r/Bagels

I really like the fluffiness and height , but when I touch them there too soft to the touch , more resembling of a roll. I need them to be more dense, and want that classic thick hard outside and soft, tasteful inside. Recipe and cooking method below.

Flour 100 % - GM All Trumps Bromated
Hydration 54%
Salt 2.5%
Sugar 4% - Dark Brown Domino Sugar
Grapeseed Oil 3%
Yeast .75%

Proofing / Baking / Boil

1. Sit out at room temp covered for 1 hour
2. Hand rolled
3. Rested at room temperature until floated in water ( approximately 45 mins )
4. Refrigerated for 24 hours
5. Boil with barley malt syrup for - 15 seconds each side
6. Oven at 525 degrees , with bagel boards on top of pizza stone.
7. 5 minutes on bagel boards , then flipped for about 13-14 minutes ( until done )

I appreciate any advice !! Thank you.

I have three different blueberry doughs as I’m playing with mix and hydration. Results to be posted tomorrow night.

Any help or advice about whats wrong with this Berkel 20qt Mixer would be greatly appreciated.

Proofing consistency is still a challenge.

Made mini bagels for my baseball teams and parents this past weekend. Was easier to manage once I decided to make them all minis. 3 batches - 55 bagels total

Anyone else burn up there kitchen aid ? I’m at 54% hydration

We are using a Montreal bagel recipe from a class, following the same ingredients and proportions as we did there, but the results are all wrong. Cannot find a picture that looks quite like this to problem solve :(. In the water they are unwinding and soggy.

Hi expert bagel makers! This is round two and thank you again for helping me understand the importance of ratio % in a recipe and the changes made showed improvements. Below is the recipe used and still have a few questions if someone can please point an amateur in the right direction please!

Question 1 - I had a hard time shaping the dough into a smooth ball even though I aggressively rolled it on the counter. You could still see some of the lines within the bagels and I think that is why some of it puffed out on the side (where I am pointing in the first photo). Does this mean I need more water in the dough?

Question 2 - My bagels seem to be smaller than desired. They puff up to be rather tall but I rather it be wider so you can eat it more like a sandwich. Hope that description makes sense but any thoughts there? I was wondering if it is too much yeast causing it to rise the wrong way?

Question 3 - I see a lot of people showing a picture of the cut open bagel and they are looking at the crumb. What are people trying to achieve and what does mine show?

2nd batch commentary - It was finally crunchy/crusty on the outside! Hurray! Also it got dark enough! Much better than the first batch.

Improvement from the first batch:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bagels/comments/1ta46b5/bagel_help/

Bagel Ingredients = 8 total

·         382 grams warm water = 54.96%

·         3 grams yeast = 0.43%

·         695 grams bread flour = 100%

·         19 grams honey = 2.73%

·         14 grams salt = 2.01%

Water Bath

·         2 quarts water with ¼ cup with 85 grams of honey

·         1 tablespoon of baking soda

Prepare The Dough

1.       Whisk the warm water and yeast together directly into the mixer; sit for 5 minutes

2.      Then add the sugar, flour.  Mix a bit and add salt last.  Mix for about 8 minutes at level 2 on mixer.

3.      Proof 1 - Transfer to greased bowl and cover.  Rest the gluten for 30 minutes before shaping.

4.      Shape and float test – divide into 8 pieces (aim for 139 grams per bagel), shape it, then perform a float test (if it doesn’t float within 10 seconds, let the shaped bagels proof more before testing again)

5.      Proof 2 – put the bagels in the fridge, wrapped, for 12 to 24 hours

6.      Get the water bath going then drop in cold bagel directly from the fridge; 1 minute on each side (do this in batches; keep the 4 in the fridge until ready for batch B to boil and bake)

7.      Let each bagel drain on a wire rack for 1 minute; while bagels are damp add the toppings

Baking (normal not convention)

1.      Preheat the pizza stone at 450 degrees, ideally for at least 45 minutes so the stone is fully saturated

2.      Put the 4 bagels on the Silpat lined sheet, slide the sheet directly onto the preheated pizza stone. 

3.      Bake at 450 for 15 to 18 minutes.  Rotate the pan 180 degrees at the 8 minute mark. 

4.      Let batch A cool and start on batch B. 

How’d we do?

I was traveling for work so my normal process of starting with a sponge on Thursday and bowling for 40+ hours in the refrigerator had to be altered. I got home last night and decided to give it a try. I followed my normal recipe by Thia codes so all the underlying metrics remain the same. As I said, I didn’t start with a bagel sponge like I typically do. I just went right to the dough making which actually came together really easy and then these bagels were only in the refrigerator for about seven hours. 30 second boil. Burlap bagel boards five minutes and then flipped over for another 12 baked at 550° and they look pretty good. Absolutely love the color on these. What do you think?

24 hr cold ferment.
62% hydro

Makes 12x 158g bagels. 56% Hydration - For Sunday morning bagels:

1. On Friday at 8am, Make pre-ferment, Mix:

a. 225g High Gluten Flour (>14%)

b. 225g Water

c. Pinch (1/16 tsp) dry yeast (SAF)

2. Let Rest approx 10-12 hours at room temp until risen

3. On Friday around 6pm mix final dough

a. 946g High Gluten Flour

b. 430g Water

c. 4.5g yeast

d. 28g salt

e. 36g Barley Malt Syrup

f. 17g Dough Improver

g. All of pre-ferment

4. Knead in kitchen aid until well developed and smooth, 10 mins on speed 2.

5. Let rest, covered for 10-15 mins to relax the gluten.

6. Do not use any additional flour for dusting or handling

7. Cut a 20g sacrificial ball for the float test

8. Divide and shape into 12x 158g bagels

a. Roll quickly using one hand in the middle to about an 8” rope with fattened ends (dog
bone shaped) TWIST the rope then wrap over 3 fingers with both thick ends in your
palm and seal. The dough will retract and make a thick bagel with small hole.

9. Place onto a floured silpat on a cookie sheet (12 bagels to 2/3 sheet pan)

10. Cover and proof on the counter until the sacrificial ball passes the float test, plus 15 minutes. This took 2.5 hours at 71deg room temp. It takes about 1 hour at 75 degrees room temp. Start checking every 15 mins at 45 mins, earlier if your room is warmer. This is by far the most important step. Wait until you get a good float before refrigerating.

11. Refrigerate, COVERED until Sunday morning (36 hours)

12. Sunday morning: Adjust oven to middle/Top Rack and Preheat oven to 500 Convection with
    steel on oven floor (for heat retention)

13. Soak the bagel boards

14. Boil 3000g water

15. Add ¼ cup of barley malt syrup to the boil

a. Watch for boil-overs

16. Boil the bagels straight from the fridge for about 30 seconds, face down, pressing the bottoms
    down occasionally with a spider. They should float and start to look puffy and defined

17. Drain right-side up on cooling rack

18. Immediately add toppings to tops while still wet – do not delay at all.

19. Place bagels upside down on soaked bagel boards

20. Add toppings to bottoms

21. Bake the upside-down bagels on the bagel boards for 5 minutes.

22. Flip onto room temp baking sheet and continue to cook for 10 mins.

23. Rotate trays front to back, Continue cooking approx 3-4 more mins.