ny-bagels.md

NY Bagels

Makes 8 bagels. Total time about 2 hours.

Dough ingredients:

• 1.5 cups water
• 1 tablespoon dry active yeast
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon regular olive oil (pref. not extra virgin)
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 4.5+ cups unbleached flour (all-purpose or bread flour)

Dough directions:

1. Heat 1.5 cups water to 110 - 115 deg F (about 77 seconds in a microwave).
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes. Make sure the yeast bubbles on the surface.
3. Mix in oil, molasses, salt, and 1 cup of flour until uniform.
4. Gradually mix in the remaining 3.5 cups of flour, kneading and folding the dough in upon itself by hand. Use a little extra flour as needed to ensure that there are no significant moist spots. This whole process of kneading should take about 10 minutes.
5. Form the dough into a ball in the bowl, cover the bowl with a towel, and let stand for 15 minutes.
6. Move the dough onto a cutting board and use a large knife to divide it into 8 even parts, one for each bagel.
7. Roll each section in your hand into a uniform tube about 10 inches long. Fold the ends over upon each other with an overlap of 1.5 - 2 inches and smush the ends together to form a bagel shape.
8. Cover the formed bagels with a floured towel and let sit for at least 20 minutes. While this is happening, prepare the boiling water.

Boiling ingredients:

• 5-6 quarts water
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Boiling directions:

1. Boil about 5-6 quarts of water in an 8-10 quart stock pot. This should take about the same amount of time (20 minutes) as is needed for the bagels to rise.
2. Add molasses and salt to boiling water and stir it in.
3. Drop bagels into the boiling water, 2 or 3 at a time. Cook 45 seconds on each side - 90 seconds total - using a slotted or skimmer spoon to flip the bagels halfway through.
4. Transfer boiled bagels to dish towels to dry off.
5. Prepare a couple cookie sheets by sprinkling them lightly with corn meal (optional).
6. Move bagels to cookie sheets.

Topping ingredients for everything bagels:

• 1 medium shallot or small onion, minced
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons regular olive oil
• Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, whatever you like :)

Topping directions:

1. Mince shallot / onion and garlic.
2. Add shallot / onion and garlic to measuring cup with enough olive oil to coat.
3. Heat for approximately 60 seconds in the microwave. This should just soften and warm the toppings.
4. Use a small spoon to add toppings evenly to bagels on cookie sheets.
5. Sprinkle on any extra toppings, such as sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and kosher salt.

Cooking directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 deg F.
2. Place both cookie sheets into the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 425 deg F.
3. After 10 minutes, rotate cookie sheets between racks to ensure even cooking.
4. After another 10 minutes (20 minutes total cooking), bagels should be done.
5. Remove and place on cooling racks or cool wooden cutting board.
6. Let cool for > 5 minutes. Cut in half and toast in toaster or oven broiler for a couple minutes.

Serve with cream cheese and lox or whatever you like. Enjoy!