Daring Bakers: The Agony And Ecstasy of Real Jewish Bagels

Last month I wasn't able to do the Daring Bakers Challenge, so I was determined not to miss it this month. And I was excited  by the gauntlet thrown by Freya at Writing At The Kitchen Table and Jenny at All Things Edible :  Real Jewish bagels, made by hand, not with a machine.  These would not be puffy, soft specimens with strange colors and textures.  This recipe seemed like it would result in the honest, chewy orbs that have sustained people since they were invented in Poland eons ago. Or was it Vienna? (There is confusion over the bagel's true origins.)

Little did I know how dramatic it would be making these bagels. I would suffer. I would cry out in pain.  I almost wept--such was my agony. But, soon, I was rewarded by the ecstasy of biting into a delicious tasting bagel with a wonderful chewy crust.  The pain was worth it.

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In this challenge we had to make the bagels by hand.  So, while my Mixmaster sulked in the corner, I began mixing the dough in my mother's ancient behemoth bowl.   The ingredients are amazingly simple, just water, yeast, flour, and some salt.  I have arthritis in my hands and mixing with a spoon can cause me severe pain.  I found that using my left hand to mix the dough, with my right hand adding the flour was much easier on my hands.

Eventually, I turned the dough out and began to knead it vigorously on the countertop.

Then it went back into the bowl, where it doubled very quickly.

And then the agony started.  As I was trying to shape my bagels, I suddenly experienced an enormous Charlie Horse cramp in my calf. This was no ordinary cramp. The calf was distended out, as if a large orange was trapped under the skin. The pain was horrible--and would not stop no matter what I did to make it go away.  Then my toes got little cramps in them, and each one stuck out in odd angles on my foot. I tried all the surefire methods that always work:  Standing on my leg, flexing my toes backward, stomping, squatting, etc. I also tried swearing and eventually, yelling and moaning.  BUT, I also kept making bagels at the same time. So for almost 15 minutes, I stumbled around in my kitchen, yelling so much, I'm amazed that my neighbors didn't call the police to investigate.   There aren't any pictures from this part of the process. Let's just say that I did manage to make some bagels, using the method of forming a rough sphere and poking my finger through the dough to make the hole. Then I boiled them in water and let them drain on a towel.  And cursed.  I said the really, really bad words.

The cramp finally went away from my calf and toes, and I was able to decorate the bagels with poppy seeds.

After baking.  Yes, they are very brown, but they tasted so good.

And here is the wonderful bagel, with cream cheese, red onion, smoked salmon, and tomatoes. By the time I ate it, I began making noises again. But they weren't curses.  They were the sounds of great enjoyment.   Thank you Freya and Jenny. I loved these bagels. They were just what I want in a bagel. I still need to work on my technique. I think I need to add a bit more flour the next time.  My bagels floated when I cooked them in the water, without sinking to the bottom first.   So, they need to be more "bagely".  But, they were a joy to eat.  I'm hooked! 

Now I highly recommend that you go to my sidebar where it says Daring Bakers and click on the links to see the efforts of the other members of our group. I'm sure you will be quite dazzled.  And then you will be so hungry for a good bagel.  Maybe you should make some?

Real Honest Jewish Purist's Bagels

(Real Honest Jewish Purist's Bagels)  Go read the entire recipe--it's fun

INGREDIENTS:

    * 6-8 cups bread (high-gluten) flour
    * 4 tablespoons dry baking yeast
    * 6 tablespoons granulated white sugar or light honey (clover honey is good)
    * 2 teaspoons salt
    * 3 cups hot water
    * a bit of vegetable oil
    * 1 gallon water
    * 3-5 tablespoons malt syrup or sugar
    * a few handfuls of cornmeal

This is how I did it. 

Pour three cups of hot water into the mixing bowl. The water should be warm--add the sugar or honey and stir it to dissolve. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface of the water, and stir to dissolve.

Wait about ten minutes for the yeast to begin to revive and grow.  You will know that the yeast is okay if it begins to foam and exude a sweetish, slightly beery smell.

At this point, add about three cups of flour as well as the 2 tsp of salt to the water and yeast and begin mixing it in.  I used my left hand to mix, and my right hand to add flour and salt. Note:  I'm left handed, so righties will reverse the hands, I'm sure.

