I've made bagels the last two weekends with this recipe, and while I have little to compare it to as far as homemade bagels, I'm very pleased with it!
wildyeastblog.com/sourdough-bagels/
My batch last weekend turned out well, nice chewy crust and dense crumb, good keeping qualities. I kept a couple out to eat the following day or two and froze the rest pre-sliced.
The only changes I made to the recipe was using a full teaspoon of dried yeast and swapping out the malt powder for a tablespoon of malt extract. My mixer really struggled so ended up mostly kneading by hand. I was called in to work the morning I was planning to bake so they ended up being retarded for about 24 hrs.
And onto this weekend..
Yesterday afternoon, mixed the dough same as before but completely by hand with a few short rests during the knead. Short rest, divide and preshape, short rest followed by shaping. I definitely prefer the rope shaping method. I made 12 bagels weighing about 116g each instead of the specified 16, firstly for a bigger bagel and also so they could be baked off on my stone in two batches.
The two trays were retarded overnight for about 18 hrs. I boiled the water with two teaspoons each of white sugar and bicarb soda. The first batch did not float immediately but closer to the end of boiling. I put them in top down first and gave them 15 seconds each side. Drained for a few seconds on the spoon before sprinkling over sesame/poppy seeds and placing them back on the tray.
Baked on the stone at 200'C for 18 mins, turning half way for even browning. The second tray stayed in the fridge until ready to boil then bake straight away.
The second trays bagels floated straight away, maybe those few extra minutes at room temp after shaping helped with the ferment? It hadn't occurred to me to bake bagels off with steam but decided to try it for this tray. Used the steam bread baking function at 200'C for the first 5 mins then switched to straight heat. These bagels had more immediate spring, a crispier and evenly blistered thin crust, slightly more open crumb and evenly cooked base. With the extra moisture and quick spring they also didn't start to split at the seams like the first bake.
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Hadn't thought of steaming them in the oven. Might try that next time.
as good as what I can get from a local jewish bakery and deli a short walk away from my home.
Thanks! I’m very happy with the bagels I’ve made recently but I’m still working through the variables to find out how to improve on them.