lot of work, so I would rather make one large batch than two small batches. And I would be afraid to try doubling that recipe.
Well, in a way 9 is a good number. If the recipe produces yet another “eh”-rated batch, I only have 9 mediocre bagels to get rid of. If it works, it can be doubled (the risk-adverse can make 2 batches side-by-side). Thanks for the tips – unfortunately my local itsybitsy coughpodunkcough library doesn’t have that book, though. The search continues.
Ok, a new day, a new bagel. 15 new bagels. I tried a totally different recipe (from Love and Knishes, a Jewish cookbook from the 50s I inherited from my great-aunt. ) with exponentially better results. Some of the major differences with this recipe: it used all-purpose flour as opposed to bread flour, it contained eggs, and there was only 1 rise (other recipe had 3). These bagels had a smoother exterior, better crust, a natural sheen aside from the egg wash, and a much denser, more bagely interior. Next time I’ll use the dough to make 12 larger bagels, as opposed to the 15 smaller ones I made this time.
If anyone wants to see the recipe, I’d be happy to post it, it isn’t that long. the recipe in the book makes 30, I halved it with no apparent ill effects.
My only question is: These bagels that you’re making at home, are you making them to prove that you can do it, or because they’re better than what you can buy? It would strike me as odd if people who devoted their lives to bagels got upstaged by a bagel newb.
I’d love a bagel recipe, especially if it includes information on how to tweak the recipe to make flavoured bagels (esp blueberry ones). Hubby loves bagels, but they’re incredibly hard to find down here in Adelaide. And blueberry bagels are even rarer than that, so you can imagine how grumpy he gets when he wants a bagel.
I find that if I let the bagels rise again too long they come out more bready than bagely. They’re also more fragile during the boiling step. Now I limit the rise time after shaping to about 10 minutes , so they’re just starting to puff up, and then plop them in boiling water 30 seconds to a side.
I also use rapid rise yeast. Bagels freeze well, so I double the recipe, and make 20 at a time.
I lived in Berlin years ago and there were no bagels (I believe you can buy them now) and thought I would make some from scratch.
Read my Joy Of Cooking book.
Sometimes you look at a recipe and say, “na…too much work.” That was my reaction.
(I made a pumpkin pie, from scratch, using a real pumpkin and a recipe from Joy Of Cooking…tasted great byt I will NEVER go through that again!)
BTW, isn’t a major requirement of bagel making the humidity factor on the day you bake it? Someone once told me that is why bagels just don’t taste the same here in the Southwest, as compared to the East Coast…but that might be a story the NYer’s like to tell.
squink, how long do you let the dough rise after the first knead? Do you use a bread machine? how dry or wet is your dough (just an indicator is fine). thanks
About an hour, or until it roughly doubles in volume. Again, I use rapid rise yeast, so your time may vary. You want a fairly dry dough, so that when you roll it out into snakes it doesn’t stick to the non-floured counter. I have to paint the ends with water to get them to join up into a stable torus.
I have to drive an hour or so to my nearest bagels, in a direction I am almost never going for any other reason. So, I make my own bagels because I can’t get them near me.
But the recipe:
I’ve made this recipe a few times and had decent results. As mentioned, the base recipe is from the cookbook: “Love & Knishes” by Sara Kasdan which is a Jewish cookbook that has been around since at least the mid-50s and is still in print. However I have written it up with my modifications and comments. BTW, I have halved this recipe with comparable results, but I’ve never tried duobling it.
ok here goes.
For approx 2 doz bagels:
8 cups flour (white, all-purpose)
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 cakes fresh yeast (I have used traditional yeast packets – not bread machine or “instant” – when I’ve made this recipe. It’s possible better results are obtained with cake yeast)
2 cups lukewarm potato water (water in which peeled potatoes have been boiled)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs slightly beaten
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 quarts boiling water
poppy seed, sesame seed or other topping of your choice
Sift first 3 ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Soften yeast in one third of potato water. Add to the flour. Add oil to the remaining potato water and stir into the flour mixture. Add eggs and stir broskly to form a ball of dough.
Knead on a lightly floured board for 10 minutes. This must be a firm dough; add more flour if necessary. Return to the bowl, smooth side up. Cover with a clean towel and let rise at room temperature until the dough rises to the top of the bowl (My house is cold; I force the rise in a turned-off but slightly warm oven). Knead again on a lightly floured board until smooth and elastic. Use a knife to slice off pieces of dough and roll between palms to form ropes about 6 inches in length and 3/4 inch wide. Pinch the ends together firmly to make a doughnut shape. It is difficult to get a good seal - try dampening the joined ends and sort of twisting and pressing them together.
Preheat oven to 450. Boil the water. Add the 2nd 2 TBSP sugar to boiling water. Drop bagels into the water one at a time (You can have more than 1 in the water at once as long as they aren’t crowded. 3 works well for my stock pot) They should sink and then rise to the surface. Boil 3 minutes then turn and boil the second side 2 minutes more. Remove from water and place on a rack to drain.
Mix 1 beaten egg with a little water to make an egg wash. Brush the wash over the boiled bagels with a pastry brush and, if desired, sprinkle toppings on them.
Grease a cookie sheet or lightly spread cornmeal on a non-stick cookie sheat. Place bagels on sheet a couple inches apart and bake until golden browned, 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack. do not put them in a bag or container until they are totally cool – otherwise they get steamy & slimy. For long-term storage, slice when fresh and freeze in ziploc bags.
I’ve also fooled around with “whole grain” bagels, using part white flour, part whole wheat, part rye, and part buckwheat flour. Sadly, the buckwheat flour (which is extremely “soft” which means low in protein, I think) had a negative impact on the “crisp chewiness” of the results but other than that, it worked fine. I used flax seeds for my “whole grain” bagel topping.
Arge, I just remembered a few things. I believe the “Potato water” is an incredibly important ingredient in making bagels be bagels bagels and not round bread. I’d just a small amount of potato starch – but I couldn’t begin to guess the correct amount as measured in dry potato starch. I boil a couple small red potaoes in 2 cups water, or maybe 2/3 a large Idaho.
Also, something that’s supposed to be beneficial is if you use a couple tablespoons of malt syrup instead of sugar the sugar for the boiling water. I have never tried that as I have never been able to find malt syrup (not the flavor syrup for milk, maybe “malt extract” is a better term?).
I did some experimenting this weekend. Managed to get passable bagels pretty easily. I didn’t even find boiling the bagels before baking to be much of an extra hassle.
Please note: despite what Better Homes and Gardens may say, do not follow their broil, boil and bake method. This does not create a uber bagel
When using a bread machine, pull the dough out after it’s mixed (but before rising). I did the ball of dough, then poke thumb through to make a round bagel shape, then let rise. A hole of about 1 inch (rather than the two recommended) worked best. [this method both looked and tasted better than letting the dough rise in the bread machine, then form the bagel].
All recipes indicate that potato water is the secret sauce. I’ll try that next to see if it makes a difference.
I’ll start a bread machine recipe thread in a couple of weeks and include the rest of my findings.
Ooh, thanks for posting the recipe; I love bagels & have them relatively nearby but love experimenting with bread-type things. I’m going to have to give these a try! The local bagels are ok but I haven’t had the real thing since I moved to Indiana 20 years ago!
If it works, it can be doubled (the risk-adverse can make 2 batches side-by-side). Thanks for the tips – unfortunately my local itsybitsy coughpodunkcough library doesn’t have that book, though. 
The search continues.