Bagel Face Off – Round 1

dsc090452They are both very similar except that one uses malt syrup in the dough, while one uses the malt syrup in the water bath & one allows more rise than the other. Chow’s uses malt syrup in the dough and barely any rising time in the process, which made them faster, easier, and a much better candidate after an IKEA time warp this weekend made me shorter on time than I’d have liked.

the ever-elusive malt syrup

This batch was all salt bagels – because they are BF’s favorite. Next batch will have more variety, so that I can pawn them off on the general population who love bagels that aren’t covered in coarse salt 🙂

This batch came out great- they were dense, chewy, and perfectly-sized. The recipe makes 12  goldilocks-sized bagels. The ones at the store either come in giant size, or miniature size, these ones fall perfectly in between. The malt syrup added a slight sweet-tang that is found in gourmet bagels.  Win! These will be hard to beat – but I’ll be sure to update you on how the stack up against the SE bagels which claim to have tricked NYC bagel aficionados into thinking they were purchased and not hand-made… we’ll see, SE, we’ll see…

Chow’s Bagel Recipe – Adapted from Chow.com

Printer-Friendly Version

  • 1 1/2 cups yeast-friendly water (105°F to 110°F)
  • 1 (1/4-ounce) packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
  • 4 C bread flour
  • 2 Tbs malt syrup
  • 2 Tbs kosher salt
  • 4 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 large egg white + 1 Tb water (for egg wash)
  • Desired topping

1. Pour yeast packet into water and set aside. Combine flour, malt syrup, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook . Add yeast mixture to flour mixture and mix on low until “shaggy”. It’ll look something like this:

2. Increase speed to medium-low (I put that at about a 2 for my mixer) until the dough is smooth, elastic, dryer, and somewhat stiff. (Stiffer than you think it should be).

3. Once mixed, shape into a ball and toss in oiled bowl, cover, and set in a warm place for about 20 minutes to rest. (It will not double, but should be noticeably puffy. Mine kinda looked like a brain)

4.  While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 425F. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil, cover and simmer until ready to use. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

5. When your dough is ready, divide into 12 3-oz pieces (these were perfect size to fit in my hand, slightly larger than golf-ball sized). As i divided the dough, I threw the 3-oz balls back into the bowl and kept them covered.

6. Once your dough is divided, roll each ball (one at a time) into a 9-inch rope, the shape that rope into a bagel by dampening the ends with water, wrapping the rope around your fingers, and smooshing the ends together.

*Alternatively, you could poke a hole in the middle of the ball, and just stretch that hole until it is quarter-sized. I will try that way next time and let you know how it goes

7. Set bagel loops onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet, and cover with a damp towel. Let rest for about 10 minutes.

8. After resting, re-stretch the hole to be quarter-sized. Plop your bagels into your simmering water a couple at a time. Initially they will sink, just poke them so they don’t get stuck to the bottom of the pan, and when they look wrinkly and float, remove with a spider and set back onto parchment-lined cookie sheet.

9. Brush egg-wash over bagels and sprinkle with desired toppings. Bake in 425F oven 20 – 30 min until golden-brown. Remove from oven and cool on rack 30 min before eating (or 5 minutes if you have a hungry monster in your house who you can’t defend them from)