The reason why this recipe tastes so good is because it employs the use of a starter. Starters are usually made ahead of time. This recipe calls for almost equal parts of water and flour to be mixed with a pinch of yeast in a small bowl and let sit overnight covered. The yeast will start to eat the flour and break it down into sugars (not the sugar you are used to). The dough is not sweet but it gives it a great taste. I make the starter when I get home from work, which is usually after 11:30. It will sit all night till about 9 a.m. when I make the rest of the dough. This recipe also calls for non-diastatic malt powder. I had no clue what this stuff was, but I poked around the web and found out that it is an ingredient in home beer brewing. The info also said that if you have a local brewery around you that they would stock it. Well I don't have one of those, but there is a store called "The Weekend Brewer" just 3 miles up the road in Chester. They stock all the supplies to make homemade wine, beer, spirits, soda, whatever. So I went in the store and spoke with the owner (who is very very very passionate about his work). He said that bakeries buy his malt powder all the time just for bagels. So I was sold right there. He sold me 1 lb of Amber Malt for around $4 after tax. So if you have a local brewery or shop that sells brewing supplies then just call them and ask for this stuff. Worst case scenario you can buy it online but it will cost your more, plus shipping.
Back to the baking part. So I used this stuff in the recipe finally. In my Kitchenaid Pro Mixer Bowl (with Dough Hook in place) I combined flour, yeast, water, malt powder, salt, and the starter. Set it on speed 2 for 10 minutes and voila! The dough was perfect, it was soft and supple and tacky. I let that sucker rise for 1.5 hours at room temp. Then weighed it ou
t and split it into 8 rounded pieces. I let them rise again for 30 minutes (covered with plastic wrap) sitting on the counter. Then I poked my finger through them one by one and gave them a twirl to make a 1.5 inch hole in the center. I placed them on two parchment lined baking sheets (parchment paper is great, buy some it will save you so much time and cleanup, Williams-Sonoma has some, Pampered Chef does also). I let them rise again (still covered with plastic wrap) for 45 minutes. Meanwhile I had my electric fryer out and placed a cooling rack inside of it with about 1 inch of water (the height of the water was just below the rack). I cranked it to
300F to get it to boil. I also pre-heated the oven t0 400F. When the bagels were done rising again, I placed 4 at a time on the rack in the frying pan and covered it. The boiling water created a lot of steam which cooked the outside of each bagel. This gave it that signature texture. The steaming process is only done for 90 seconds. After which I place the bagels back on the baking sheets and repeated with the remaining bagels. When this is all complete they go in the oven for 20 minutes. They will puff up even more in the oven and will get nice and brown. After they have baked then I pull the bagels out and let them cool off for about 1 hour.Side Note: So many people will grab bread right out of the oven, butter it and then consume. That is fine if you are making quick dinner rolls or a pizza. However, if you took the time to put flavor in the dough (i.e. the starter) then you will want the bread to cool so you can enjoy the work of the yeast breaking down the flour. Now I have nothing against slicing your bagels and putting them in a toaster. That is just awesome.
In closing I have come to a conclusion that making bagels at home is easier and cheaper in the long run. You also get a satisfaction from doing it. You start with several different ingredients that on there own taste kinda odd. After this whole process you are left with something delicious. I call than effin Zen!
- The Chesterfield Bread Baker
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