The Real New York Bagel Food

THE REAL NEW YORK BAGEL RECIPE

Steps:

• In a medium/large bowl or pot, stir the sponge together with a whisk or wooden spoon. Make sure to get all dry materials mixed in well.
• Cover with plastic wrap and keep at room temperature for 2+ hours.
• After sponge is bubbly with small holes at the top and about 2 hours have gone by, pour sponge into your mixing bowl.
• Attach dough hook. Then add all ingredients listed for dough. Flour can be added gradually as mixer is going.
• Knead with dough hook for approximately 10 minutes or until dough looks smooth and is not too sticky. Dough should be quite stiff (add more flour if needed).
• Turn out on counter and knead by hand for a few minutes. (More if your mixer couldn't handle the kneading for very long). Make sure dough does not stick to fingers to get to proper consistency.
• Divide dough with a knife into 12 equal pieces about 4.5 oz. each. make into "balls". Cover to rest with plastic wrap for 20 minutes.
• Shape each ball into a bagel by pushing your thumb(s) through the middle.
• then using your two index fingers in the hole, make fast circular motions, stretching the hole out a bit. Don't worry if they are not perfect.
• Place bagels on sheet pans or cookie sheets that have been sprayed with cooking spray oil. Leave an inch or so on all sides.
• Let rise under plastic wrap for 20 minutes then place in refrigerator.
• Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight.
• Pull pans from fridge, get a large pot (4 quarts) of water on the boil and preheat the oven to 500 deg. F. move racks to the top of the oven.
• Add 1 T. baking soda to water (this increases the color depth and flavor of the bagel while baking).
• When water is boiling, pull 2-3 bagels at a time gently and place them upside down in the water.
• Boil for 30 seconds then flip over with a large slotted spoon or similar and repeat for other side. (if perchance your bagels have had time to warm up from the fridge the boiling time decreases--if your bagels are coming out of the boiling water looking too flat, decrease the boiling time on each side but always go a minimum of 15 seconds per side).
• Remove each bagel with spoon and slide off on to a large clean cotton cloth (flour sack type material not terry cloth) for draining.
• Repeat with all other bagels.
• Place parchment paper in your sheet pans or cookie sheets.
• Spread corn meal evenly and lightly on parchment paper.
• Place moist, warm bagels gently on corn meal. You can place them touching one another. Sometimes we like our bagels plain with no toppings, if you do, skip the next couple steps --.
• Make an egg wash with 1 egg mixed with approx 1/2 cup of water and when well-mixed, brush across tops of bagels. If you don't like a slightly eggy taste, you could brush with just egg whites mixed with a bit of water. This will help hold topping on.
• Sprinkle with desired toppings (I like toasted sesame seeds and poppy seeds the best, but this could include a dizzying number of different toppings-whatever you like).
• Turn oven down to 450 deg F. as you place pan(s) in oven.
• Bake for 5-7 minutes then turn pan around and switch pans on racks as necessary.
• Bake for another 5-10 minutes turning as necessary and repeat this until all bagels are evenly deep golden brown. Total cooking time will be 20-25 minutes until all are evenly deep golden.
• Remove from oven, let cool on pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack for at least 15 minutes (ok, 5 minutes!) before devouring.

AUTHENTIC NEW YORK-STYLE HOMEMADE BAGELS

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, stir together water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes.
• With a wooden spoon, stir in oil, malt and one cup of the flour. Add salt, then enough of remaining flour to make a stiff dough.
• On a lightly floured surface, knead for 10 to 12 minutes. Cover with a floured dish towel and allow dough to rest on a board for about 15 minutes.
• Divide dough into 12 sections and form each section into 10-inch long strips. Roll the ends together to seal and make a ring. Place on a lightly floured surface, cover, and let bagels rest 15 to 20 minutes, rising about halfway and becoming slightly puffy.
• Meanwhile, fill a large cooking pot or Dutch oven three quarters full with water. Add the malt syrup and salt.
• Bring water to a boil. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with baking parchment and, if desired, sprinkle generously with corn meal. Set aside.
• Line two other baking sheets with a kitchen towel, set near your stove. Reduce boiling water to a simmer and cook 2 bagels at a time (do not crowd the pot). Simmer bagels for about 45 seconds on one side, then turn and cook other side for another 45 seconds and then drain bagels on the towel-lined baking sheet.
• Carefully place bagels on the parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake bagels plain or sprinkle with a topping of your choice. Place in the hot oven, immediately reduce heat to 425 degrees F, and bake about 17 to 25 minutes. When almost baked, turn bagels over (a pair of tongs do the job easily). If you have a baking stone, finish bagels on the stone directly. Transfer bagels to wire rack to cool.
• These freeze well, which helps to retain a just-baked taste, if they aren't all eaten on the first day. To freeze, slice cooled bagels first, place a small strip of plastic between the bagel halves and place in a plastic self-sealing freezer bag. When you're ready for a bagel, they'll come apart easily, ready to pop into the toaster/oven and enjoy.

