Am fairly new to baking so am looking for some advice on where I am going wrong. I have made these bagels three times now and not getting any nearer. It doesn't help that I've never had a good bagel to know what I'm aiming for.
I have a few questions to ask but the first one I answered myself when I typed out the recipe for here. The reason they are so dark is I had copied the resting time into the cooking time in my notebook last time. Should have been 10 mins and not 20 mins.
The next is that my bagels collapse when I take them our of the fridge to transfer them to boiling. The best one's I got were where I cut round the bagel on the parchment and dropped it straight in without touching it. They end up with not much actual bread inside and really chewy. Even when I cooked them for the right amount of time lol. Is my dough not stiff enough or am I under/over kneading perhaps?
The texture of the bagels seems more like a sour dough texture. I have only had the packaged bagels and those are quite closed crumb?
Am also surprisingly not getting much flavour from these after such a complex procedure. My standard white loaf has more flavour. I must be doing something wrong.
Makes 8 100g ish bagels
Sponge
1/2 tsp instant yeast
255g strong bread flour (Allisonson very strong white 14%)
295ml warm water
Dough
1/4 tsp instant yeast
240g strong bread flour
1.5 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp golden syrup - was out of Holland and Barrett Malt extract which is like a syrup
To Finish
1/2 tbsp bicarb of soda
Method
- Make the sponge and leave for at least 2 hrs.
- Add half extra flour to the sponge, extra yeast, salt, malt, then rest of flour.
- **my addition** autolyse for 40 mins ish.
- Hand knead for 10 mins.
- divide into bagels weights ( 8 x 100gish)
- roll into balls and leave to rest for 20 mins.
- Shape and place on oiled paper.
- Place straight in the fridge over night.
- **my addition** Remove and stand for 30 mins to come to room temperature
- Boil for 1 minute each side in water with the bicarb added.
- Place in centre of oven at 2580c for 5 mins then turn 5 mins. (highest my oven goes)
Malt extract is not like Golden Syrup. If you don't have Golden Syrup I would think it better to substitute with Honey.
EDIT: I misread that. The recipe required malt extract and you used Golden Syrup instead! I would think results would differ for the same reason.
P.s. your oven is very hot ;)
i know its off the subject but heres a link to what i think are nicer bagels - theyre Palestinian...made with milk and baked. My customers cant get enough of them @ https://www.davidlebovitz.com/jerusalem-bagels-bagel-recipe/
I've never had good results chilling bagels overnight. They become sticky, and a pain to remove and get into the boiling water without destroying them. I have most success with the St Viateur recipe here. Also, no bicarb in the water, which is more of a pretzel thing, for me, just a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar.
Some ideas: I've come the think of bagels as of at least three kinds - true New York bagels, supermarket bagels and California bagels. The former have a thickish crust which is crisp when fresh, virtually free of "holes", and have quite a dense crumb. Because they're made with a high gluten flour (15% protein) are very chewy. They are generally hand made and boiled in a slightly sweet water, the latter yielding an early carmelization (browning during the baking). Supermarket bagels look like bagels at a distance but aren't made with high gluten flour and hence are not chewy. They're basically white bread made into a bagel appearance. California bagels differ little from the supermarket bagels but are made in bagel shops which often say "New York bagels". They're rarely boiled and never are made with high gluten flour nor are they ever hand made. Your have to decide what kind of bagel you want to make.
If you're looking to make true New York bagels, you'll never get there without high gluten flour. If you cannot find it, it can be simulated with the addition of vital wheat gluten to bread flour.
It might help to change recipes. Look online for the bagel recipe in Hamelman's Bread. It looks slightly less complicated than yours. In my hands, because they're chilled in the fridge overnight just after forming, they don't rise much there. I allow mine to rise at room temperature before the boiling step, but not terribly much. They expand considerably during the boiling. Moving them from the parchment they rest on during the chilling phase to the boiling water is a delicate process you'll have to figure out unless you're got a friend who's already learned it or you can find a video somewhere. Lot's of those latter videos exist. I would just advise you not to let the rising period to be very extended.
Give the recipe a shot and come back with questions.