Sourdough Bagels Part 3/3
25.11.06 21:04 Filed in: Bread
The bagels
are being cooled. I've baked them and the sense of accomplishment
is rewarding. Baking breads requires a great deal of patience and
good time-management skills. If anything this is the best and most
fun part of the whole joy of the creation of food. The whole
discovery, experimenting, failure and the triumph of creating a
successful dish! I am still brimming with glee with the successful
activation of my cultures and very successfully creating bagels
from it.
These bagels were nicely dense and chewy also really nice when
toasted! Though I think I overdid it with the coarse sea salt
topping. So sprinkle with caution.
With so much sourdough cultures left... what is next?!
Sourdough Bagels
Makes about 18
2 Cups Cold Liquid Culture
4 Cups White All-Purpose Flour, sifted
½ Cup Water
½ Cup Milk
1 Tsp Salt
4 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs, beaten
1 Tsp Baking Soda
Part 1
Mix Liquid culture with 1 cup of flour and ¼ cup of water in a large mixing bowl. This becomes your working culture, cover with plastic wrap and proof in an unheated oven (turned off) for 6 hours (or overnight).
Part 2
Add 1 cup of flour and ¼ cup of water. Mix and and do a wet knead until very smooth. Proof for 4 hours in the unheated oven.
Part 3
By now your starter should be pretty bubbly and alive. Add in milk, oil, eggs and really give it a good and thorough mix. Fold in 1 cup of flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar and salt. The dough was still pretty wet for me at this stage, so I took the opportunity to do a wet knead - really working the gluten at this point. I did this for about 10 minutes (needless to say my arm was very tired). I added ½ cup of flour and transferred the mixture to the counter and began kneading by hand continuing to add ½ cup of flour each time until the dough was manageable. Supposedly at this point you should be able to do a windowpane test, I wasn't very successful with this. i continued to divide the dough up into little balls of 100gm and left it to rest on baking parchment lined cookie sheets for 20 minutes.
After letting the dough rest, I shaped them by poking my finger through the dough and tried to make an even torus and again left them to rest for 20 minutes. I thought I'd try the overnight retardation technique of leaving the dough overnight in the fridge to extend fermentation, giving it more flavour. I had to do a "float test" to see if the bagels were ready to be retarded. I took a bagel and dropped it in a bowl of tap water, it floated up within 10 seconds. Pat the bagel dry with paper towels and return to cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Part 4
Preheat oven to 250C.
Fill a huge pot with water, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 2 tablespoons of sugar and bring to boil. The baking soda and sugar allows the bagel to caramelise nicely while being baked. Drop bagels in, they should float to the top quite quickly. And boil on each side for 1 minute. Using a pair of tongs or slotted spoon transfer to lightly oiled parchment lined cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with semolina. At this point your can add your preferred topping.
Turn temp down to 225C and bake on the upper quarter of the oven for 5 minutes, after which rotate cookie sheet 180° and bake for another 5 minutes. Until golden brown.
Cool completely on rack (at least 15 minutes) before storing.
Makes about 18
2 Cups Cold Liquid Culture
4 Cups White All-Purpose Flour, sifted
½ Cup Water
½ Cup Milk
1 Tsp Salt
4 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs, beaten
1 Tsp Baking Soda
Part 1
Mix Liquid culture with 1 cup of flour and ¼ cup of water in a large mixing bowl. This becomes your working culture, cover with plastic wrap and proof in an unheated oven (turned off) for 6 hours (or overnight).
Part 2
Add 1 cup of flour and ¼ cup of water. Mix and and do a wet knead until very smooth. Proof for 4 hours in the unheated oven.
Part 3
By now your starter should be pretty bubbly and alive. Add in milk, oil, eggs and really give it a good and thorough mix. Fold in 1 cup of flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar and salt. The dough was still pretty wet for me at this stage, so I took the opportunity to do a wet knead - really working the gluten at this point. I did this for about 10 minutes (needless to say my arm was very tired). I added ½ cup of flour and transferred the mixture to the counter and began kneading by hand continuing to add ½ cup of flour each time until the dough was manageable. Supposedly at this point you should be able to do a windowpane test, I wasn't very successful with this. i continued to divide the dough up into little balls of 100gm and left it to rest on baking parchment lined cookie sheets for 20 minutes.
After letting the dough rest, I shaped them by poking my finger through the dough and tried to make an even torus and again left them to rest for 20 minutes. I thought I'd try the overnight retardation technique of leaving the dough overnight in the fridge to extend fermentation, giving it more flavour. I had to do a "float test" to see if the bagels were ready to be retarded. I took a bagel and dropped it in a bowl of tap water, it floated up within 10 seconds. Pat the bagel dry with paper towels and return to cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Part 4
Preheat oven to 250C.
Fill a huge pot with water, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 2 tablespoons of sugar and bring to boil. The baking soda and sugar allows the bagel to caramelise nicely while being baked. Drop bagels in, they should float to the top quite quickly. And boil on each side for 1 minute. Using a pair of tongs or slotted spoon transfer to lightly oiled parchment lined cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with semolina. At this point your can add your preferred topping.
Turn temp down to 225C and bake on the upper quarter of the oven for 5 minutes, after which rotate cookie sheet 180° and bake for another 5 minutes. Until golden brown.
Cool completely on rack (at least 15 minutes) before storing.