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.