Bagels

Name: Bagels
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 450 g Strong white bread flour; 10 g Salt; 7 g (1 sachet) Fast action dried yeast; 250 ml Warm water; 1 tbsp Clear honey; 1 tbsp Vegetable, sunflower or rapeseed oil; 1 Egg (for egg wash); 3 - 4 tbsp Sesame seeds, poppy seeds or other seeds for the topping; 1 tbsp Malt extract (or 2 tbsp brown sugar); 2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda; 3 - 4 tbsp Semolina / fine polenta (cornmeal) - optional; 1 - 2 tbsp Vegetable, sunflower or rapeseed oil for bowl and cling film

Love Baking Over a year ago 1,421 views

Cook: 20 mins

American

Ingredients

450 g Strong white bread flour
10 g Salt
7 g (1 sachet) Fast action dried yeast
250 ml Warm water
1 tbsp Clear honey
1 tbsp Vegetable, sunflower or rapeseed oil
1 Egg (for egg wash)
3 - 4 tbsp Sesame seeds, poppy seeds or other seeds for the topping
1 tbsp Malt extract (or 2 tbsp brown sugar)
2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
3 - 4 tbsp Semolina / fine polenta (cornmeal) - optional
1 - 2 tbsp Vegetable, sunflower or rapeseed oil for bowl and cling film

Accompaniment

Description

I have tried a couple of different recipes and techniques with varying degrees of success and have found this one (a combination!) to be the best for me. Delicious warm or toasted.

Method

1
Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, stir in the salt, then tip in the yeast. Mix the warm water, honey and oil together (NB water should be warm to the touch, but not too hot as it may kill the yeast - if you have a thermometer, it should be around 38-40 degrees C). Pour into the mixing bowl and stir briefly together. If you have a mixer with a dough hook, put it on a low speed for 10 minutes. Otherwise, knead by hand for about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil the bowl, put the dough back in and cover with lightly oiled cling film. Put it in a warm place for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until it has risen, roughly doubling in size.
Lightly oil two large baking trays.
Prod the dough to knock out the air and knead again, either by hand or with the dough hook, for about a minute.
Divide the dough into 6 to 12 pieces (6 giant bagels or up to 12 smaller ones - or you could make even more mini ones). One by one, leaving the other pieces covered with the oiled cling film, shape each piece into a ball, then poke your index finger through the middle and twirl it around to make a bagel shape, with a hole 2-3 cm wide (it will shrink a little). Repeat with the other pieces, place them on the oiled baking trays, cover loosely with lightly oiled cling film and return to the warm place to rise again for 20 to 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200 C. Fill a large saucepan with boiling water, add the malt extract or sugar, and the bicarbonate of soda (it will fizz up, then die down) and stir. Put the bagels (1 - 3 at a time depending on their size and the size of your pan) in the simmering water. Leave for 60 seconds, then flip over for another 60 seconds before removing with a slotted spoon and placing on kitchen paper to dry off.
To bake, either place them on an oiled baking tray, or a sheet of baking paper dusted with semolina / fine polenta. Space them about 3 cm apart, brush them with lightly beaten egg and either leave plain or sprinkle with seeds. Bake for 15 minutes until golden and they sound hollow when you tap the base. If you are doing giant bagels, turn them over and cook for a further 5 minutes to make sure the bases are cooked through. For mini bagels, check after 12 minutes.
Serve warm from the oven (cover in a clean cloth to keep warm for around 10 minutes), or cool on a wire rack.

Chef's Tips

To rise I put mine next to a warm radiator with a towel draped between the two, to cover the bowl. If the room is quite cool, and you have a feather-filled jacket, I recommend using it to cover the bowl as it works really well!
I usually cook half straight away, and half the next day. Shape them, place on the tray covered with cling film, then put the tray in the fridge for a slow second rise overnight (up to 24 hours).
You can also freeze the unbaked bagels before the second rise. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and cover well with foil or a freezer bag. When frozen, you can put them in a a freezer bags, with a little baking paper between each one to stop them sticking. Defrost for an hour at room temperature then leave in warm place for 20-30 minutes and follow steps as above.
If you don't have malt extract in your cupboard, brown sugar is fine as an alternative.
Best eaten on the day they are baked (either warm or within a few hours). The next day, they are great toasted.
For sweet bagels, double the quantity of honey, and sprinkle with sugar, or cinnamon and sugar. You can also add raisins to the dough. If you want to do half savoury and half sweet, add 1 tsp caster sugar (intend of additional honey earlier), and raisins, if using, at the second kneading stage after the first rise.