December 30, 2007 - 11:10am
Retarding bagels
Why do you have to retard the bagels overnight? I don't have room in my fridge to store a tray of bagels.
Steph
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Why do you have to retard the bagels overnight? I don't have room in my fridge to store a tray of bagels.
Steph
The purpose of an overnight stay in the fridge is to further develop the flavor of the bread itself. This process usually replaces the second rising of a day. By slowing down the yeast fermentation you develop more flavor.
Hope this helps.
~Tablebread
http://tablebread.blogspot.com
I thought so since I saw a few recipes on line that didn't call for that. Guess I'll see if I can make room in my fridge. Nothing like flavorful bread....and bagels. Mmm. Suppose since it's 5 p.m. in the Rockies, it won't matter. I can put them together and bake them in the morning then I'll have fresh bagels. Oh, yeahhhh.
So, here's the problem, I made the dough, and kneaded like regular bread. Didn't even follow a recipe per se. It's rising. So what now? When it's done rising, should I treat it as though I followed the rules and just finished kneading it?
Oh, bother. This should prove interesting. Found that kneading tough dough is not conducive to carpal tunnel syndrome. Think I'm in the market for a machine....have a bread machine and mom's mixer (seriously 30+ years old). Do food processors work for kneading?
Thanks.
Steph
Unless your making pie dough you should never put a 'dough' in a food processor!!! As far as not following a recipe with your bagels and then wondering what to do now, well, I guess you should complete the project with the same willie-nillie :) that you began it with. What's the worst that can happen? Hmmm? :)
If you're planning on mixing/kneading bagel dough in a mixer, go for a high powered one. Spend the extra $$$ now so you don't spend them later after you burn out a cheapie motor. Your wallet and your carpal tunnels with thank you.
What can I say? It's an ADD thing. I mis-read things all the time. It's a wonder any of my bread turns out ;-D. FYI, my bagels turned out very tasty, if not pretty. I put Kosher salt and dried onion on top. YUM! We're definitely going to have to bake those again, maybe with garlic or seeds. Maybe sourdough ;-D
As for the food processor question...I've seen some that say they knead. Was just wondering if they really do a good job, as my mom's mixer is really winding down and doesn't do a really good job with bread dough, and my carpal tunnel doesn't do well with kneading really dry dough. Today is a really bad CTS day after kneading yesterday.
Steph
Hi Steph, there are breads you can knead in the food processor - I made a ricotta loaf from Rose Levy Beranbaum which was delicious. BUT, it was a light dough and I have a feeling it wouldn't work so well with a really dry dough. Maybe someone else can chime in with their opinion? Good luck, A.
can be used to knead bread. I have a 12 cup KitchenAid food processor that came with a "dough" blade. When you knead the dough it is done for a very short time, at most 2 minutes. The drawback..3 cups flour is the max. I didn't buy the processor for bread, but I did try it out with sourdough. It works, but I like my mixer for the quantity I can make and for evaluating visually when it is "ready".
So if we are talking about ANY type of food processor than I guess there are some out there that can knead dough (Kitchen Aid as mentioned above) but I would say that the AVERAGE food processor should generally not be able to acheive a 'kneading' capability... IMHO...
Thanks everyone for your input. I'll look at the options and prices. Looking at CR right now. As I bake only for me, a small capacity food processor might work. I'll let you know what I get and how it works.
Thanks again...
Steph
For food processor kneading, check out The Best Bread Ever by Charles Van Over. His kneading times are about 45 seconds. He recommends using the regular blade over the "dough blade" and gives directions for various food processors. He also has plenty of good recipes. I was happy with the breads I made from the book before returning it to the library. I may buy it myself one of these days.
Is it necessary to form your bagels and then retard them overnight or can I just retard the dough and form the bagels just prior to boiling?
I actually retard the dough for six to eight hours then form my bagels and retard them overnight. They sure taste good by doing it this way.....just looking to save some time.
Greg