Mel and I decided to take on the bagel challenge together! TMM was kind enough to share her malt powder with us and we decided to just use the bread flour we had on hand. Melissa was kind enough to get the sponge part ready before I arrived, and so after some gab time, we set to making the bagels! However, neither of us read the directions ahead of time, so we didn't exactly allow for the overnight retarding in the fridge. Ah, no big deal, we'll just skip that step we decided.
Since we had two batches of dough, the whole process took quite a while, but I have to say, the boiling thing was pretty cool. The bagels puffed up quite large in the pot. I was in charge of boiling and I think that may have been where things turn a turn for the worse as far as taste was concerned....I am pretty sure I over-boiled them... I thought I liked chewy bagels, but maybe not so much. Anyway, we had dozens of bagels and it took forever!! We topped some with a mix of seeds and salt, others with cinnamon sugar, a few with sprinkles for Melissa's son, and left a few plain.
Before
After
We were starving by the time they came out of the oven, so we made ourselves a delicious toasted bagel sandwich for lunch!
In my opinion, the bagels were okay, but really not that great. I am guessing it had to do with the flour we used and the over boiling. But, they were just kinda plain and did not have a lot of flavor. I an a big bagel lover, but I think I've been spoiled by commercial bagels! Nonetheless, this was definitely the most fun I've had so far in our baking adventures since we decided to tackle the project together! Thanks Melissa (and O) for a fun day!
I almost skipped letting the bagels sits over night but wondered if he was right and it really does improve the flavor so I waited until the next day. I don't know if you would have liked them better then or not.
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