My first attempt at bagels was similar to the pretzels since I didn’t use any commercial yeast, and they turned out a bit flat. I really wanted to see what Henry could do, and while his flavoring is on point (the bagels were real good), I can’t just swap him into any recipe and expect great rises.
Dough ingredients:
- 120 g Henry
- 400 g flour
- 200 g water
- 1 T salt
- 1 T honey
Mix this all together and knead for 3 minutes in the stand mixer with the dough hook. Give the dough a 5 minute rest, then knead for 3 more minutes. Knead a bit more by hand, then put it into an oiled bowl for an hour.
At this point, I put the dough into the fridge because the recipe said so. I think this step is fine for commercial yeast, but really seems to halt the sourdough. Next time, I think I will skip this step (or add commercial yeast).
The next day, I proofed the bagel dough again at room temperature for 90 minutes at room temperature. At this point, it did not pass the float test (if a piece of dough floats in water, the fermentation/proofing is done), but I shaped them anyway and then waited a little longer for them to proof. The bagels did not seem to change in size much, and never did pass the float test. No matter…on to the poaching!
Poaching liquid ingredients:
- 3 qts water
- 2 T honey
- 1 T baking soda
- 1 T salt
I brought the poaching liquid to a boil, and put the bagels in for a couple of minutes (until they actually began to float). The boiled bagels then got baked!
You may notice that two of those bagels look rather odd…it’s because they are not bagels, they are hoagie rolls. Don’t get too excited though, they did not turn out like hoagie rolls. Both the crumb and crust were way off from what they should be, so I will need to do some more research and practice before that recipe gets posted.
