Bagels

Yummy bagels, crusty chewy exterior, soft spongy interior. Slightly savory and goes very well with cream cheese. I must be getting old to like chewy, savoury breads now. Adapted from Stephanie Wong’s recipe, thanks for sharing!

The ingredients list looks simple, but the most challenging was the boiling with water. One of my bagels was deeply wrinkled because I did not fish it out in time. I even set up the timer on my ipad in front of the wok. So, please adhere to timing strictly. Other than that, please follow my dimensions too, if you don’t want the bagels to be all shape and sizes.

Recipe

250g bread flour
3/4 tsp yeast
12g sugar
140g water
2/3 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients till elastic. Only a thick window pane about 2-3 mm is required, do not over knead. Form a round dough and cover. Proof for 40 min.

2. Turn out dough onto counter top, pat gently to release large bubbles. Divide into 7 pieces of 60g each.

3. Roll out each to a approximately 10 cm oval. If you would like to add nuts or sesame, you can roll some in now.

4. Fold 1/3 up and down as shown and flatten with palm.

5. Fold in half again and pinch to close seams.

6. Roll out to about 23 cm in length.

7. Using rolling pin, flatten one end to a spoon shape, then join with other end and pinch to close.

8. Cover and proof for 30 min. There is no need to double in size, just a slight expansion will do.

9. Preheat oven to 220 deg C. Warm water in wok, till bottom is all covered with bubbles, but not boiling. To improve shine, you can add a heap tablespoon of brown sugar into this blanching water.

10. Drop bagel dough into the wok. Turn after 20s, and wait another 20s. Then use a strainer to remove quickly and place on lined baking tray. Dough should look slightly wrinkly when out of water. You can do this in batches of 3-4.

10. Once all bagel are on baking tray, you can add toppings like poppy seeds, nuts, flaky salt etc etc. Then send into oven and bake at 220 deg C for 16 to 18 min.