In Australia its pretty hard to find a bakery selling fresh bagels, I put it down to lack of demand. The supermarket sells packaged blueberry, plain or poppy seed every now & then and if your lucky you may stumble upon a stall at the local farmers markets supplying fresh bagels. So I had a go at making my own and I'm quite happy with how they turned out.
I started with a simple dough of flour, salt, brown sugar, oil, yeast and water.
Then on a lightly oiled bench I lightly kneaded the raisins and cinnamon through the dough by hand to keep the fruit from breaking up.
As the bagel dough is a firm mixture kneading in the cinnamon at this stage creates a beautiful marbled effect.
After dividing the dough into twelve round portions, allow them to rest under cling wrap to prevent drying the dough out.
Then taking one ball at a time, roll into a log, overlap ends and press together to form a bagel. Don't worry about perfect bagels, we're looking for a rustic style here. Now, this is a two day process where the bagels are laid on a tray of semolina, covered and refrigerated overnight.
In the morning the bagels are left to come to room temperature for about 1 hour. Using a pot of boiling water infused with honey the bagels are blanched on either side and then placed on a clean tray to be baked. This process creates a dense, chewy yet crunchy texture found in a bagel.
Split in half and spread with lightly salted butter these bagels make a lovely breakfast. Tradionally bagels are spread with creamcheese and smoked salmon but flavours are endless, you could try herbs, seasonal fruit, citrus zest or roasted nuts.
Cinnamon & Raisin Bagels
This recipe is adapted from Global Baker by Dean Brettschneider
Ingredients: Makes 12
500g strong bread flour
10g salt
15g brown sugar
15g olive oil
5g yeast
260ml chilled water
10g ground cinnamon
100g raisins
course semolina, for dusting
2 Tblsp honey, for water
Method:
1. Using a mixing bowl with dough hook attachement place flour, salt, sugar, oil, yeast and water. Mix slowly to form a rough dough, then increase to medium speed, scraping down as nessecary to form a smooth elastic dough, 7-10 minutes.
2. Tip out dough onto a lightly oiled bench and knead in cinnamon and raisins until incorparated.
3. Divide into 12 pieces approximetly 90g each, roll into balls and cover with cling wrap for 10 minutes to rest.
4. Taking one ball at a time press down and roll into logs measuring 15cm to 20 cm. Folding around 3 fingers overlap ends and press together rolling gently on the bench to seal.
5. Place the bagels on a semolina dusted tray and cover loosely with clingwrap. Refrigerate over night.
6. Preheat your oven to 210 degrees. Remove the bagels from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature, approximately 1 hour.
7. Using a large pot of boiling water combined with honey blanch bagels two to three at a time for 30 seconds on either side. Place drained bagels, semolina side down on clean lined trays and bake for 20 minutes until golden.
Cool on a wire rack, they freeze well in ziplock bags as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment