I've been making dough for different things for awhile now, so that's not a problem anymore. However, my last batch of bagels didn't rise well so I decided to use a 70/30 mix of white/whole wheat flour instead of 50/50.
I used this recipe as a guideline:
Title: Whole Wheat Bagels
Categories: Breads
Yield: 12 servings
2 pk Dry yeast
2 c Warm water (105-115 degrees)
2 tb Honey
2 c Whole wheat flour
1 1/2 ts Salt
3 c All-purpose flour
= to 3 1/2, divided
3 1/2 qt Water
1 ts Salt
Sesame seeds
Recipe by: Southern Living
Preparation Time: 0:45
Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5
minutes. Add honey, stirring well. Stir in 2 cups whole
wheat flour and 1-1/2 teaspoons salt; mix well. Gradually
stir in enough all-purpose flour to make a soft dough. Turn
dough out onto a heavily floured surface (dough will be
sticky), and knead until smooth and elastic (8 to 10
minutes). Place dough in a well-greased bowl, turning to
grease top. Cover dough, and let rise in a warm place (85
degrees), free from drafts, 1-1/2 hours or until doubled in
bulk.
Punch dough down, and divide dough into 12 equal pieces.
Roll each into a smooth ball. Cut with 1-inch cutter or
punch a hole in the center of each ball with a floured
finger. Gently pull dough away from center to make a 1- to
1-1/2-inch hole. Place shaped bagels on lightly greased
baking sheets. Cover and let rise 15 minutes. Broil
bagels 5 inches from heat 2 minutes on each side or until
lightly browned. Bring water and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil
in a large Dutch oven. Reduce heat, and simmer bagels 3
minutes on each side. Place bagels on lightly greased
baking sheets. Sprinkle with sesame seeds; lightly press
seeds into bagels. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 to 25
minutes or until golden brown. Yield: 1 dozen.
So I made my dough, beat it up a bit, and let it rise...
...and rise...
...and rise some more.
This dough rose much better than the 50/50 mix.
My bagels were much too small with this amount of dough last time, so instead of making 12 of them, I decided to make only 8. I think this is probably too few, as most of them were a bit oversized. Here they are:
My camera's batteries died at this point so there will be no more pictures until the end.
Next step: broiling. I'm not really sure why this step has to happen. The best I can figure is that it is necessary before boiling them (the next step). My bagels were so big that I had to do them in two batches. I nearly burnt the second batch but I think they are O.K.
Boiling comes next. This is the part that annoyed me the most. Every bagel needs to be boiled for roughly 3 minutes on each side. I can only do 2 at a time. 2 bagels per batch * 2 two sides each * 4 batches * 3 minutes = 48 minutes. Perhaps next time I will use two pots to speed up the process. I use tongs to fish the bagels out of the water. I almost broke a few of them by doing this. Tongs still seem to be the best method of doing this, however.
All the hard work is over now. All that's left is to bake. Again, I had to do them in two batches. My oven is funny and I can never really tell what the temperature is. I think it's always hotter than it says it is. This caused me to nearly burn the bottoms of the first batch. Luckily the smell alerted me to this before they got inedible.
Despite my inexperience and nearly burning every bagel they turned out very well! There's one bagel missing in that picture. I couldn't resist eating one before I took the picture.
Thus ends my first post! I think I will be attempting to make an Italian loaf next time.
