Overly crisp/hard bagels
I have just discovered how long it’s been since I last logged into this site ... how time flies in pandemics! Glad to be back in touch with the community.
My challenge right now is that I’m trying to make a good nyc-style bagel using Hamelman’s recipe, which I’m following closely (I even made bagel boards), and the crust is not coming out right. I’m using Giusto’s ultimate performer bread flour so not quite high-gluten, but the results have been satisfyingly chewy.
What has me stumped is that the bagels are coming out of the oven with a hard crust, and I can’t identify the cause. My oven is a bit of a nightmare-temp control is meaningless - but I’m using a baking steel + thermometer so I’m not wildly off. I can’t find anything about this on Google.
I also bake maurizio’s amazing seriously soft sourdough pretzels, and recently for the first time in years had these come out with a crispy crust, too. So maybe a connection?
Since travel to New York is out if the question for a while,I would be extremely grateful for help! Photo here is from my first try - second was a bit darker.
Gas oven?
Hi Dave! It also vents pretty fast, but the bagel boards stay moist. I also boil the bagels for about 45 seconds
As I say, input + process = output. So if the output has changed, then one or more of the inputs, and/or one or more of the processes must have changed.
As Sherlock Holmes said, once you rule out the impossible, then at least one of whatever remains, no matter how improbable, is the answer.
Some off the wall possibilities:
Oven is a pain but no worse than usual. Water hasn’t changed either. But then, I’ve only done these 2x and both times had the same issue. I’ll see if baking for less time does the trick and perhaps take them off the bagel boards sooner. Could steam be the culprit?
Try reducing your baking time. Also, there is no need to add steam which probably is contributing as well to the hard crust.
deleted comment - bad information. i'm learning!
I had this issue when I was using flour made from wheat berries with a low (~11%) gluten content mistakenly. This could also be due to under-proofing in my experience (not enough steam can make it out to soften the crust). Do you happen to have a picture of the crumb from these bagels?