Bagels – Olivia's Kitchen

I got this bagels recipe from one of my bread baking favorite book by Peter Reinhart . I have made different kinds of bread from his book , and bagels is the newest one i wanted to try .

So my bagels making started last night . I mixed the dough together , and let it proof for an hour before shaping them and letting it sit overnight . Then this morning i took the bagels out from the fridge right before i went working out . By the time i got back , the bagels were ready to be handled .

I have to say , i expected more from this bagels , although it tasted good , and chewy in the inside , the outside isn’t as smooth and satin look like the store bought bagels . Maybe because i didn’t roll the dough into ball to smooth the surface long enough and i was hurrying to shape it , next time , i will def. take my time to roll them into a ball before making a rope and shaping the bagels .

All and all , it was quite interesting making the bagels , i had no idea that you poached bagels before baking them into a very hot oven . It was a good experience 🙂

Direction for the dough :

1 cup and 2 Tbsp. of lukewarm water

1 tbsp. of honey

1 tsp. yeast

1 1/2 tsp. salt

3 1/2 cups of bread flour

1. In a measuring cup combine the water , honey , salt and instant yeast , stir until everything dissolves . Let it sit for 5 minutes . In a large bowl , add the flour . Then pour the liquid into the flour , mix with wooden spoon for about 3 minutes . Then let it sit for 5 minutes .

2. After 5 minutes , take it out , and knead for about 5 more minutes on a very lightly floured surface . The dough should be smooth and stiff yet supple , barely tacky feel.

3. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl , cover with plastic let it rise for an hour in room temperature .

4. You can let it sit in the fridge overnight or moving on with shaping the dough .

5. Divide the dough into 6 or 8 small balls , then roll each piece into round balls , until smooth , then make into 8 inched long rope . Then place 1 end of the dough in the palm of your hand and wrap the rope around your hand to complete the circle , going between the thumb and forefinger and then all the way around . The ends should overlap by about 2 inches . Squeeze the overlapping with your hand then press the seam into work suface , rolling it back and forth a few times to seal . Remove the dough from your hand and squeeze it to to over out the thickness and creating a hole about 2 inches in diameter .

6. Place the dough into lightly brushed with oil parchment paper , and cover with plastic and store in the fridge up to 2 days .

7. On the baking day , take it out about 60-90 minutes before handling them . The dough should getting its final proof .

8. After 90 minutes , get a small bowl with cold water to test the bagels . Drop 1 bagels gently into the cold water bowl , if the dough floats , then the bagels are ready for the next step , if not , take the dough out and let it sit for extra 20 minutes or more .

9. Bring about 2-3 quarts of water to a boil with 1 tbsp. of baking soda , 1 tbsp. of honey and 1/2 tsp. of salt . Then once it’s boiled , bring the heat down to simmer , and drop as many bagels as you can fit into the pot , the bagels should be floating after 15 seconds , and then let it poach for 1 minute before turning it and poach it for another minute . Then , take it out and place the dough into lightly oiled parchment paper , ready to be baked .

10. Preheat oven to 500 F , and put the bagels into the oven , bring temperature down to 450 F and bake for 8 minutes , then turning it once and bake another 8 minutes .