When you have incorporated the first three cups of flour, the dough should begin to become thickish. Add more flour, a half-cup or so at a time, and mix each addition thoroughly before adding more flour. As the dough gets thicker, add less and less flour at a time. Soon you will begin to knead it by hand (if you're using your hands to mix the dough in the first place, this segue is hardly noticeable). Sprinkle your work surface or bowl with a handful of flour, turn your dough out of the bowl on top, and start kneading. Add flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Soon you should have a nice stiff dough. It will be quite elastic, but heavy and stiffer than a normal bread dough. Do not make it too dry, however... it should still give easily and stretch easily without tearing.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with a clean damp kitchen towel (or plastic wrap).    

Place the bowl with the dough in it in a dry, warm place, free from drafts. Allow it to rise until doubled in volume.   While the dough is rising, fill your stockpot with about a gallon of water and set it on the fire to boil. When it reaches a boil, add the malt syrup or sugar and reduce the heat so that the water just barely simmers; the surface of the water should hardly move.

Once the dough has risen, turn it onto your work surface, punch it down, and divide immediately into as many hunks as you want to make bagels. For this recipe, you will probably end up with about 15 bagels, so you will divide the dough into 15 roughly even-sized hunks. Begin forming the bagels. There are two schools of thought on this. One method of bagel formation involves shaping the dough into a rough sphere, then poking a hole through the middle with a finger and then pulling at the dough around the hole to make the bagel. This is the hole-centric method. The dough-centric method involves making a long cylindrical "snake" of dough and wrapping it around your hand into a loop and mashing the ends together.    Note:   I used the poking a hole in the dough method. The "snake" method was a miserable failure.

Whatever you like to do is fine. DO NOT, however, give in to the temptation of using a doughnut or cookie cutter to shape your bagels. This will push them out of the realm of Jewish Bagel Authenticity and give them a distinctly Protestant air. The bagels will not be perfectly shaped. They will not be symmetrical. This is normal. This is okay. Enjoy the diversity. Just like snowflakes, no two genuine bagels are exactly alike.

Begin to preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once the bagels are formed, let them sit for about 10 minutes. They will begin to rise slightly. Ideally, they will rise by about one-fourth volume... a technique called "half-proofing" the dough. At the end of the half-proofing, drop the bagels into the simmering water one by one. You don't want to crowd them, and so there should only be two or three bagels simmering at any given time. The bagels should sink first, then gracefully float to the top of the simmering water. If they float, it's not a big deal, but it does mean that you'll have a somewhat more bready (and less bagely) texture. Let the bagel simmer for about three minutes, then turn them over with a skimmer or a slotted spoon. Simmer another three minutes, and then lift the bagels out of the water and set them on a clean kitchen towel that has been spread on the countertop for this purpose. The bagels should be pretty and shiny, thanks to the malt syrup or sugar in the boiling water.

Once all the bagels have been boiled, prepare your baking sheets by sprinkling them with cornmeal. Then arrange the bagels on the prepared baking sheets and put them in the oven. Let them bake for about 25 minutes, then remove from the oven, turn them over and put them back in the oven to finish baking for about ten minutes more. This will help to prevent flat-bottomed bagels.

Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks, or on a dry clean towels if you have no racks. Do not attempt to cut them until they are cool.

TO CUSTOMIZE BAGELS: After boiling but before baking, brush the bagels with a wash made of 1 egg white and 3 tablespoons ice water beaten together. Sprinkle with the topping of your choice

Comments

[kellypea]

How cool that your post is up too. You gotta love blogging in the middle of the night.

Your bagels are NOT too brown. They're perfect. Totally. Mine look like convoluted sphincters.

But it was fun, wasn't it?

[Mary]

LOL! Trying to shape bagels with a leg cramp must've been quite a sight. And your bagels are the perfect shade of brown.

[baking soda]

LOL, you could have joined us in our little dances with that cramp. The bagels looks so smooth... I see smooth bagels everywhere, why did ours come up like li'l old men?

[Meeta]

Aww these look lovely! They are so perfect. Nice going!

[astrid]

your bagels look just perfekt. we have then in Vienna too and I truly love them. But I did not make some of my own so far.

