It's a two-day process to make these, so the above was what happened last night. I really treated myself to some snazzy ingredients, like King Arthur's bread flour, and I even got to make a special trip to the Home Brew store to find some barley malt. I loved that the old dudes running that store knew immediately that I was there to find ingredients for bread-baking. I'd love to knock off their socks next time and get some items for beer-making.
I pretty much enjoy every aspect of baking, but there is one thing I cannot stand, and that is cleaning up my mess after kneading bread dough. The counter: gross with caked on/hardened dough. The sink: covered with a floury film. The cleaning sponge: rendered utterly useless after cleaning up. The flour gets everywhere, and I can't help it! Oh well, I think it's a blessing that this step is part of the first day. Once I've had the night to sleep it off, I wake up the next day and can't wait to see how my dough fared overnight in the fridge.
So after work, I was on to step two: boil and bake. Boiling bagels has a very unique sound that I was quick enough to capture on video.
I was truly amazed at how little time it actually took to get these dense, heavy babies hot and fresh, right out of the oven. After 4 minutes of boil-time, they only needed a total of about 12 minutes in a 500-degree-F oven.
I am just so pleased I could jump with glee. They taste like a darn-good bagel! I already gave two away to Crystal, and then ate one, but I have three more ready to eat and six others still waiting in the fridge to boil/bake tomorrow. I only used salt, poppy seeds and/or sesame seeds for these. I'm contemplating Parm/Reg cheese and garlic for tomorrow's batch.
1 comment:
I think God planted the idea of bagels in some lucky fool's head when He was feeling especially randy.
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