I've been lurking on this great site for some time. Many of the posts have come in very handy but I'm not able to find anything on this particular issue I'm having.
Has anyone ever had issues with bagels sweating? When I do an "everything" bagel the top of the bagel sweats and gets moist. I wait for the bagels to be totally cool before putting them into bags but still have the issue. The strange thing is - it doesn't happen to all the toppings or plain bagels. What could be causing this? I thought it might be the salt pulling moisture out of the bagel but it also happens when I put sugar and cinnamon on the top.
Any ideas how to prevent this?
Salt and sugar are hydrophilic. They draw water from the air and from any other available source. That's why they are used to cure meat; they draw the water from the meat, making it inhospitable to bacteria.
I don't know if cinnamon contributes to the issue.
I quickly stopped using sugars (malt, molasses, honey, etc.) in the boil because of this; they left the surface sticky/moist. I now use lye (at 0.5%) in the boil and top only with the common dry seeds, sesame and poppy.
gary
Lye bagels rule. I use a .15% solution and am loving the results.
What differences do you see with using the lye? How does it change the bagel from just using water? I've never used it before......I've been hesitant due to all the warnings I've seen about using it.
Changes the crust like nothing else. Treat it as you would bleach and you're fine. Keep the bottle stored somewhere out of reach and it's plenty safe.
First, safety. Lye is extremely caustic, but you're not using it in a saturated solution. At less than 3% (the solution used for pretzels), reasonable care, as MichaelLily mentioned, is sufficient. At 1% and less, it feels soapy, but I'd want to rinse fairly soon after exposure. Always use eye protection against splashing.
In my experience, plain water makes good bagels, so don't obsess on it. The crust will be somewhat thicker than with a lye or sugar boil. I've already mentioned my objection to using sugars. I will say the sugars give a better color (subjective) to the crust than plain water; a thinner crust, too. Lye gives a paper thin, crispy crust, with a beautiful color and a slightly salty flavor. Too much lye will cause a more pretzel-ly flavor. I like only a hint, so I use a weak lye solution.
cheers,
gary
i read somewhere that baking soda could be used in place of lye in the water bath when making bagels. is this true?
thanks, claudia
But why would you? Sodium bicarbonate is a weak alkali. You would need a potload to be effective, or heat it enough to drive off the second carbonate, making it sodium carbonate, aka washing powder.
Some use soda for treating pretzels. You need to use enough to saturate the solution. If that's what you have, OK. For bagels, dissolve enough in your water for it to feel soapy.
Lye works better for either pretzels or bagels. Used with good sense, there is no more danger than using bleach or ammonia or any other of a number of household products.
cheers,
gary