I love the challenges set for us from Fresh From The Oven. I am baking breads I would never try otherwise. This month was no different with us having to bake bagels! Now, being of Jewish descent, bagels have formed part of my diet for a long time, usually served with cream cheese and lox. These bagels were given similar treatment – we had them with home made gravadlax, smooth cottage cheese and dill with friends for our Sunday afternoon wine tasting session. I also made a special breakfast and served them with scrambled eggs, dusted with chives. I will make these again without a doubt. The machine does all the hard work, they are easy to shape and even the poaching was not difficult. It is the poaching that gives the bagel its ‘hard’ outside texture and they feel quite odd when you take them out of the water. I used caraway seeds on mine as I am not a big fan of sesame seeds or poppy seeds. Use whatever topping you choose, and experiment with what you put in them – I think there are so many possibilities out there. Do take a look at Purely Food’s blogpost for her recipe, and watch out for all the Fresh From The Oven bagels.
Bagels
Ingredients
- 450 g bread flour
- 7 g instant yeast
- 10 mls salt
- 250 mls warm water
- 15 mls canola oil
- 30 mls honey
- 1 egg, beaten
- caraway seeds for topping
Method
- in a large bowl add the salt to the flour and then the yeast – keep the salt and the yeast separate
- stir the oil and the honey into the water
- using a stand mixer at a low speed, slowly add the liquid to the dry ingredients
- knead for 10 minutes
- add more flour is the dough is too wet – the dough is stiffer than normal bread dough but will still have elasticity
- lightly oil the mixer bowl, return the dough to the bowl and turn to coat in the oil
- cover with cling film and put in a warm place until doubled in size
- lightly oil two baking trays
- remove the dough from the bowl, punch it down to knock the air out and knead briefly
- roll in to a sausage shape and divide into 7 pieces – I used my scale and each piece was just over 100g
- as you work one, keep the others covered with a clean tea towel
- shape the bagels by rolling each piece into a ball, pierce a hole in the centre with your finger, pull the dough open wide by twirling it round your index fingers (wider than you think you need as the hole will shrink when the dough proves, is poached and then baked)
- place on the prepared baking tray and repeat with remaining dough
- cover and allow to rise for a further 10-20 minutes
- preheat the oven to 200° Celsius
- fill a large sauce pan with boiling water and return to a simmer
- gently place each bagel into the water to poach (do not try to put too many bagels in at once as they will expand slightly)
- poach for 90 seconds on each side, turning gently with a slotted spoon
- remove the bagels from the water, allowing them to drain first and place on the prepared baking trays spacing them about 3-4cm apart
- brush with the egg and sprinkle with the topping
- bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn upside down for a further 10 minutes to cook the bases
- cool on a wire rack.
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
I’ve never made bagels before – yours look great!
🙂 Mandy
they were so easy and so tasty! Thanks Mandy 🙂
these look wonderful
thank you Usha 🙂
I love bagels and this is the second recipe I´ve seen in a couple of days….somthing is telling me I need to make bagels soon! Hope they turn out as good as yours 🙂
I am sure yours will be perfect! I am going to try and make rye ones this weekend 🙂
These look great! I must try them! I have been baking several breads and pizzas so this is my next thing I think! 🙂
let me know how they turn out!
Good for you, this is on my list of “daring things to try”.. looks like they turned out perfectly!!
they are super easy to make!
Those turned out beautifully.
thank you Greg 🙂
I have never made bagels, but I really really should, you did make it look easy. thank you for the recipe i will try them, maybe this weekend.. c
they were so easy – let me know what you think once you have made them 🙂
I’ve never made a bagel before.. well that’s because I am not a huge bread eater. but I know someone who will love if I made this. Thanks for the link 🙂
I am going to make more for sure as I consider this a weekend treat 🙂
Beautiful, Tandy! We make bagels too, but haven’t for ages – I think the “kettling” process is what makes all the difference. So many commercial bagels these days are cooked in steam ovens…
I wonder why they would move away from tradition? And thanks for the new term I have learnt (Kettling) 🙂
Well done on the challenge. These sound lovely. I’m going to do my best to make some too this month but not sure I’ll be able to find the time before the deadline!
hope you do manage to find the time – they are so worth it 🙂
Thank you for taking part Tandy. These bagels look fantastic. Glad you enjoyed the challenge.
thanks so much! I love these challenges 🙂
They look absolutely gorgeous. The color!! My gosh!. how did you manage that. Mine looked pale blonde”-(
I actually thought mine looked burnt! I have a convection oven with a turntable – not sure if that made the difference 🙂
Golden and gorgeous Tandy
thank you so much Sally 🙂
Beautiful, golden bagels!
thank you so much 🙂
Your bagels look beautiful! I didn’t egg wash mine so they turned out a little lighter, but I love the deep brown colour you’ve got here. Gorgeous.
thanks Kate – I really thought mine looked burnt 🙂
Great looking bagels!
thank you so much Euan 🙂
Bagels are one bread recipe that I find really intriguing, that poaching technique is so interesting. I enjoyed reading about your experience, Tandy – you’ve inspired me to gve them a try sometime 🙂
hopefully on the braai! I want to hear all about that experience please 🙂