Bagels

Bagels 

Photos at the end of the post ;)

Thanks to the folks over at The fresh loaf  this is a wonderful fun bagel recipe to work with.

Makes 32 bagels


Sponge:
2 teaspoon instant yeast
8 cups bread flour
5 cups water

Dough:

1 teaspoon instant yeast
5.5 cups bread flour
2 cups whole grain flour ( a mix of whole spelt, ground flax, rye meal, cracked wheat)
4 3/4 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons malt powder (see how to make it)
8 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
dried onions

Making the proof:

Add the yeast and flour, stir together. Add the water. Mix until its all incorporated and cover. Allow to rise for 2 hours.



After the two hours:

Mix together all of the dough ingredients then add in the sponge and mix well at least 10 mins. If you use flax don't forget that it absorbs 9 times its water weight so I added another 1/4 cup water,  The dough should be stiffer and drier than normal bread dough, but moist enough that all of the ingredients are well blended.

After kneading, split the dough into a 32  pieces. Cover them with a saran wrap and let them rest for 10- 20 minutes.

Shaping the bagel is easy  punch your thumb through the center of each roll and then rotate the dough, using both hands rotate the bagel (should post a video....hmmmm ) and lightly stretch it

Place the shaped bagels on an oiled sheet pans,  Lightly brush the bagels with oil and  cover the pan with saran wrap and allow the dough to rise for about 20 minutes. After 20 mins put the pans into the fridge or somewhere cool.

Next Morning
(as you remove the bagels off the tray to add them to the boiling water lightly sprinkle the pan with corn meal) and only take one pan out of the fridge at a time.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees

Boil a large pot of water add a few teaspoons of  molasses to the water and a tablespoon of baking soda. (Repeat after each batch with the same amount of molasses- but 1 teaspoon of baking soda) Once it is fully boiling add your bagels. (mine fits 4 at a time) as soon as the water hisses and boils *about a minute turn them and let them repeat the same boil stage) as you pick each one out of the water let them drain over the pot and then put them on the baking tray- repeat until the tray is refilled with boiled bagels. Sprinkle whatever toppings you want on them. Put the tray in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Turn the tray around and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove them and set them on baking racks to cool.

just mixed sponge

After 2 hours

stretched into rings

Next Morning ready to be boiled

Ready to be flipped

Fresh out of the oven