Hello eaters!
It’s Friday. And oh what a wonderful day it has been. So far my time in my humble hometown has been quite lovely.
Yesterday I woke up late with a full day of nothing ahead of me and the manly friend. And what’s a ‘Baby to do on a day like that?
Bake, of course!
Oh the joys of an oven! Oh the joys of having a manly friend who isn’t afraid of yeast!
Upon first walking into the kitchen I didn’t have a plan of what to make. Luckily, I’ve been hording recipes for weeks to make while I was home. And the first one to top out at me was…bagels.
Ambitious? Yup. Scary as shit? Of course!
I’m from a family of Yankees. More specifically, a family of New Yorkers. We know good bagels. We hate bad bagels. Why I thought I could tackle bagels is beyond me. But for some reason I decided to jump in with both feet. So I retrieved my worst frenemy from the pantry.
And started proofing.
The manly friend said I should have foamy yeast in 10 minutes. 15 minutes later my mixture still looked like this.
Dead. I guess the last time I used yeast was just beginner’s luck.
So we ran out to the store and bought more.
The man recommended rapid rise because after watching me jump around with impatience waiting for the other to proof he decided I couldn’t handle anything else.
And he was right! Within minutes of mixing everything together I had foamy yeast.
I was a happy ‘Baby. And then we were off.
Bagels
2 c all-purpose flour
2 c whole wheat flour
1 ¼-1 1 ½ c warm water
2 t yeast
1 T sugar
1 T olive oil
toppings
Dissolve sugar in 1 ¼ c warm tap water then add the yeast and stir. While the yeast is proofing mix the flours and salt.
Once yeast is foamy add the oil and then pour the wet into the dry mixture. Begin mixing with a spoon, but then switch to using your hands once mixing becomes difficult. The dough should be firm, but if all the flour isn’t incorporated add a couple of T warm water at a time until everything is fully incorporated.
Then move the dough onto a floured surface. Knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. And just like Angela, I did consider this my workout for the day.
Once the dough is kneaded use a pastry cutter or knife to divide the dough into 8 as-equal-as-possible hunks. Leave those to rise for 10-20 minutes. (10 minutes for me, because I really am far too impatient to make bread.)
After you’ve waited as long as you can, roll each hunk into a rope that is longer than both hands. Then wrap the dough around your non-dominant hand and smoosh the two ends together. Wetting your fingers will make the smooshing easier.
These probably won’t be terrible pretty. As long as they’re round-ish everything is going well.
Leave these to rest for another 10-20 minutes. While the dough is resting bring a pot of water to a boil. This is quite possible the most important step.
Place a few dough rings into the boiling water. Boil for a minute, flip, boil for another minute, and then remove to a dry dishcloth. Repeat until all the dough rings are boiled.
Without boiling, you’re just making rolls with holes in the center. Boiling makes these bagels.
While the bagels are drying on the dishcloth add whatever seasonings you want.
I made 2 plain, 2 onion, 2 onion fennel, and 2 rosemary black pepper. We didn’t exactly have all the spices I would have liked. Improvise, because I guarantee almost anything will work.
Place the bagels on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake in a 475 degree oven for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
They will come out brown, fragrant and irresistible. Feel free to tear into one straight out of the oven.
But if you can, wait until they cool so the crust will set. Once cool they will be damn close to bagel perfection.
What’s bagel perfection, you ask?
If you throw a bagel at someone it would hurt/make a thud, but the inside will still be chewy and dense.
These aren’t quite perfect, but for bagels made while still in my pajamas and without New York City water (which apparently is the secret to perfect bagels), I’ll take it.
And it seems my family wasn’t unhappy with them, because there’s only 1 left.
I’ll take that as success.
G’night eaters.
