Bagels

Ingredients

Starter

• 3.2g yeast (instant)
• 531g water (down to 480g in the humidity of summer)
• 468g bread flour

Dough

• 364g bread flour
• 3.2g yeast (instant)
• 21.8g dk brown sugar
• 21g salt
• pepper

Water Bath

• 2T sugar
• 1t baking soda
• 4 inches of water

Glaze

• Egg whites

Instructions

The setup takes 3-4 hours, followed by a long cold rise.

1. Mix the starter together in the stand mixer with the paddle
2. Add all dough ingredients except 50g of flour on top of the starter, but do not mix in
3. Cover with plastic and stand 1h
4. Mix slowly, knead at #4 for about 5 minutes, stopping occasionally to mix the dough ball that forms back in. Finish kneading on counter. Dough should be loose but coherent and not tearing.
5. Rise warm until doubled, then punch down and fold and rise covered in the fridge for 4-48h (usually overnight)
6. Warm the dough for an hour from the fridge, then shape, targeting about 100g per bagel and weighing the mass of dough to determine the exact amount. Usually the total mass is about 1350g, so about 104g each makes a baker’s dozen. Fold each part a few times and shape each into a ball, and then stretch its surface.
7. Poke a hole in each ball, from the seam side, and shape into a ring about 4-5” in diameter, using enough flour to avoid sticking. It will blow off in the boil.
8. Preheat the oven to 500F with a baking stone and start a pot boiling with sugar and baking soda.
9. Allow bagels to prove about 45 minutes before boiling. Boil 2-3 bagels for 90s per side. Transfer to a rack to cool briefly, brush with egg whites and dip in toppings, and arrange on a baking sheet.
10. Put the pan on the baking stone and bake for 5m. Drop the temp to 450 and baken another 20m. Turn off the oven, wait 5m, then open the oven and wait another 5m, then remove and cool.