New York Style Bagels: An attempt at perfection

What's better, I often wonder, than a great bagel.  But, they are so hard to come by--those wonderfully chewy, yet soft bundles of fabulousness.  Now, you may wonder why in the world you would take the time to make bagels.  Well, I'll be honest.  I think the bagels we get in stores and even in "bagel" restaurants, quite simply, suck.  Who boils their bagels anymore? I know Gothem Bagels in Madison does, and several places in Skokie and of course, New York do, but I don't live there. I live in Champaign, Illinois. The closest thing we have to real bagels is Einsteins, and I've already shared my opinion of their attempts.

Because of this, I have spent about a year learning about bagel making. I've read, watched videos, and had made several attempts at this process. What I found out is that ingredients, as is often the case, are key. In this case, you need high gluten flour (I use Sir Lancelot from King Arthur Flour, which has 14% protein) and distilled water as well as diastolic malt powder (also available from King Arthur Flour).  Armed with these ingredients and a bit (not too much, honestly) of time, you can create, in your very own kitchen, a more than acceptable bagel.  For the topping, I tend to go with the everything, which for me includes flaked sea salt, black and white sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried garlic and onions, flax seeds, and chia seeds.  You can use any combination you like, but whatever you do, include a bit of flaked salt. It is the kicker here.

I love these bagels.  I make them small, 3 oz., and believe they are a perfect size for breakfast, but the recommended size is 4 oz., so do whatever you wish.  I have just slightly adapted this recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  Kudos to this most amazing cookbook.  If you love to bake bread, get it.  It is genius and has revolutionized my baking techniques.

New York Style Bagels

Adapted From:  Bread Baker’s Apprentice

Yield:   12-18 bagels

Ingredients:

Sponge

1 t. instant yeast

4 c. unbleached high gluten flour

2 ½ c. room temperature, distilled water

Dough

½ t. instant yeast

3 ¾ c. unbleached high gluten flour

2 ¾ t. table salt

2 t. malt powder

To finish

2 T. baking soda

Directions:

For the sponge, stir the yeast into the flour in your stand mixer.  Add the water and stir only until it forms a smooth, sticky batter.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until the mixture becomes very foamy and bubbly (about 2 hours).

For the dough, add the yeast to the sponge and stir.  Add 3 cups of the flour and all of the salt and malt.  On low speed with the dough hook, stir on low until the ingredients form a ball, slowly working in the remaining ¾ cups of flour.  The dough will be very stiff.  Knead on medium low for 6 minutes.  At this point, take a bit of the dough and try to stretch it out like you are going to blow a bubble with it.  If it easily rips, knead another 2 minutes.

Divide the dough into 3 ounce pieces for smaller bagels, and 4 oz. for large bagels.  Form the pieces into balls and place them on the counter covered with a clean towel. Let them rest for 30 minutes.  One at a time, stick your thumb into the center, through each ball.  Evenly stretch the hole until you have a hole approximately 2 inches in diameter.  Place each bagel on a cookie sheet with parchment that has been lightly sprayed with oil.  Place each 2 inches apart on the sheets.  Mist the bagels with oil and put in a food grade plastic bag.  Let sit for 30 minutes.

Before refrigerating over night, put one into a bowl with cold water. If it floats, it is ready to retard.  If not, let them rest for another 10-20 minutes.  Retard in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours.  When you are ready to bake the bagels, preheat the oven to 450 degrees and put the racks in the middle of the oven.

Remove bagels from the refrigerator.  Bring water to a boil in a large, wide pot.  When boiling, add the baking soda.  Put 4-5 bagels in the boiling water and boil for 1-2 minutes (the longer the boil time, the more chewy the crust of the bagel).  Use a slotted spoon and chopstick to flip the bagels over and boil another 1-2 minutes.  Remove and sprinkle with topping of your choice.  Place on a parchment lined sheet pan that has been sprinkled with cornmeal.

When all bagels have been boiled, place them into the oven and bake until browned to the desired doneness, rotating and switching top and bottom pans after 5 minutes.  Cook a total of 12-15 minutes.  Cool on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting or eating.

Enjoy.