Bagels, the opposite of baguettes!
I had some Sir Lancelot flour to use up, and have spent hours, if not days, deciding how to make bagels. I ended up following the recipe in Hamelman as closely as I could. when I was at KA earlier this week, they told me to buy non-diastatic malt powder for bagels, so that's all I had.
I also didn't have quite enough Sir Lancelot, so about 1/4 of the flour was KA Bread flour (blue bag). The ingredients were mixed In my DLX for 3 minutes, then I kneaded by hand on the board for 10 minutes. The bulk ferment was one hour. I tried shaping both ways, and got better at the rope method after the first few, but the poke method produced better, more uniform results. I retarded overnight on oiled parchment paper. For boiling I put 2 Tbl non-diastatic malt powder in a gallon of water, and boiled for 30 seconds, then flipped for another 30 seconds boil. I'm happy with the chewiness, so I'll keep this boiling time. I baked on cookie sheets with oiled parchment paper for 16 minutes at 500F. I rotated the pans at 8 minutes.
Compared to the wet doughs I usually use, this was quite a change! I'm happy with the results, and will get another bag of Sir Lancelot when I'm back in Norwich in three weeks.
Comments
I am not big on bagels but those look gorgeous! Good job!
I turned out to be relatively easy, so I encourage you to try baking bagels if you enjoy them, as I do.
Dave
Bagels of this quality is rare where I live.
Even with the extra cost of special flour, these bagels cost less than the mediocre ones available near me. As I said above, compared to a lot of the breads we do routinely on TFL, these bagels are pretty easy to make at home. I only used my mixer for the initial mix, and kneaded by hand afterwards anyway, so this could all be done with no mixer. The timings of each step are also short and flexible.
Great job on those bagels!
I ask you to check out my no-knead version here:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/44983/ts-sriracha-bagels
I do the boil about 30 seconds per side, but find I need to increase time a bit as I lose heat from each addition of the next bagel. The secret is allowing them to proof just enough. If'n the sink and don't pop up right away, they should proof a bit longer.
Norwich, huh? Small world. I live in Stafford Ct. up north in Tolland county. Happy Baking and happy new year!
Interesting recipe. I was referring to Norwich, Vermont, the home of King Arthur, which I often pass by on my travels in northern New England.
Happy New Year,
Dave