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Here's A Bagel Recipe

Category: Breads

Author: The Savvybearcat

Date: 1/1/2007

Rating:

(3.0) by 1 users

Ingredients:

6 cup (to 8c) bread (high-gluten) flour
4 tbsp Dry baking yeast
6 tbsp Granulated white sugar or light honey (clover honey is good)
2 tsp Salt
3 cup Hot water
A bit of vegetable oil
1 Gallon water
5 tbsp Malt syrup or sugar
A few handfuls of cornmeal
Large mixing bowl
Wire whisk
Measuring cups and spoons
Wooden mixing spoon
Butter knife or baker's dough blade
Clean, dry surface for kneading
3 clean, dry kitchen towels
Warm, but not hot, place to set dough to rise
Large stockpot
Slotted spoon
2 baking sheets

Instructions:

First, pour three cups of hot water into the mixing bowl. The water
should be hot, but not so hot that you can't bear to put your fingers
in it for several seconds at a time. Add the sugar or honey and stir
it with your fingers (a good way to make sure the water is not too
hot) or with a wire whisk to dissolve. Sprinkle the yeast over the
surface of the water, and stir to dissolve.

Wait about ten minutes for the yeast to begin to revive and grow.
This is known as "proofing" the yeast, which simply means that you're
checking to make sure your yeast is viable. Skipping this step could
result in your trying to make bagels with dead yeast, which results
in bagels so hard and potentially dangerous that they are banned
under the terms of the Geneva Convention. You will know that the
yeast is okay if it begins to foam and exude a sweetish, slightly
beery smell.

At this point, add about three cups of flour as well as the 2 tsp of
salt to the water and yeast and begin mixing it in. Some people
subscribe to the theory that it is easier to tell what's going on
with the dough if you use your hands rather than a spoon to mix
things into the dough, but others prefer the less physically direct
spoon. As an advocate of the bare-knuckles school of baking, I
proffer the following advice: clip your fingernails, take off your
rings and wristwatch, and wash your hands thoroughly to the elbows,
like a surgeon. Then you may dive into the dough with impunity. I
generally use my right hand to mix, so that my left is free to add
flour and other ingredients and to hold the bowl steady. Left-handed
people might find that the reverse works better for them. Having one
hand clean and free to perform various tasks works best.

When you have incorporated the first three cups of flour, the dough
should begin to become thick-ish. Add more flour, a half-cup or so at
a time, and mix each addition thoroughly before adding more flour. As
the dough gets thicker, add less and less flour at a time. Soon you
will begin to knead it by hand (if you're using your hands to mix the
dough in the first place, this segue is hardly noticeable). If you
have a big enough and shallow enough bowl, use it as the kneading
bowl, otherwise use that clean, dry, flat countertop or tabletop
mentioned in the "Equipment" list above. Sprinkle your work surface
or bowl with a handful of flour, put your dough on top, and start
kneading. Add bits of flour if necessary to keep the dough from
sticking (to your hands, to the bowl or countertop, etc....). Soon
you should have a nice stiff dough. It will be quite elastic, but
heavy and stiffer than a normal bread dough. Do not make it too dry,
however... it should still give easily and stretch easily without
tearing.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with one of your
clean kitchen towels, dampened somewhat by getting it wet and then
wringing it out thoroughly. If you swish the dough around in the
bowl, you can get the whole ball of dough covered with a very thin
fil of oil, which will keep it from drying out.

Place the bowl with the dough in it in a dry, warm (but not hot)pace,
free from drafts. Allow it to rise until doubled in volume. Some
people try to accelerate rising by putting the dough in the oven,
where the pilot lights keep the temperature slightly elevated. If
it's cold in your kitchen, you can try this, but remember to leave
the oven door open or it may become too hot and begin to kill the
yeast and cook the dough. An ambient temperature of about 80 degrees
Farenheit (25 centigrades) is ideal for rising dough.

While the dough is rising, fill your stockpot with about a gallon of
water and set it on the fire to boil. When it reaches a boil, add the
malt syrup or sugar and reduce the heat so that the water just barely
simmers; the surface of the water should hardly move. Submitted By
HUNT@AUSTIN.METROWERKS.COM (ERIC HUNT) On 15 MAR 1995 064641 -0700