Easy Bagels Recipe

中文食譜按這裏

Serves : 4 bagels

Preparation Time : 25 minutes

Proofing Time：1.5 hours ＋ 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 18 minutes

Ingredients

• 250g strong white bread flour
• 1tsp rock salt
• 140ml + 20ml room temperature water
• 1tbsp of golden caster sugar
• 3g active dry yeast
• 1tsp of extra virgin olive oil for brushing the bowl
• 1egg (egg wash)
• mixed seeds

Instructions

Mix the caster sugar with 140ml water and add the active dry yeast. Mix the yeast with the sugar water and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Mix 250g of strong white bread flour with 1 tea spoon of rock salt together in a big bowl and then make a well in the middle of the flour.

Pour the yeast mixture in the well.

Mix the yeast mixture and flour together with a fork to form a dough.

You may add 10ml to 20ml more water in if it is too dry.

Knead the dough with your hand for 5 to 10 minutes.

Scrape all the four off the bowl.

Use the back of your palm to press and push the dough. If you have never knead a dough before, check out the Youtube video at the bottom of this recipe.

After 10 minutes, the dough would become like this and there is no more flour left in the bowl.

Brush a little bit oil inside the bowl to prevent the dough from sticking on it.

Put the dough in the bowl and cover it with cling film or wet cloth. Let the dough to prove for 1.5 hours or double its size.

Remove the dough from the bowl after proofing and try to keep the shape. Then divide the dough into 4 equal portions.

Tuck the edges of the dough to the centre and press to seal.

Flip the round dough to have the smooth side up.

Then use your hand to roll the dough against the working surface with a little bit pressure. It takes about a minute to make the dough a round ball because the dough is firm. Release the pressure slowly towards the end.

There should be a little ditch under the round ball.

Dip your finger in some flour then poke the ditch to form a hole.

Use two fingers to turn and stretch the hole.

Then shape the bagel with two hands to make the hole about the size of a five-dollar coin (about 3cm diameter).

Cover the bagels and prove for another 15 minutes.

Boil some water, about 4 to 5 inches deep. Shape the bagel again and slowly put it in the boiling water.

My pot can fit in two bagels every time. Cook the bagels for 1 minute on each side with medium high heat. Don’t cook for too long or the bagels would be too chewy.

Get the boiled bagels out of the water.

Line and grease a baking tray. Transfer the bagels on the tray and brush some egg wash on the bagels.

Then sprinkle some mixed seeds on the bagels. For plain bagels, you only need to brush the egg wash.

Put the bagels into the pre-heated oven, 215°C bake for 18 minutes.

Let the bagels rest for 10 minutes before eating. You may eat it with butter and jam, cream cheese or make a sandwich. I sometimes just eat it plain. 😛

Cooking Tips

• Bagel dough is quite firm, so watch out how much water you add. I use 140ml to activate the yeast first. Then add 10 to 20ml later. Normally 150ml should be enough.
• When you roll the dough into a ball, you have to give some pressure because the dough is firm.
• Brush a little bit of oil in the bowl would help to keep the shape of the dough, but don’t use too much.
• I use white sesame, black sesame and sunflower seeds, you could use seeds of your choice. You could add garlic and onion flakes too.
• I didn’t add anything in the water to boil the bagels, because I don’t think there is any significant differences.