toppings: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, salt
It's the third week of The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge and bagels are in the spotlight. I made bagels twice before, the first one about 5 years ago was a total disaster, and recently as a recipe tester for Peter Reinhart's which went great.
Although they are not as shiny as store-bought, I am very happy with the BBA bagels because they came out chewy, dense, and heavy just the way I like them. Delicious!
I made half a recipe, added 1 tablespoon of vital wheat gluten to the bread flour, and I also used barley malt syrup both in the dough and poaching water. I should have increased the amount of baking soda for shinier bagels. The dough yield was seven 4-ounce pieces which are too big IMHO. I might reduce each ball of dough to 3.5 ounces next time. For the topping I used black and white sesame seeds, black and white poppy seeds, and salt. It is worth making these bagels, they taste superior to store-bought.
shaping the bagel
ready for an overnight stay in the refrigerator
the seven bagels +
Rating:
flavor 5
texture 5
visual appeal 4
ease of preparation 3.5 (shaping is not so easy)
performance 5
worth 5
Total: 27.5
Average: 4.58
The BBA Challenge is hosted by Nicole of Pinch My Salt
14 comments:
Is their a dish or something you can't cook?
Ok was PETER REINHART at your house?
Your bagels are perfect. Do you live in northern NY so I can come over and be taught???
Great job,
Susie
These look perfect! I am impressed, and a wee bit jealous!
Sidney, yes a turducken!:D
Susie, thanks.
That's why I love Peter's books, it's almost as if he's right beside me guiding me along, heheh.
An Out of Town Mom, thanks.:)
very nice, very nice.
Very nice post. And your bagels are beautiful! The little one is too cute to eat.
These are beautiful! I hope mine turn out as well. And, I just noticed you are in Ashland. I live in West Point!
Your bagels are perfect. Mine are sleeping in the fridge tonight and tomorrow I will bake them. I am curious about the vital wheat. I had to mail order high gluten flour from King Arthur and they charged me $25.00 in shipping. (I live in Canada). I wonder how much different the bagels taste with regular flour plus vital wheat verses those made with HG flour.
Nico, thanks.:)
Gaaarp, thanks. The small one got eaten first.:)
Haleysuzanne, I'll be checking out your bagels. I'm actually in Northern VA, about an hour from Washington, DC.:)
Cindy, I found another source for high gluten flour. If the flour is as good as KA's I'll link you the site and I'll probably blog about it too.
The VWG package says to add 1 tablespoon to whole wheat/whole grain for better rise. I don't know if adding it to bread flour makes a difference, I have not compared:)
Great job! I loved making them!
Laura, thanks. Me too, I enjoyed making them.:)
Good golly you've got gorgeous bagels. Wonderful.
Know just what you mean about the scale, I can't do without mine anymore.
MyKitchenInHalfCups, thanks.
I used King Arthur bread flour and ALSO refridgerated the starter overnight. I'm at altitude (7,000 feet) in Taos and the baking time needed to be doubled! Anyway, eventually they came out great. Full of flavor, nicely crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. It's so hard to find good bagels anywhere outside of NYC, much less here in the high desert. These hit the spot.
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