For Steve Gomes:
The first question is "Do you really want the bread donuts that are
sold in the bagel shops or do you want real NY Style Bagels"? The
difference is enormous. NY Style bagels are dense. The crumb is a
tightly woven gluten network which feels like a firm foam pillow when
touched. The crust is smooth, dark and crisp. They are so dense
they are difficult to pull apart. I don't know how to make bagel
shop bread donuts but Rose Levy Beranbaum posted a NY Style bagel
recipe here many years ago that I have been making variations of
since and they are the closest thing to real bagels than any of the
many recipes that I have tried.
Peter Reinhart also has a bagel recipe in "Bread Baker's Apprentice"
that uses a different procedure. Rose refrigerates the dough before
shaping the bagel, Peter after shaping. I merged Rose's ingredients
and proportions to Reinhart's procedure. I think the combination
results in the best control of both flavor and that real NY bagel
texture. I also made my own change in that I wanted that real dense
bagel I remember from living in NY and NJ so I add some "Vital Wheat
Gluten" to the already high protein King Arthur Bread Flour. Most
supermarkets carry it in the baking section, usually with specialty flours.
And don't forget the pepper!
Bagels - Merge of Beranbaum and Reinhart
Start in the afternoon.
Sponge
1 tsp instant or machine yeast
3 1/4 cups KA All Purpose Flour
1/4 cup glutten
2 1/2 cups water, room temp
Mix, let stand covered until doubled, 2 to 4 hours
Dough
1/2 tsp instant yeast
3 1/4 cups KA All purpose flour
1/2 cup flour in reserve
1/4 cup gluten
.7 oz sea salt (4 1/2 tsp - you should know how much your salt weighs)
1 Tbsp malt syrup
1 tsp finely ground fresh black pepper
Optional: glaze with egg white and water mixture
Mix dry ingredients, add malt syrup to sponge, add sponge to dry
ingredients, mix and let hydrate, 20 mins. Knead initially by
machine, finish by hand (may be too much for machine, use reserved
flour to create a firm dough). There is no bulk rise
(proofing). The bagels are shaped immediately. This creates the
dense texture. The fermentation flavoring comes from the sponge and
the overnight in the fridge.
Divide into 12 4 1/2 oz pieces, shape into rounds, cover and let rest
for 20 minutes. Roll each round into 8-inch ropes (use procedure for
baguettes), wrap rope around hand with 2 inch overlap and ends under
palms and roll to seal the ends and form the bagel. The hole should
look oversize at this point. Place bagels on two cookie sheets, lined
with PAM-sprayed parchment paper, 6 bagels each.
Place wet paper towel under each cookie sheet, and place each sheet
and towel into a food-grade plastic bag and seal, place in fridge
overnight. Making room in the fridge for two cookie sheets can be a
pain. I usually end up with the sheets unevenly resting on top of
pickle jars. Don't rest one on top of the other without a
spacer. You don't need much head room, they won't rise much.
Water Bath
2 Tb malt syrup
1 Tb baking soda
Preheat baking stone to 500 F. Bring large diameter pot of water to
a boil. Add malt syrup and slowly, carefully add baking
soda. (Baking soda will temporarily, and dramatically, intensify the boil.
You will need a clean non-fuzzy towel to drain the bagels after the
boil. Also a large wire-grid skimmer to handle the bagels in and out
of the boiling pot is helpful here but any sieve skimmer will do.
Remove one cookie sheet from the fridge, discard the wet paper
towel. Use skimmer to place 3 bagels in the water bath. Flip over
after one minute, remove after second minute. Place boiled bagels on
towel, add next group of 3 to boiling water, flip cooked bagels on
the towel over to dry other side, move them back onto parchment-lined
cookie sheet, coat with egg mixture and add toppings. Flip the
second batch over in the pot after one minute, remove to towel after
second minute, flip to dry both sides, place on cookies sheet and
coat with egg mixture and toppings.
Slide bagels (on parchment paper) onto baking stone, use whatever
steaming method you are comfortable with (the more steam the better),
reduce oven temp to 450 F, bake 20 minutes more. Turn oven off for 5
minutes, open door for another 5 minutes. Remove to cooling
racks. All ovens are different so watch the color. Dark brown is
good, black is not, tan is not. If they are dark brown they are done inside.
Reset oven and reheat stone to 500 F. Repeat above for second tray.