So I woke up and had a powerful hankering for an everything bagel. There’s a great little bagel shop in town, but it’s 1) expensive, and 2) 20 minutes away. Screw that. So I started to get the oatmeal off the shelf. Bleh.
Wait a second. I have bread flour. I have minced garlic and minced onion, sea salt, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds. Why don’t I just do it myself?
A quick Google gave me this recipe. I set about it, a bit nervous, because I thought I’d screw it up somehow.
Wow, it was easy. It took about an hour to punch up the dough, let it rest, form it, let it rest again, then boil, top, and bake.
And BAM, homemade bagels! I need to fine tune, because they’re not as golden as I wanted them, but rest assured, they are perfectly done, and they are awesome.
You’ve inspired me to try making bagels next weekend. I’m partial to the Montreal-style bagels, so I’m going to use this recipe. I’ve never made bread of any kind before, so this will be a challenge!
Yours look pretty tasty - are you going to try making other flavors?
Huh. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Montreal bagels, but yeah, now I’m gonna try them.
The recipe was really dead easy and seemed almost foolproof. By far the hardest part was spending 10 minutes kneading the dough. I’m not used to it, and my hands are still a bit sore. I used a pizza cutter to cut the dough into roughly equal-sized chunks, which I then rolled up for about 15 seconds and then let them rest.
Remarkably smooth and easy process, really. The bagels came out perfectly chewy, with that lovely crust on the outside. I’m sold.
I’ve got my 8 balls right now, resting. I don’t know if they’re going to work. I’m having issues with my yeast and I don’t know why. It’s only about a month old and I just used it last week. It didn’t seem to want to activate, most of it just sank. Usually it gets all foamy and pretty. But, I decided to just go with it. I hope they don’t suck because of the yeast.
Oh my god those are good. I’m not a bagel snob by any stretch of the imagination but I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go to Dunkin Donuts for a bagel again.
Awesome! I’m glad you got motivated and jumped on it. They’re great, aren’t they? They have that fresh yeastiness to them. I made another batch this morning (and had some yeast problems as well. Fleischman’s must be having some QA issues.)
The bagels look yummy! The counter top and plate in the picture looks EXACTLY like my counter tops and dishes at home…did you break into my house and make bagels?!?
Not that that’s something I would complain about…mmmmmm bagels
If you search my user name you’ll find my tried & true bagel recipe I posted a couple years back. I tried a couple of recipes before finding one that I found adequate. The key ingredient is “potato water” – water in which potatoes have been boiled. It’s the potato starch that adds the necessary and unique chewiness, and supports the right level of crustiness. Or if you happen to have potato starch, add a teaspoon. I had better results with all purpose flour, and you have to put sugar in the boiling water (some would say malt syrup – I’m not THAT dedicated).
I am VERY particular about my bagels – I wouldn’t dream of eating the round bread sold by Dunkin Donuts. Virtually all mass produced bagels are steamed, which produces an inferior product. Just by boiling, you’re going to be miles ahead of supermarket bagels.
BTW - in a post script to the previous thread, I made a couple dozen bagels for a Christmas gift for the born-in-Brooklyn owner of the barn where I was then working. He was thrilled!
Thanks! I’ll give this a shot (especially with activating the yeast beforehand). I think I’ll skip the egg wash, though. I don’t like egg-glazed breads. I find them aesthetically unappealing, and there always seems to be an unwelcome sort of funkiness about them.
I don’t know much about bagels, but I do know that yeast is very touchy about freshness - it doesn’t keep on the shelf. Basically buy it the day you plan to use it, is what I’ve been taught.
