EVERYTHING BAGELS
Servings 12 large bagels
Ingredients
THE SPONGE:
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 4 cups high-gluten flour or bread flour ((18 ounces ))
- 2 1/2 cups water at room temperature
THE DOUGH:
- 1/2 tsp instant yeast
- 3 3/4 cups high-gluten flour or bread flour ((17 ounces))
- 2 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp malt powder or 1 tbs dark or light malt syrup (honey, or brown sugar)
TO FINISH:
- 1 tbs baking soda
- cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting
- Everything Bagel Topping (for a homemade version, see below)
HOMEMADE EVERYTHING BAGEL TOPPING:
- 4 tsp poppy seeds
- 4 tsp sesame seeds
- 4 tsp dried garlic (minced or flaked)
- 4 tsp dried onion (minced or chopped)
- 2 tsp kosher salt (or other coarse salt)
Instructions
- To make the sponge, stir the yeast into the flour in a 4-quart mixing bowl. Add the water, whisking or stirring only until it forms a smooth, sticky batter (like pancake batter). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the mixture becomes very foamy and bubbly. It should swell to nearly double in size and collapse when the bowl is tapped on the countertop.
- To make the dough, in the same mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer), add the additional yeast to the sponge and stir. Then add 3 cups of the flour and all of the salt and malt. Stir (or mix on low speeds with the dough hook) until the ingredients form a ball, slowly working in the remaining ¾ cup flour to stiffen the dough.
- Transfer the dough to the counter and knead for at least 10 minutes (or for 6 minutes by machine). The dough should be firm, but still pliable and smooth. There should be no raw flour – all the ingredients should be hydrated. If the dough seems dry and rips, add a few drops of water and continue kneading. If the dough seems tacky or sticky, add more flour to achieve the stiffness required. The kneaded dough should feel satiny and pliable but not be tacky.
- Immediately divide the dough into 12 pieces for standard bagels, or 24 pieces if you are making mini bagels. Form the pieces into rolls.
- Cover the rolls with a damp towel and allow them to rest for approximately 20 minutes.
- Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper and mist lightly with spray oil. Proceed with shaping the bagels by pushing a hole through the center of the roll with your thumb and stretching out the hole to 2 ½ inches in diameter, making sure that the resulting ring has a fairly even thickness all around.
- Place each of the shaped pieces 2 inches apart on the pan. Mist the bagels very lightly with the spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let the pans sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.
- Check to see if the bagels are ready to be retarded in the refrigerator by using the “float test”. Fill a small bowl with cool or room-temperature water. The bagels are ready to be retarded when they float within 10 seconds of being dropped into the water. Take one bagel and test it. if it floats, immediately return the tester bagel to the pan, pat it dry, cover the pan, and place it in the refrigerator overnight (it can stay in the refrigerator for up to 2 days). If the bagel does not float, return it to the pan and continue to proof the dough at room temperature, checking back every 10 to 20 minutes or so until a tester floats. The time needed to accomplish the float will vary, depending on the ambient temperature and the stiffness of the dough.
- The following day (or when you are ready to bake the bagels) preheat the oven to 500 degrees F with the two racks set in the middle of the oven. Bring a large pot of water to a boil (the wider the pot the better), and add the baking soda. Have a slotted spoon or skimmer nearby.
- For Homemade Everything Bagel Topping, combine poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried garlic, dried onion, and kosher salt. This makes enough topping for 12 large bagels or 24 mini bagels.
- Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and gently drop them into the water, boiling only as many comfortably fit (they should float within 10 seconds). After 1 minute flip them over and boil another minute. If you like very chewy bagels, you can extend the boiling to 2 minutes per side. While the bagels are boiling, sprinkle the same parchment-lined sheet pans with cornmeal or semolina flour. As soon as the bagels come out of the water, top them with the Everything Bagel mixture.
- When all the bagels have been boiled, place the pans on the 2 middle shelves in the oven. Bake for approximately 5 minutes, then rotate the pans, switching shelves and giving the pans a 180-degree rotation. (If you are baking only 1 pan, keep it on the center shelf but still rotate 180 degrees.) After the rotation, lower the oven setting to 450 degrees F and continue baking for about 5 minutes, or until the bagels turn light golden brown. You may bake them darker if you prefer.
- Remove the pans from the oven and let the bagels cool on a rack for 15 minutes or longer before serving.
Notes
EVERYTHING BAGELS
I absolutely love love, love bagels. Bagels in all forms – savory bagels, sweet bagels. I’ll eat a bagel for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Always with cream cheese. Mostly toasted, sometimes untoasted. As you can see, I’m not very picky! After discovering Peter Reinhart’s recipe for homemade bagels a few years ago, I can count on one hand how many times I’ve bought bagels from the store or somewhere like Panera or Einstein Bros. I have made tons of different versions of his basic recipe (you can view all of my bagel recipes here), but my favorites have definitely been the Cinnamon Raisin and Blueberry.
One of the store-bought varieties I have always enjoyed has been the “everything” bagel, which is usually topped with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried onion and garlic, and salt. Since I’ve been on a bit of a bagel kick for the past couple of weeks, I decided that now was a good time to finally whip up some homemade everything bagels.
THE SPECIALTY INGREDIENTS
You may have noticed a few ingredients in the recipe that are unfamiliar or, at least, not things you would typically keep in your pantry. Let’s discuss them, the role they play, and potential substitutes…- High-Gluten Flour – This specialty flour (which you can purchase from King Arthur Flour) has a higher protein level (14%) than even bread flour (12%). For comparison sake, all-purpose flour usually has around 10%. That increased gluten protein is what provides elasticity and tough chew associated with classic bagels. You can substitute bread flour, but it is not recommended that you use all-purpose flour.
- Barley Malt Syrup – This is strictly for flavor, as it helps release the natural sugars trapped in the flour starches. It will give you the familiar old-school bagel shop flavor, and you can purchase it from Amazon or King Arthur Flour, but you can also substitute honey or light brown sugar.
- Non-Diastatic Malt Powder – I add this to the water bath, which creates a shiny exterior and helps the bagels brown in the oven. Again, you can purchase this from King Arthur Flour. You can omit this if you’d like; if you do, also omit the sugar and simply use 1 tablespoon of baking soda.
THE TECHNIQUES
Authentic bagels require some steps that you don’t find in regular bread-baking, so let’s run through them…- The Sponge – Utilizing the sponge technique gives the bagels a better flavor and texture, and also allows them to freeze and thaw more successfully due to the increase of natural acid. Longer, slower fermentation improves the flavor and shelf life.
- Overnight Refrigeration – This piggy backs on the sponge method above, giving the bagels yet another opportunity to get a long, slow fermentation going. Peter Reinhart goes so far as to say that he finds it impossible to make a decent bagel without the overnight method. The long, slow, cold fermentation allows the naturally occurring enzymes, as well as those provided by the malt, to release flavors.
- Stiff Dough – This dough is extremely stiff, with a much lower liquid to flour ratio that you will typically find in bread recipes. This stiffness is necessary to allow the dough to withstand the boiling water without deflating or losing its shape. In order to ensure the dough has the correct consistency, use the windowpane test (described in the recipe and pictured below) to see if the dough has the appropriate hydration.
- Boiling – A water bath is the traditional way to make bagels, creating the distinctive thick, chewy crust. Adding some sugar and non-diastatic malt powder to the water bath helps to “set” the outer crust of the dough and aids in its caramelization and color.
If you are a bagel purist and enjoy that chewy exterior paired with that beautiful crumb, you are going to fall in love with these. I am a total bagel minimalist and enjoy them with a slather of cream cheese and that’s it.