Time to make the bagels

House-bound and cabin-feverish during last weekend’s snowstorm, I decided to start a baking project. Since we wouldn’t be able to get out first thing in the morning and would need a hearty meal to fuel our shoveling efforts, I chose the breakfast favorite and lunchtime sandwich bread substitute - bagels.

As I started looking for the perfect recipe, I learned a few surprising facts and found several conflicting instructions. Bagels are best described as a bread roll with a stiff crust and a hole in the middle. Food historians generally agree that the current way to make bagels originated in Poland.

There’s an apocryphal story (or urban legend) from the 17th century when King Jan Sobieski was reported as the first to allow Jewish bakers who were not members of the Krakow bakers’ guild to produce “obwarzanek” inside the city walls. These were a type of roll whose name is derived from the word for “parboil.”

The significance of the name refers to how bagels are made. Unlike most yeast-based rolls or breads which are simply baked, bagels are first cooked in boiling water before they are baked. Why? The answer is simple: to give bagels their distinctive texture.

When the rounds of bagel dough are dropped into the roiling water, starch on the exterior surface quickly gels, forming a barrier that prevents the water from penetrating into the dough. The addition of malt barley extract to the water (or sometimes lye) helps this process and also adds flavor and sheen to the bagel.

Another result of the boiling step is how much the bagel will rise once it’s in the oven. If the boil is brief, the crust is thinner and the interior dough can rise more, producing a softer texture. A longer boil produces a thicker, chewier crust and dense interior because the dough is unable to rise very much in the oven.

In many of today’s commercial bakeries, this boiling step is replaced by injecting steam into the oven while the bagels are baking. This provides enough moisture to gelatinize the surface, adding color and shine, but doesn’t produce the signature chewiness purists expect.

There are two schools of thought about the bagel-making process (not counting those who disapprove of skipping the boiling step). One group supports making the dough, letting it rise, shaping the bagels and proceeding directly to cook them.  Alternatively, there are those who claim the flavor and texture of bagels are enhanced by shaping the rounds and storing them in the refrigerator for a few days before boiling and baking. The scientific support for this approach is that the cooler temperatures slow down the activity of the yeast, giving it more time to ferment and enrich the flavor of the finished product.

There are also two schools of thought about the best way to shape a bagel. One is to roll out a long snake of dough and connect the ends to form a circle; the other is to take a wad of dough, roll it into a tidy ball, pull it into a flattish disk and poke a hole through the middle.

Finally, the fundamental key to bagel-making success is the flour. Instead of all-purpose white or wheat flour, bagels must be made with high-gluten bread flour. Gluten is the family of proteins found in wheat that forms long, stretchy chains of protein when the flour is moistened and kneaded. The higher gluten content in bread (about 14 or 15 percent compared to 7 percent in pastry flour) is what gives the dough an elastic texture and the final product a satisfying chewiness.

This requirement can explain the results of my bagel-making attempts last week.

Since we didn’t have any high-gluten flour, I wasn’t able to make much progress. Instead, we had to wait until the roads were plowed and we could make it to Surf Bagel (see photo).

Basic Bagels

1 C warm water, divided
1 1/2 T sugar
2 t active dry yeast
3 1/2 C high-gluten flour
1 1/2 t salt
1 T oil
toppings (optional)

Combine 1/2 C water, sugar and yeast in a measuring cup. Stir briefly and allow yeast to begin foaming, about 5 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture. Add remaining 1/2 C of water and stir to combine. Once dough holds together, transfer to a flour-dusted surface. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Lightly coat the inside of a large bowl with oil. Form dough into a ball and place in the oiled bowl, turning to coat all sides with oil. Cover with a dish towel and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch down dough and allow to rest another 10 minutes. Divide the dough into 8 balls. Press the dough balls into flattened disks and use your finger to poke a hole in the center. Place bagels in a single layer on a piece of waxed paper*.

Bring a large pot of water to boil and preheat oven to 425 F. Once water has reached a rolling boil, place 4 bagels in the pot using a slotted spoon. When they float to the top, boil for 1 minute, turn them over and boil an additional minute. Transfer boiled bagels to a cookie sheet that has been coated with nonstick cooking spray. Repeat steps for remaining 4 bagels. If desired, toppings such as sesame seeds, poppy seeds or dried onion bits may be sprinkled on at this point.

Bake for 10 minutes, turn over bagels and bake until golden, about another 10 minutes. Yield: 8 bagels.

*Note: if desired, formed bagels may be placed on a baking sheet, covered with waxed paper and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days prior to boiling and baking steps.