Bagels: the rather scrummy roll with a hole
I love my kitchen. I’d love it more if it was painted pink, but that’s a bit contentious on the Hubby front and might take some serious marital bargaining, probably best not described on a family blog such as this. Still, today I had a bit of a reorganisation (well, I suppose I should say ‘we’, seeing as it involved taking plugs off things and drilling holes) and moved the microwave and blender into the utility room, leaving me much more space and hopefully sorting out the ‘aaaaahhh shiiiiiiiiit!’ dilemma which occurs when picking up a very hot saucepan and not being able to find space anywhere to put it down, whilst simultaneously scorching away the skin on your fingers.
To test out my newly acquired workspace, I obviously needed a recipe with a suitable amount of fannying about involved (you can usually check this by watching my family’s reaction as they wander into the kitchen when I’m cooking – if it’s a bad one, Hubby will raise one eyebrow whilst cleverly performing a 360 and disappearing back from whence he came rather than get involved in holding up a muslin while something drains, or being enlisted to stir something). This one, then, involving all sorts of kneading and poaching and glazing and stuff, was perfect. The result, fresh out of the oven, is so densely chewy and delightful that I promise you won’t be disappointed. Credit where credit’s due, this is adapted from the recipe in Rachel Allen’s must-have tome, ‘Bake’, but simplified for the terminally cack-handed amongst us, namely me:
450g white bread flour
1 x 7g sachet of yeast
2 tsp salt
250ml warm water
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp oil
To poach:
Boiling water
Sieve the flour into a bowl and stir in the yeast and salt. In a jug, mix the water (remember it must be nice and warm to activate the yeast) with the honey and oil. Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients and bring together into a firm dough. This needs kneading for about ten minutes and – be warned – it’s seriously tough, so if you have a dough hook on your food mixer I’d suggest you use it. Otherwise, work those pecs, baby, and whilst cursing me, you can be all smug that I’m helping guard against bingo wings.
When the dough is nice and smooth and elastic, and bounces back when you poke your finger into it, leave it somewhere warm to rise, covered with a clean tea towel, until it’s doubled in size.
Once it’s ready, divide the dough into about 6 pieces and roll them into sausages, linking them into a ring by wetting the ends and squishing them together. Once formed, put them back in the airing cupboard (or wherever) to puff up again slightly.
Preheat the oven to 220/gas 7, but remember that first you have to poach them, so get a really big pan of boiling water going. Plop the bagels in, two or three at a time and once they’ve come to the surface (watch they don’t stick to the bottom of the saucepan), give each bagel about 3 minutes bathtime, turning occasionally.
Lift them out to drain on a wire rack, then brush them with a bit of beaten egg (you can sprinkle them with stuff at this stage if you like: poppy seeds or whatever) and bake them for about 10 – 15 minutes, then turn them over and give them another 5 – 10 minutes to cook the bases. Cool on a wire rack, then eat smothered with cream cheese, or butter and jam, or peanut butter…ooh, the possibilities are endless…
EDIT: Having made this a couple of times, I’d definitely recommend that you don’t put 3 tbsp treacle in with the poaching water as Rachel Allen suggests. Not only does it create the most revolting smell, but I don’t think it really adds much in the way of flavour either.
Oh, and incidentally – cream cheese and smoked salmon is the way to go. Mmm-mmm-mmm.
[...] to going back for a week or two in May. Having just spent the past five minutes gazing dreamily at this post by English Mum, I now find myself inspired to write about Northern Ireland: The Good [...]
They look yummy, though. I saw the recipe in ‘Bake’ but I must say, YOUR instructions are FAR more Jennyproof.
I can identify with the 360 spin manouevre, though. It’s amazing how a teeny, tiny little thing like the making of industrial amounts of Marmalade can clear a house of all the menfolk… Big Girls’ Blouses!
Moon: *tsk* And anyway, Bert’s poos are sparkly, you know that
Jen: I think mine was particularly traumatised by the bramble jelly/exploding muslin/Texas Chainsaw Massacre episode :0)
Nats: Yeh, I’m going to try that way next – this way they kind of unravel when they’re being poached!! x
I definitely won’t be making any of these! LOL!
Pamela: I had one for breakfast with peanut butter and raspberry jam. Yum!!
Jay: They’re a teeny bit of a faff but well worth it. Trouble is, they’re easy to buy too!
Kieran: Aw no, didn’t mean to make you homesick! Funny, I’d have thought you’d whip up your own bagels every morning – surely you don’t really eat ice cream for breakfast do you?! x
Jen: Yeh, and I thought it made it difficult to tell when they’re cooked as well, as they’re artificially brown already!!
Rach: Do you do the treacle thing when you poach them? I must know!! Ah, there’s nothing like a pootle in the kitchen, get er… fannying!! x
[...] check this guy out. And look at the picture of the brioche and fougasse from this girl! And the bagels! And the [...]
Aoife: Thanks for the link!