Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Bagels: Baking Through the Bread Baker's Apprentice

Next on the baking challenge: bagels. I have made this recipe many times and have always had great results. I have blogged about these bagels before (you may recognize the pic above), and have even provided my own variations. These bagels are chewy and soft and absolutely amazing. I have not made them for a while so it was nice to revisit an old favourite.

GENERAL NOTES:
1. The recipe says it makes 12 large or 24 mini bagels, but they are pretty big bagels. I usually make 16 bagels so they aren't too huge. Even the "mini" bagels are a pretty good size. If I bake these for the kids' lunches I make a 50g boule and shape it into a true mini bagel.
2. The recipe calls for high-gluten or bread four. I have tried adding in some vital wheat gluten to the bread flour to up the gluten content but I don't like the texture this gives the final dough. I prefer just adding a bit more bread flour to get a stiff dough.
3. I always find that the bagels brown unevenly in the oven, but it does not seem to matter too much. Rotate the pans to brown them as evenly as possible, but I find that the bagels are done after 10 mins even if they are lightly browned.

VEGAN NOTES
- none