Traditionally bagels are boiled.
It gives them the chewy crust.
Today, it's pretty hard to find a traditionally boiled bagel
because it's harder work and it's less efficient.
So actually, you might be making more authentic bagels at home
than at the bakery.
So today I'm going to show you how to make authentic boiled bagels.
The bagels today are sourdough,
but, of course, you can use yeast, whatever you need.
And you can use any sourdough starter that you want.
So I've got a really big bowl
because I think that when you're making something at home,
you might as well make like 20 instead of ten or 30.
I've got my bread flour.
You can use plain flour if you can't get your hand on bread flour.
I have my water.
This is my salt, mixed with some
milled malt.
Classic bagels are kind of malty.
We have some oil.
This is a neutral oil.
I'm using rice bran oil, but you can use any neutral oil.
I'm going to show you guys also how to make an everything bagel mix,
'cause I think they're the best.
Black and white sesame, sea salt, garlic granules, onion granules.
I put a little caraway seeds, 'cause I like them, but a lot of people don't.
And some poppy seeds.
I've already pre-weighed everything, so let's mix.
So first I'm going to pour the water.
And the starter.
And actually the first thing I'm going to do
is just dissolve the starter into the water.
Now, I'm going to add in the flour.
If you have a mixer at home that has a little dough hook,
that's also good, but you can do with your hands.
A bagel dough is a pretty stiff dough,
so it actually is going to take a little bit of work to mix.
But that's alright.
You can let out all your frustrations.
I'm chucking in the salt and the malt and the oil.
So I'm going to mix it until it all comes together
and then we'll knead it on the benchtop.
So, I'm still trying to get the dough to come together.
It's a pretty stiff dough.
You can bring it towards you and push away.
After you've mixed the dough
give it a couple of minutes to rest
and then have another go at mixing it and you'll see
straight after the rest of the dough is already come together better
without you doing anything.
I'm now going to put the dough away in a container with the lid on.
So it doesn't dry out on top.
If it dries out on the top,
the skin can prevent it from expanding.
So you want to cover it as much as possible.
It's been 6 hours, so here's our dough now.
Much more airy and big and soft.
We weigh our bagels to 135 grams.
At home you do not need to do that.
You just can cut them however you like.
You can also use any knife that's sharp.
Ideally, don't tear the dough.
It's not the end of the world
but if you can use a knife or something
to just cut the dough without causing
too much damage to it, that's ideal.
I'm going to show you how I shape a bagel.
Roll over and kind of push.
Roll over. Roll over. Give it a final roll.
And then I'm going to let
this sit for 5 minutes and again, rest
so that I can have a bit more stretch.
If you can't get it, it doesn't matter.
These are your bagels for you to enjoy
and freshly made food at home is amazing
no matter what. It's amazing.
So don't stress too much.
We're going to get the tray ready so that we can put our
shaped bagels on the tray.
I use baking paper on a tray and I use some spray oil so it doesn't stick.
After the bagel rises,
remember, we're going to boil it. 'Cause real bagels are boiled.
So you don't want them to stick to the tray.
I've got my strands.
I've got my space to shape it, and I've got my tray.
Here's how I shape them.
I put them in my hand,
and one end is at one end of my palm,
and the other end is at the other end of my palm.
And I'm going to use the benchtop to stick them together.
So I'm just going to go from left to right
until they're stuck together.
So that it can fit around my palm,
that's, kind of, the hole size that I like.
Remember, as it rises and then as it bakes again,
the hole is going to become smaller.
These are done and ready to go to bed.
While the dough is rising
for a second time, in shape, it should be covered.
Now our bagels are ready.
Until now, you've been very patient, you've been waiting for it to rise,
and you've kneaded it so much and all those things.
Now, this is the fun part.
And we're nearly going to eat them.
So here's an example of when it's risen.
If you press, it's going to bounce back slowly.
So what we're going to do now
is we're going to do the traditional act of boiling bagels
I just want to tell you a little secret.
So traditionally bagels were boiled
'cause you get that good crust from boiling it
Nowadays, most places don't really boil them.
They just steam them a lot, a lot, a lot.
So, actually, you might be making more authentic bagels
at home than at the bakery.
Now, I put a little bit of honey in my water.
Some people use baking soda, some people use nothing.
The honey gives it a nice caramel color.
I like polenta to go at the bottom of the bagel
because I like the sweetness and the crunch that you get from it.
But that's totally optional.
So the water's boiling.
I'm going to take the bagel gently and drop it in.
Bottom up.
And we're going to do each side one minute.
One minute with the lid on, flip them,
one minute with the lid on.
Take them out, shake them off,
chuck them straight into our everything bagel mix.
And transfer it.
And again,
shake it off. Flip it.
The bagels are fragile by now 'cause they've got all the air in it
that has developed slowly
and you want to keep it in there.
So you just using very gentle fingers when you do all of this process.
I'm just using the tips of my fingers and I'm barely touching it, actually.
I should just add that bagels,
because they're so crusty, they're really the same day food
and then they should be toasted the next day.
Toasted bagels are amazing.
If you're a type of personality,
like me, that's such a perfectionist
and that's going to stop you from baking at home like,
"You don't have the right pot, you don't have the right things".
I want to try and show you that you don't have to let that stuff
to stop you from making something yum at home.
The bagels are ready to go in the oven.
I hope the oven hot already like at least 200 degrees Celsius,
if not 220, and it will bake for about 10 to 15 minutes.
They're done when you can tap them at the bottom
and you hear a hollow sound.
Transfer them to a cooling rack so that they stay crispy
while they're cooling instead of getting soggy.
Ideally, you want to cool them for 20 minutes before cutting
'cause as it's cooling, it's still kind of setting and cooking.
But again, no one's going to see if you
stuff a boiling hot bagel in your mouth in the kitchen.
Up to you.
These are boiling hot straight out of the oven.
They're best eaten same day, in the first few hours.
Or what we do at home is we'll make a big batch
and then when they're cool, I'm going to cut them.
And then I store them in the freezer in a ziploc.
And then I take them out in the morning
and I fill them for the school lunches.
And by the time it's lunch time, they're really fresh again.
And if you're having people over
and you really want to impress them
and they're from your freezer,
you can just let them defrost
and freshen them up in your oven for five to 10 minutes on 180 C
and they'll be as good as as if they came
straight out of the oven.
Thank you so much for watching and baking along with me.
Good luck at home.
Don't worry if they don't work out in the beginning, just keep trying.
And happy baking!