C’est le weekend!
Despite trying very hard not to begin every post with a running commentary of the weather, I can’t seem to avoid it. So, here I go again, but the bagel recipe comes straight after.
Aside from the odd glorious day (captured in the image below), the weather has been pretty awful throughout May. Today is no different. I’m sitting in the living room with the window open, listening to the rain hit the terracotta tiles on the barn roof and trickle down the drainpipe.
After I returned from a trip to the UK, I spent two solid days in the garden (in glorious weather) planting the variety of vegetables, flowers and herbs that had been sitting on a decorating table on our terrace whilst we waited for the last risk of frost to pass. Today I finished adding rings of straw around some of the more vulnerable plants that seem to be struggling with the epic downpours. It will help to keep the leaves out of the soil, at least. As for the snails, I still haven’t figured out how to keep them at bay…
During this time, and with no other jobs to do for the moment outside (especially not in the rain) it has been easy to take refuge in the kitchen. Baking bagels and making fresh pasta; researching new recipes and ideas with foraged plants. If you read my last post (if not, you can read it here), you’ll know that I’ve been picking elderflower on the odd sunny afternoon and making various concoctions for the months ahead.
This afternoon I made a batch of bagels destined straight for the freezer. They’re ideal for breakfast and quick lunches. If any guests get sick of pastries or baguettes (extremely unlikely), there’s always a familiar alternative. Hopefully in the summer, I’ll be able to pick fresh tomatoes from the garden and stack the juicy slices on a toasted bagel slathered in cream cheese. I make a batch of bagels about once or twice a month because we struggle to buy them here or at least not at our local boulangerie. We picked up a bag from the supermarket last year but they were heavily processed and bloody awful.
I’ve been using the below recipe from the fantastic River Cottage Bread handbook (I have a few in the series and always search for them in charity shops) but have tweaked it slightly over time.
Don’t be put off by baking bagels because of the additional poaching step. A lot of people assume its a very faffy process but, in the grand scheme of things, this doesn’t add much time to the entire process. The recipe below makes twelve bagels, but I often play around with the quantity of dough to make fewer, larger bagels. Sometimes six or eight. This alters the cooking time, but I’ve baked them enough times now to know roughly how long they need. Having said that, I don’t always get it right!
Recipe
500g strong white bread flour
5g powdered yeast or 15g fresh yeast
10g salt (fine)
250ml warm water
20g caster sugar
50ml vegetable oil, plus extra for coating
For toppings
1 egg, beaten
Poppy or sesame seeds (optional)
Method
In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients together (minus the ingredients for toppings) and form a dough. Knead on a clean surface until the dough is smooth and elastic. Leave on the work surface covered with the mixing bowl and allow it to rise.
When the dough has doubled in size, deflate and divide it into 12 pieces (I use scales for this part but as long as they’re roughly the same size, all will be well). Roll each piece into a sausage shape about 15cm long. Wet the ends with a dab of water and press them together to make a ring. See my alternative method in ‘Considerations’ below. Leave them to prove on an oiled (not floured) baking tray.
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C / Gas Mark 6. Separately on the hob, bring a saucepan half-full with water to a boil. When the bagels have more or less doubled in size, they’re ready for poaching. Depending on the size of the saucepan, you’ll need to do this in batches or even individually. Turn the temperature down down to a simmer and fit as many bagels as you can comfortably fit, with space for them to bob around (they’ll begin to expand further). Cook on each side for 1 minute and remove onto a clean tea towel.
After you have poached them all, evenly space them out on a baking tray lined with baking paper and brush them with the beaten egg. Sprinkle seeds on top (optional). Bake for 15 minutes until the bagels are a golden shiny brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Considerations
I often substitute caster sugar for brown sugar. It gives the bagel a very subtle caramel-y taste. If I’m sticking with caster sugar, I add ½ teaspoon of cane sugar molasses. This changes the colour slightly and gives another variation of flavour.
I use a wok to poach rather than a saucepan. It allows me to poach more bagels in one sitting (three or four, normally) without the pan being too crowded. My saucepans are quite small and limit me to one or two at a time.
The original recipe suggests you brush your bagels with a beaten egg before baking. I I almost always end up wasting the rest of that egg by forgetting about it in the fridge, so I use vegetable or rapeseed oil now. You’ll still get a lovely golden colour.
I use another method to create the bagel shape. With each piece of dough, I form into a ball and pierce the middle with a chopstick. I gently push my finger through the hole and with my hands, I gently stretch the dough to form a ring shape. You may end up with a less prominent hole in the bagel than the sausage method above, but there’s technically more surface area for your filling…
Wishing you a rain free Bank Holiday weekend!
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