The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Tried retarding shaped bagels for 36-40 hours. They deflated as soon as I touched them.

icantbakeatall's picture
icantbakeatall

Tried retarding shaped bagels for 36-40 hours. They deflated as soon as I touched them.

So I never cold retard my bagels. I tried it for the first time. Meant to do it for 24 hours but it was more like 40 hours. As soon as I picked them up to boil them, they just deflated. They werent totally flat or anything but they werent as nicely shaped as when I dont do a cold retard. So did I let them retard too long or is there something else I did wrong? I let them boil for 1-2 minutes on each side (probably about 2 because I have heard it helps make them chewier which I like). Thanks!

BaniJP's picture
BaniJP

Yeah, sounds like overproofed to me. The bagels are still rising in the fridge, but at a much slower pace. Depending on the amount of yeast, cold proofs are usually between 12-24 h. It's much more for flavor rather than building gases (although that also happens).

I also think 2 min. on each side is a bit much. The point of boiling is that you set the outside layer and gelatinize the remaining starches so they don't expand much in the oven and stay dense and chewy. 30 sek.-1 min. should be enough.