Bagels!

[thirdfromleft]

I love eating bagels when I'm in the US (especially the New York style ones) so I decided to try and make them at home. I've tried a few batches using recipes I've found on the Internet but they don't come out quite right. They are a bit too dense and they don't have that particular kind of chewiness if you know what I mean. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good recipe and/or where I might be going wrong?

To get the kind of chewy crust, you have to boil the bagels for a few minutes in water with a good big tablespoon of baking baking soda in it. You could also try adding some honey to the boiling water to give them the glossy finish.

Makes 6.

400g strong white bread flour
1 sachet easy-blend yeast
1 1/2 level tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
for the dunking pot:
2 tbsp brown sugar

Combine the flour, yeast salt and sugar in a bowl and add 200-225ml very warm (about blood temp) water.

Stir together to a firm dough.

Cover the bowl and leave for 10+ minutes. Knead the dough lightly for about 30 seconds. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and leave 10+ minutes then repeat the light knead before returning the dough to the bowl, cover it and leave for 30 minutes or longer.

To make some of the batch flavoured ( I often make 3 plain & 3 cinnamon & sultana bagels), I add flavourings at this stage. Toppings eg poppy seeds / sesame seeds should be added after poaching

Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Shape each into a bagel shape, cover with a cloth and leave for 60 minutes. (either roll out a long sausage shape and stick the ends together to form a ring using a few drops of water, or make a ball then stick your finger in the centre and stretch the dough outward with your finger.

Boil about 2 litres of water with the sugar in a saucepan.

Drop each bagel in, leave it for 20-30 seconds, then flip it over and leave a further 20-30 seconds, until it puffs up slightly.

Heat the oven to 160C (fan).

Place the poached bagels on a tray, and bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

bagels

Thanks for the suggestions! I think I have narrowed down what the issue might be. First, how long to boil them - the recipes say anything from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. What do you guys think is right? Second, oven temperature. My recipes say 200C but bagelmonkey you suggest 160 - maybe I have the oven too hot?

Will experiment tomorrow with another batch and see how they turn out!

I basically just boil them a few at a time in a BIG pan until they float up to the top. It only takes a couple of minutes. My recipe requires them to be baked in a hot oven, so i heat the oven to it's hottest and then turn it down to 200 when I put in the bagels.

Actually, that 160 might just be for our oven that seems to just burn everything.

really vast big pan of water. bagel geekery

Tried another batch and they still dont seem quite right! Don't think I've giving up though, I'm going to crack this nut.

stressed you say you wait until they float, which sounds like they sink at the start? Because mine float from the beginning.