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Preparing time: 3 hours; overnight
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Boil time: 15 min Bake time: 20 min
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Ingredients
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Method
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Sponge
5 g fresh yeast (1/2 tsp instant yeast)
255 g bread flour
283 g water (incl. 2 tbls of water for dissolving the yeast)
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In a small bowl dissolve the yeast in 2 tbls of water.
Pour the flour, yeast and water in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth and very sticky batter forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for about 2 hours or until the batter becomes foamy and bubbly. It should double in size.
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Dough
3 g fresh yeast (0.75 tsp instant yeast)
241 g bread flour
10g salt
1tsp malt barley syrup
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In the same mixing bowl add the yeast to the sponge and stir. Then add 180 g of the flour, the salt and malt barley syrup. Mix by hand or on low speed in a stand mixer for about 3 minutes and then slowly add the rest of the flour to stiffen the dough. The dough should form the ball.
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Transfer the dough on the worktop and knead for about 10 minutes until it becomes pliable and smooth. |
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Divide the dough into pieces, each piece of approx. 65g and form them into balls. This recipe makes 12-13 bagels.
Cover the balls with the kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 20 minutes.
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Prepare 12 squares from the baking paper and cover thinly with oil.
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Shape the bagels. Poke a hole through the centre of the ball. Hold the dough with fingers in the hole and gently rotate the dough stretching to widen the hole to 4 cm in diameter.
The dough should be evenly stretched to form a perfect bagel. |
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Place each bagel on each baking paper square. Place all formed bagels on the baking pans, cover with plastic wrap and pop in the fridge. Chill overnight.
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1 tbls baking soda
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Bring a large pot of water to boil, add baking soda. Line baking sheets with the baking paper, oil it lightly and sprinkle with corn flour.
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Bring a large pot of water to boil, add baking soda. Line baking sheets with the baking paper, oil it lightly and sprinkle with corn flour.
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A glass bowl with cold water
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Remove the bagels from the fridge and make a float test. Place one bagel into the water and if it floats within 10 seconds, the bagels are ready. Transfer the test bagel to the sheet, pat dry, cover the sheet and return the sheet to the fridge until the water boils.
* If the bagel does not float, pat it dry and let the bagels rise at room temperature. Test the tester bagel every 20 minutes until it floats. Then you can boil and bake according to the recipe.
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Preheat the oven to 260ºC if your oven riches that high temperature; if not, preheat to the max. temperature;
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Remove the bagels from the fridge and drop them into the water. The baking sheet square allows you dropping each bagel directly into the water and keeping the shape of each bagel.
Boil as many as fit the pot for 30 second per side. They will rise and cover with wrinkles but they are still fine.
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Take each bagel from the water and transfer on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds to your liking immediately while the bagel is still wet. Don’t crowd bagels on one sheet but place them comfortably.
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Bake them approx. 20 minutes or until golden brown on the centre rack. Rotate the baking sheet 180 degrees after 10 minutes to bake the bagels evenly.
Remove the bagels from the oven and let them cool on a rack for about 15 minutes.
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*This is very important to adjust the time of baking to the oven. I use a quite small gas oven, bake one baking sheet of bagels at the time (max 6 bagels) and my baking time is approx. 20 min. The most important thing is to observe the bagels and adjust the temperature and time. Your oven may need only 15 minutes to bake the bagels completely so you can rotate the baking sheet after 7 minutes of baking. I always check the colour of the bagels and bake them darker. |
The recipe inspired by 'The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread' 15th Anniversary Edition by Peter Reinhart
