March 16, 2008 - 9:39am
BBA Bagel Recipe Question
I made bagels following the recipe from the BBA and they came out pretty good but I have a question. I dont know if anybody here has used this recipe before but the bagels it produces have a very very light crumb. Althought they are tastey, I feel like bagels should be more dense. These were very chewy but light.
Check out the photos of the crumb and you will see that the inside is almost completely hollow. Do you think I might have done something wrong or has anybody else here experienced this? The only thing I changed from original recipe is the yield; I made a half recipe but I used a scale so im pretty sure my measurements were accurate. what do you guys think?
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i have made these a couple of times and not had that problem. Because flour varies by humidity, you might have needed to add a bit more. Holes like that often comes from a higher hydration. Bagel dough is quite stiff - not like bread dough.
Nancy
Hmmm .... I haven't had one of these for 30 minutes. (I just finished my breakfast of BBA bagels with cream cheese and lox, along side farmer's chop suey. Really.)
Nancy's suggestion is true, but you may have also over-proofed the bagels, which is easy to do. Did you do the "float test" before putting them in the refrigerator overnight? If so, did they float immediately or take a few seconds to rise to the surface of the water?
David
not that hydration is not a good suggestion, however this was a very very dense dry dough. I dont think I could have added more flour if had wanted too; it was not tacky in the least. The proofing seems to me more of the issue here. I did not do the float test regrettably, I just left the formed bagels on the counter for 15 minutes before putting them in the fridge. I'll just have to try the recipe again I guess and be more carerfull next time.