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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Phrecipes: Bagels (Part Two)

Hey, sweeties, roll up your sleeves and let's continue. If you haven't made your dough yet, click here to read Part One first. You can either print out this recipe or bring the laptop into the kitchen. This recipe is linked under the icon on the sidebar so you will always be able to find it in the future if you want to wait a few weeks to try this lesson. If you do end up making bagels--regardless of whether they turn out perfectly or end up a burned, twisted heap of dough--blog about it and send me the link at thetowncriers@gmail.com. I will add all links (regardless of when they come in--still send it if you're reading this in 2010) to the bagel posts so future bakers can read along with other people's experiences too. I would appreciate it if you blog about it if you'll link back to this post so your readers can find these other blogs too.

Bagels (Part Two)

It has been twelve hours, right? Take out the baking sheet from the refrigerator. If you've made more than one sheet, take out two of them (I usually make three sheets of bagels each time. So I take two out of the refrigerator at once and go back for the other one about ten minutes later). Preheat the oven to 450 degrees (F). Set the timer for 10 minutes. Walk away and read a blog or two.

When the buzzer goes off, come back to the kitchen and get a large pot and fill it with water. I like a large, wide spaghetti pot rather than a tall one. To be honest, I have a piece-of-shit pot with wobbly handles that I got at the food store for $7. All you're doing is boiling a bagel. It doesn't have to be a nice Calphalon pot. Let the water come to a boil for the next 10 minutes (all in all, it should be about 20 minutes between taking the bagels out of the refrigerator and boiling them). Peel the plastic wrap off the bagels. They look like this:

Or like this:


See, they didn't change a lot in the refrigerator. Once the water is boiling, drop in as many bagels will fit at once in your pot if they're all floating on the surface. In my pot, it's four bagels. In your pot, it may only be two. Drop them cornmeal-side-up into the boiling water and set the timer for 30 seconds.

Plain bagels float on the surface. For some reason, cinnamon raisin bagels drop to the bottom. Note this difference--there's nothing wrong with your bagels.

After 30 seconds, flip over the bagels so they are now cornmeal-side-down in the water. Use the flat slotted spoon. The one below is perfect. I think I got it at IKEA many years ago. But look for something like this so the bagel can rest flat on the spoon and water can pour off.

Let them boil for an additional 20 seconds on this other side. The water should keep boiling (the cool bagels will lower the temperature of the water for a bit so don't adjust the water so it's not boiling). Remove with the slotted spoon and allow them to drain on a cooling rack with paper towels placed beneath. Boil the next bagels until all the bagels are on the draining rack.

Throw out that cornmeal-covered aluminum foil and place down a sheet of parchment paper and the damp bagels (you only need to let them drain for a minute).

This is the point where you will add any topping. You can sprinkle on dried onion or garlic (I get both in the bulk section of Whole Foods--do not use undried onions or garlic), sea salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or cinnamon sugar. Or make this mix to sprinkle over the bagels.

The Stirrup Queen's Everything Mix

1 tbsp dried onion
1 tbsp dried garlic

3/4 tbsp sea salt
1 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 1/2 tbsp poppy seeds


Place in the oven for 14 minutes. It may take a bit less or a bit more time--make sure you check. The tops should look like this:

And the bottoms should look like this when they're done:

Which brings us to full sheets of bagels that look like this:

Or this:

Yum! Allow them to cool for a bit on the parchment paper. And then eat.

Any leftover bagels that won't be consumed that day should be sliced in half and frozen in ziplock bags once cool. Bagels will only toast back to their pre-frozen freshness. If you want a toasted bagel that is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, freeze immediately. If you'll eat the bagel within 24 hours, store in a paper bag.

If you freeze them: take out a bagel and wrap it in a paper towel. Put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and then unwrap and discard the paper towel. Place in the toaster. And then...eat...once it comes out of the toaster. It will be so soft and crisp. It will be bagel love.

Let me know if you have any questions or if you blog about trying out this recipe: thetowncriers@gmail.com.

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3 comments:

megan said...

sounds AMAZING. i heart bagels...it's hard to get good bagels in vancouver.
two questions -- can this be made with whole wheat / whole grain flour? and what if you don't have a kitchen-aid mixer? can you do it by hand?

thanks for this, Mel!

Anonymous said...

MMM--they look so good! I've never thought of making my own bagels, I can't wait to try!
I'm in the same boat as Megan, I dont' have a mixer either--maybe I'll be brave any try by hand.
Thanks for sharing--now I'm hungry!

Meghan said...

I can NOT wait to try this. Yum! And thanks for all the pictures. And for writing it in normal language. I'll let you know how they turn out!