You must be thinking.. what? She doesn’t have anything better to do? But my friend, there is nothing like waking up to the aroma of fresh home baked bagels. If you have not experienced yet, I would suggest, you go ahead and try it this weekend because I am going to give you a no-fail recipe for New York style bagel. Hmm..now we are talking!
I found this recipe from a wonderful website that I am totally in love with. I tried few things from this website and the result…awesome!! So let us began, shall we?
I made plain bagels, since this was my first time and so I didn’t want to mess up.
3 ½ cups bread flour
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 ½ tbsp. sugar
1 ½ cups warm water
1 tsp salt
That’s all. How simple is that?
The process:1 ½ tbsp. sugar
1 ½ cups warm water
1 tsp salt
That’s all. How simple is that?
In a small bowl, pour the yeast, sugar and warm water (warm not hot. Hot water kills the yeast). Don’t stir. Let it sit for some time, say 5 min. or so. Then stir and check if the yeast is active. You will see a froth and a thin film on top which means yeast is working its magicJ
In another bowl, combine the salt and flour. Form a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture and half of the water. Slowly start mixing with your hands and add more water as and when required. What we are looking for is a firm and stiff dough. Don’t worry about the mess J
Now dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 min. (this is a good workout for your arms. Don’t shy away from this Tiger J. Knead the dough with lots of love. It will return the favor later, believe me). Add more flour if needed.
Grease a bowl and transfer the dough into this bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and top it with a damp kitchen towel and keep it in a warm place. (for me, warm place is my oven. I preheat the oven to 170deg. F and switch it off.) When it has doubled in size, punch it down and let it sit for another 10 min.
Now, make 8 round balls out of this dough. Insert a finger into the center to form a hole. (Make sure you stretch the hole, otherwise when the dough rises, the hole will disappear). Let these balls rest for 10 min. cover them with a plastic wrap
Preheat the oven to 425 deg.F
Boil some water in a large pot. When it starts boiling, reduce the heat. Transfer these dough balls into the water making sure not to crowd the pot. When it is done, it floats to the surface. Let them sit in the water for 2 min. each side. When done, take them out and repeat with the second batch, if any. Drain.
Final step, transfer them to a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 20 min.
Done!! Huh!!! Have it with cream cheese like I did..Hmm…pure bliss…this makes me forget all about what I did to get them in my hands.
Long process but every single step is worth it. I am not going back to the store brought bagels anymore. Thanks Kamran!
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