On another thread, Loyd was asking about my go-to bakery shop-street vendor type New York style bagel recipe,
(that I had shamelessly stolen years ago).
Sponge:
4 cups bread flour, 2 & 1/2 cups water, 1 tea spoon yeast--- I get the commercial stuff by the pound at a on line bakery supply.
I also add 1/3 cup of extra gluten powder.
This makes them have that stretchy, chewy texture you can't quite make from grocery store ingredients.
It, and the malt syrup is available on line from bakery supply sites. Probably even Amazon.
Dough:
1/2 tea spoon yeast, 3 & 3/4 cups bread flour, 1 table spoon Kosher salt, 1 table spoon brown sugar.
Additional items:
1 tablespoon baking soda, 1 table spoon malt syrup (from bakery supply) or molasses for water boil.
1 egg, 1/2 cup poppy or sesame seeds, 1/2 cup cornmeal for toppings.
1. Stir sponge items together.
2. Cover & set at room temp. approx. 2 hours. It should be bubbly with small holes in the top.
3. Put in mixer with dough hook. Slowly add dough mixture, and run about 10 minutes. Dough should be stiff- add flour if needed.
4. Turn out on counter and hand kneed a few minutes. Dough should not stick to fingers.
5. Divide into 12 balls. Cover for about 20 minutes while they rise.
6. Flatten each ball, and press a hole in the middle. Stretch them out by a circular motion in your hands.
7. Put on sprayed cookie sheet a inch apart. Cover with plastic and let rise for 20 minutes.
8. Put sheets in refrigerator for 3 hours, or over night.
9. Remove from frig.
**** Pre-heat over to 500******
10. Boil 4 qts. of water with the baking soda and malt syrup. This deepens the color and flavor.
11. Boil 2-3 at a time for 30 seconds per side.
If they look flat, they are warming up, reduce boiling time to 15 seconds per side.
12. Put boiled bagels on flat cotton cloth to dry--- not a towel.
13. Put parchment paper on baking/cookie sheet. Scatter corn meal on parchment paper.
Put bagels on cookie sheets.
14. Mix 1 egg & 1/2 cup of water for wash.
This will put a crisp brown top on them and help hold on the topping seeds.
15. Put in oven on racks moved up away from bottom heat source to prevent burnt bottoms.
*********** As they go in the oven, lower heat to 450F**************
16. Bake 5-7 minutes and switch pans around to even out the heat on them.
17. Bake another 5-7 minutes and switch pans around again.
18. Repeat switching pans every 5-7 minutes until a deep, golden brown.....Total cooking time will be 20-25 minutes.
19. Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes, put on wire rack to finish cooling.
Yeah, its a hassle, and takes over the kitchen, but they're worth it.
And, they freeze well.
The reason we can't duplicate some of the things made in restaurants is because we can't get
the same ingredients as what they buy in bulk.
The only way to get there from here, is buy what they use where ever we can find it.
The extra gluten (its labeled- 'vital wheat gluten') is why their pizza dough is better than ours, along with other bread products.
Commercial yeasts are just different, and work better than what we can find at the grocery store.
I've done these bagels with molasses instead of malt syrup from a supply house...
Its OK, but using the malt syrup is better.
Making them the day before is probably how the shops do it.
That way they can take them out in the morning, boil & bake 'em.
Then do the prep towards the end of their day, and put the next batch in a walk in 'reefer to be ready in the morning.
A future project is dough nuts like the shops make. I've got the right kind of yeast.
Now I need to find the flour they use in less than a 100 pound bag.