Almost anyone who knows me at all would tell you that I'm not someone who can sit and do nothing and that I like my food. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that in a time of lockdown and furlough when I'm not allowed to work and can't do most of the things I'd usually do with an unexpected day (week/month) at home I've turned to cooking as a way to stave off boredom and fill time!
Today I walked down the canal for three miles turned round and came back via the pub (who have turned their stables into a little farm shop) and bought bread flour and fresh yeast because no where else has them and blood oranges and a scotch egg just because...so then the question was what to do with these new riches?
I have a friend who has been making her own bagels for a few months now and I've been tempted so she sent me her recipe and that was this afternoon's entertainment sorted!
Thankfully the recipe is actually written for fresh yeast so I just followed that, mixed it with maple syrup, added water and (forgot to take a photo) ended up with a slightly sloppy sand coloured thick liquid to which I added flour and salt and mixed to make a firmish dough. I don't have a stand mixer so this all happened by hand - unlike Ruth I quite like that sense of messy, warm, sticky dough on my fingers and as it all comes together it (mostly) cleans off anyway! Then it was time to knead it for about ten minutes - this is when I realise I don't use those muscles much (and my wrists are protesting too much yoga!).
The next part is where it starts to get fun and different from other bread recipes. You take your dough, knock out the air and cut it into seven pieces each about 110g, and yes if the recipe gives me a weight of course I'm getting my scales out to check they're all roughly equal in size!
Take each piece of dough and roll/stretch it into a sausage shape about 25cm long - I might weigh but strangely I didn't get the ruler out (but I do know my handspan is approximately 22 cm long so used that) to measure them. Take the ends, bring them together and a ring, dampen them and then wrap them together, rolling them slightly so they stick. Place them on a lined, greased baking sheet.
Leave them to prove for ten minutes. Meanwhile you need a large pot of simmering water to which you've added the sugar. Poach the bagels in ones or twos depending on the size of your pot for about 30 seconds on each side, flipping them over in the water.
Lift them out, drain on a cooling rack or similar. Then place back onto the baking sheet and bake at 200C (fan) for about 15 minutes. Take out, cool and eat. The New Yorkers apparently have strong opinions on how. I don't.
Oh and they'll freeze well if I a) don't eat them all first and b) can find space in my freezer.
So there you are fresh yeast and two stage baking. I've not tasted one yet but am about to go and find my #Confinedcocktail and think I might have a bagel with it!
Today I walked down the canal for three miles turned round and came back via the pub (who have turned their stables into a little farm shop) and bought bread flour and fresh yeast because no where else has them and blood oranges and a scotch egg just because...so then the question was what to do with these new riches?
I have a friend who has been making her own bagels for a few months now and I've been tempted so she sent me her recipe and that was this afternoon's entertainment sorted!
I don't think I've worked with fresh yeast since I was at school so that was the first challenge - what do you do with this block that looks a bit like putty?
Thankfully the recipe is actually written for fresh yeast so I just followed that, mixed it with maple syrup, added water and (forgot to take a photo) ended up with a slightly sloppy sand coloured thick liquid to which I added flour and salt and mixed to make a firmish dough. I don't have a stand mixer so this all happened by hand - unlike Ruth I quite like that sense of messy, warm, sticky dough on my fingers and as it all comes together it (mostly) cleans off anyway! Then it was time to knead it for about ten minutes - this is when I realise I don't use those muscles much (and my wrists are protesting too much yoga!).
It then get's put in a bowl, covered and left for an hour - I actually left it for an hour and a half - until it's doubled in size and as I realised when I came back to it the bowl would be better oiled! It wasn't actually too stuck though and scraped out easily.
The next part is where it starts to get fun and different from other bread recipes. You take your dough, knock out the air and cut it into seven pieces each about 110g, and yes if the recipe gives me a weight of course I'm getting my scales out to check they're all roughly equal in size!Take each piece of dough and roll/stretch it into a sausage shape about 25cm long - I might weigh but strangely I didn't get the ruler out (but I do know my handspan is approximately 22 cm long so used that) to measure them. Take the ends, bring them together and a ring, dampen them and then wrap them together, rolling them slightly so they stick. Place them on a lined, greased baking sheet.
Leave them to prove for ten minutes. Meanwhile you need a large pot of simmering water to which you've added the sugar. Poach the bagels in ones or twos depending on the size of your pot for about 30 seconds on each side, flipping them over in the water.
Lift them out, drain on a cooling rack or similar. Then place back onto the baking sheet and bake at 200C (fan) for about 15 minutes. Take out, cool and eat. The New Yorkers apparently have strong opinions on how. I don't.
So there you are fresh yeast and two stage baking. I've not tasted one yet but am about to go and find my #Confinedcocktail and think I might have a bagel with it!
These do look very good. Do you know if the maple syrup at the start could be subbed with something else sweet, like honey or sugar? I don't know enough about the recipe to guess if that's just foolhardy...
ReplyDelete(Also, v jealous of your blood oranges! I haven't seen any here since lockdown - only Aldi had them and they don't have enough of the other stuff I want for me to make it my weekly shop.)
Yes I think honey or golden syrup or similar would work - the original recipe was actually for malt syrup. Even sugar would probably work but I'm not sure how to convert to right amount of dry sugar there!
DeleteAnd I saw that the pub had them on their Facebook page and couldn't resist a couple when I was buying flour. I might have one with my lunch!