NEW YORK BAGELS

Steps:

• Combine the yeast, bread flour, salt, 1 T brown sugar and 1 1/2 cups warm water and knead vigorously for 10 minutes. The dough will be quite stiff.
• Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, and set it aside to rise until it's noticeably puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Lightly grease two baking sheets, or line them with parchment and grease the parchment. Divide doug into eight pieces (for large bagels), or 12 pieces (for standard-size bagels).
• Working with one piece at a time, roll it into a smooth, round ball. Place the balls on one of the prepared baking sheets. Cover the balls with plastic wrap, and let them rest for 30 minutes.
• While the dough is resting, prepare the water bath by heating the water, malt, and sugar to a very gentle boil in a large, wide-diameter pan. Preheat your oven to 425°F.
• Use your index finger to poke a hole through the center of each ball, then twirl the dough on your finger to stretch the hole until it's about 1 1/2" to 2" in diameter. Place half the bagels on each of the baking sheets.
• Transfer the bagels, four at a time to the simmering water. Bring the water back up to a gently simmering boil, if necessary. Cook the bagels for 2 minutes, flip them over, and cook 1 minute more. Using a skimmer or strainer, remove the bagels from the water and place them back on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining bagels.
• Bake the bagels for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they're as deep brown as you like, turning them over about 15 minutes into the baking time (this will help them remain tall and round). Remove the bagels from the oven, and cool completely on a rack.
• Variations: To make sesame seed or poppy seed (or other seed) bagels, brush each bagel, just before baking, with a glaze made of 1 egg white beaten until frothy with 1 tablespoon of water. Glaze each bagel, and sprinkle heavily with seeds.
• To make onion-topped bagels, bake bagels for 20 to 22 minutes (or until they're almost done and remove the pan from the oven, keeping the oven turned on. Working with one bagel at a time, glaze as instructed above, and sprinkle with minced, dried onion. Return the bagels to the oven for no more than 2 minutes.
• Cinnamon-raisin bagels: Knead about 2/3 cup of raisins into the dough toward the end of the kneading process. Just before you're done kneading, sprinkle your work surface heavily with cinnamon-sugar, and give the dough a few more turns. Divide the dough into pieces, form each piece into a ball, and roll each ball in additional cinnamon-sugar. Proceed to let rest and shape as directed above.

BAGELS

Steps:

• Combine water, sugar, salt, bread flower and yeast in bread machine, and run dough program.
• When the dough is ready, divide into 8 balls on a lightly floured surface. Make a 1" hole in each ball. Place bagels on a greased baking sheet, cover, and let rise for 30 minutes or until they have doubled in size.
• In a pot, bring 8 cups of water to a boil, and add 2 tbsp of sugar. Simmer a few bagels at a time for about 3 minutes, turning to make sure they cook evenly. Return the boiled bagels to the baking sheet.
• This part is optional: Beat the egg, and brush a small amount on the bagel tops, sprinkle with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or cracked wheat, etc.
• Bake at 400F for approximately 25 minutes, or until done.

BAGELS

Steps:

• Put all the ingrediants in the row of the list above into you kneeding machine (i use kitchen aid) and kneed until you have a soft ball of dough. It might be possible that you need to add a little flour or water.
• Let the dough rise for one hour at a warm place.
• On a surface lightly covered with flour, form a dough roll and cut it into 8 pieces.
• Roll a ball from every piece, print a hole into it (use the end og a wooden kitchen spoon) and hold on circular movements until the hole is about 4 cm in diameter.
• Put the bagels onto a baking tray and let rise for 30 minutes.
• In a largar pan (like one you use for cooking pasta) bring water to boil.
• Put the bagels, top above, into the cooking water, turn the heat down and simmer for 30 seconds.
• Turn the bagels and let simmer for 30 seconds on the down side.
• Take them out and put them on a plate to drain leftover water.
• Put seeds on top, like sesame, poppy, sunflower, etc.
• Bake on baking tray at 220°C for 20 minutes.
• Note: Add 4 ts of sugar and 1 ts of cinnimon to the dough and sprinkel with caster sugar or chocolate flakes.
• Or: Add 4 ts of your favorite jam to the dough and sprinkel with caster sugar.