Pizza is life, but so is bagel.
Variations
You can use this recipe to make not just bagels but additional variations which I’ll share at the end (Baggiza, the pizza bagel; and Baetzel, the pretzel bagel).
Recipe
Same as pretzel dough… (less hydrated than pizza dough which is 65%)
58.5% hydrated dough:
- This sound dry, but because sugar will be added, sugar contributes to the “wet” components and brings the percentage up.
- For every 1kg of flour, use 585 mL water
16.66% sugar (For 1kg flour, use 166.6g sugar)
Salt 3 tsp per 1 kg flour
Yeast 8 tsp dried active yeast powder (per 1 kg flour)
Method
Whisk all the dry ingredients together (flour, salt, yeast, sugar)
Add water and briefly knead to bring it together and put it in the fridge overnight.
An alternative is to properly knead, and rest in a warm place to double in size – I prefer the no-knead method.
Take the dough out of the fridge the next day. Let it come to room temperature, and let it rise. I like to put it in a 35 deg C oven. Learn with repetition and use your judgement when to move on to the next step.
Knock back
Divide (about 115g) – I use a scale and aim for 110g to 125 g each.
Shape into balls – fold into centre over and over (French method)
Rest 60m, and cover with a damp cloth. Resting makes shaping easier.
Shape into bagels (finger poke and spin method):
I prefer this method to the traditional Jewish method, which involves shaping into long sausages and tying them together in a bagel shape.
Rest bagels for 10 minutes (while boiling salty water, like pasta water).
Boil 1m on each side approx
Egg wash and sesame sprinkle (or variations).
Bake at 200degC fan forced for 19 min.
Let it cool on a cooling rack before eating, it will taste better.
Extra notes:
Do not bake on a wire rack resting in a baking tray – this causes air below the baking tray to remain cooler and the base of the bagels doesn’t cook enough.
Moisture from egg wash might delay browning and cause variations. You can cook a minute or two longer if needed.
Variations
I tried boiling in salty molasses water – interesting but no need.
I also tried some honey in the water, which was slightly more interesting, but no need.
BAGIZZA – the pizza bagel. After boiling, you can add passata, some ham or salami, or anything else pizzary, and top with cheese, then back.
BAETZEL – my dough for pretzels is exactly the same as bagels, the only difference is adding bicarbonate of soda in the boiling water. This causes an intense Maillard reaction giving pretzels the characteristic brown colour. You can shape them as pretzels or bagels (baetzels), top them with salt and bake. For these, I back at a higher temperature (210 deg C, and for only 10 minutes – vary as needed.)
Tips
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