[Lydia]

Your bagels look perfect -- must have been the awful leg cramp technique that helped them along!!! But so unfair to add that photo of the bagel with salmon. Now I am hungry!

[Anne]

I love the the color of your bagels and they smooth and shiny... they are beautiful :)

[Amanda @ Little Foodies]

Your bagels look perfect not too brown at all and doing them with arthritis in your hands and then cramp in your legs - I'm impressed even more! You could invent a new dance - the bagel bellydance perhaps??

[Anh]

Oh Sher, I adore your bagels!!!! You are such a good baker. Seriously, you need to show us more of your baking talents!

[Nancy Warden]

Sher,
Your bagels look delicious and beautiful. You have real talent.
Nancy

[Rosa]

Wow, your bagels look wonderful! And that sandwich is just too awesome!!!
I love this speciality (see my blog)...

[Farah]

Your bagels are absolutely perfect! You should be very proud of yourself, in spite of the agony!

[Helen]

Absolutely perfect! Sorry about the cramp and pain but it is completely worth it seeing the pics!

[aria]

omg WOW! i love seeing what you daring bakers make each time but this takes the kcakes, harhar! so they ARE boilded, i always wondered about that. these look perfect sher, you made BAGELS!!! woooot!

[Georgia]

Sher,

Those look awesome! Better than some store bought ones I've seen. You are so cool, I love all your recipes, it makes me sad when I can't try them all. On a seperate note - I recently started food blogging, how did you get invited to participate in all these "groups"?

[ilva]

Sher, the bagels are sheer perfection! I'm sorry about your painful baking but boy did you get a great result anyway! I don't dare to think of what they would have looked like if you had felt OK!!

[Kelly-Jane]

Your cramp sounds awful, my Mum says it's lack of salt that causes it, I'd have given up with the bagels in the face of that!

Your bagels look fabulous, really professional :)Well done.

[Patricia Scarpin]

These are some fantastic bagels, Sher! You've really put the standard really high.
I'm sorry to hear about your cramps - months ago, when I was taking Pilates classes, I had terrible cramps that hurt like hell.

You are a fighter!

[breadchick]

Sher...OUCH!! I would have invented BAD WORDS. Most excellent bagels. Those look (and I"m sure tasted) as good as anything I could find in NYC (or Boston). Great job!

[MyKitchenInHalfCups]

I wonder if a leg cramp is necessary to get a smooth bagel Sher? So sorry about the pain and agony.
Your bagels are fabulous! Way to go.

[hill_w]

I want to lick the screen. Then bite it. Rock on!

[gilly]

Hi Sher - I'm sorry you had to experience such pain during your bagel-making process. But regardless, your turned out amazingly... and not too brown! I wish mine had gotten a bit more colour!

[Katiez]

Seeing all of these bagels is really making me hungry for them... And, as I can't get them here now I'm going to have to make some...
Cream cheese and smoked salmon - bagel heaven!

[Jerry]

Aw sorry it was such an event for bagel making, but they sure do look like great bagels!

[Callipygia]

Wow these are so professional looking. I am sorry to say that I was laughing at the thought of you trying to get relief from your charlie horse- all the while kneading your bagels. You are clearly a daring bagel.

[Callipygia]

er baker. A daring baker!

[Sean]

I've made bagels before, but yours are freakin' awesome. I daresay you have a calling.

[Jann]

Your bagels look wonderful, too~all of you should open a bagelemporium~

[Alisha]

For someone in pain I'm completely amazed at your end product. Those are just so awesome (and love your sandwich -- yum!) Hope next time you go make these you can do it cramp free.

[Lisa]

OMG just reading that has made my left calf start to seize!! Worst pain there is - charley horses! And who the F was charley and why did they name that kind of pain after his horses for crissakes???

YOU are my HERO.. to go on and keep baking while dealing with the worst pain there is PLUS the 2nd worst pain there is - toe cramps! Holy hell, Sherry.. I would have hit the floor in the fetal position, stuck my thumb in my mouth and cried for my mommie. There would have been no gorgeous bagels being made. And they are gorgeous!

I do not like smoked salmon (probably because I've never had a good smoked salmon) but your lil sandwich has my mouth watering.. YUM!

Way to go.. you are definitely one of the most Daring of the Daring Bakers! =)

xoxo