Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Bagels

Sunday was bagel day. I've been wanting some bagels for a few weeks now, and when a fellow blogger mentioned he was eating them in Paris, I figured that I just needed to make a batch.

Oven fresh bagels - sesame and poppy!

I've made bagels before, and you can look at the pictures that Ken took here. The first step is to make the dough, of course, which is nothing but flour, yeast, and water (with a little sugar and salt). After a rise, the bagels get shaped and are left to rise again.

Bagels rising.

The next step is to simmer them in water. I add a tablespoon of honey to the water to give the bagels a nice glaze when they're baked. After the simmer, they get drained, then sprinkled with whatever topping you like. I used sesame and poppy seeds.

This is why they're called water bagels.

Then, into the oven they go! The whole process, from start to finish, took just over two hours. That's for a batch of one dozen bagels.

Waiting to go into the oven.

We ate a few of them for lunch this week with cream cheese and smoked salmon, and cream cheese and ham. The rest are in the freezer.

Bagels ready to eat.

13 comments:

  1. OMG, those bagel look unbelievably good -- just like the ones that came from the Jewish bakery in Baltimore when I was a kid. None of this puffy steamed junk, like a large, well-known US bagel chain produces. A good bagel must have a certain chewiness to it, and I'll bet yours do!

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  2. wow those look amazing! as good as the ones I was eating (glad I gave you some motivation) I now need to try making them... do you mind emailing me the proportions? I am sometimes bad with baking.

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  3. I'm so excited! I will make bagels. It's so easy to print the post when you send us directly to it. I have all the photos (8 from February 29, 3 from today). I got the "Water Bagels" p.13-14 at the first printing try. Lucky, because it doesn't say on which page it is. It gives all the ingredients. I'm not too sure about the sweetener. Please tell me if real sugar will do. I can't wait till Saturday. Thank you to both of you for my "Recettes de Saint-Aignan."
    I feel that two Chefs are at my side when I'm cooking.

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  4. On a recent trip to Israel, I've got to tell you, the bagels and cream cheese disappointed. The smoked salmon was the highlight. Oh for some good home-made bagels.

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  5. susan, yes, they're chewey!

    justin, I e-mailed the recipe to you.

    claudia, good luck! Just standard granulated sugar works, or even honey instead. I think it's just to feed the yeast.

    cheryl, oy!

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  6. Cheryl

    there is a story that goes like this in Montreal;
    The best bagels are the ones made from recipes from Poland.Last February when I was commenting on the 2 bakeries here, I didn't specify that it is the 3rd generation of Jewish families who came from Poland and Montrealers who go to Israel come back with the same comments that the bagels there are not fabulous.

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  7. Those bagels look the business - I'm tempted to make some, but I think it's gotta be baps for venison burgers this weekend.

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  8. How brave you are to make bagels! I have sure enjoyed eating some here in the PNW.

    Hope you have had a great summer. I'll be back in France in a few days...

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  9. WHOLEY- COW!!!!! Those bagels look a million times BETTER than the ones me and Justin had from the Marais... Can I ask you for the recipe, please? You can email it to me if you'd like-- LGIRASOL@earthlink.net
    I love to bake but I want to follow your recipe rather than find one online since yours look to "die for!!"
    Thanks, Leesa

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  10. susan, what are baps?

    betty, thanks - have a good trip back!

    leesa, done!

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  11. Walt - baps are a soft bun. I assume it is a Scottish word. They are perfect for bambi burgers.

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  12. Wow those bagels have me drooling for bagels now. I bet they tasted as good as they look.

    Thanks for making me miss NYC.

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  13. l'étrangère a., they sure did! But I'd love a good old nyc bagel - it's been a lot of years since I had one!

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