Bagelicious

Here's a follow-up to yesterdays post concerning bagels.

I bet that if you're an authentic Jewish baker in an authentic Jewish bakery, you'll make the dough by hand. However, I do not claim to be a baker, nor a Jewish one, and above all of that, I am intimidated by baking (with a dash of lazy). So, I made the dough in my breadmaker.

Here's the recipe I used, from
Pizzorno, Lara. The Complete Book of Bread Machine Baking. Prima Lifestyles, 1997. Print.

For a 1.5-lb loaf (my machine makes 3-lb loaves, but this was enough to fill my machine)
1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups (10.8 ounces) whole wheat flour
1 cup (5.2 ounces) unbleached flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

I put the ingredients in my machine in the order listed, since my machine calls for wet ingredients before dry. If yours calls for the reverse then, well, do the reverse. Put it on dough setting, or whatever your machine calls for, and turn 'er on. Easy-peasy.

When the cycle is complete (mine took an hour and a half, so I read Austen's Sense and Sensibility while I waited), take out the dough and cut it into 12 even portions and roll into nice evenly-sized balls (teehee). If you'd like larger sandwich-sized bagels, then make fewer portions - say, 8. Don't worry about getting them perfect right now, or, well, ever. Just relax - preheat the oven to 400F and then get yourself a drink, play with the pets, argue with your beloved, whatever, for about 15 minutes. It doesn't have to be exact. When you return, the balls should be puffier and begging to be poked at.

So, poke at them. Er, poke holes in them. Most recipes call for rolling the dough into small cylinders and then sticking them together to form circles, but I found it easier to just poke holes in the balls of dough. Yep. But do whatever you prefer. Make the holes at least twice as large as you'd like them to appear. Get a pot of water on its way to boiling, and let your dough rest for another 20 minutes or so until they look like puffy little doughy bagels. Lightly oil a baking dish, or get parchment paper ready on baking trays. Whatever you like.

Carefully put a few bagels in the boiling water - 1 minute on each side - and then scoop 'em out with a slotted spoon or anything other than your hands and put them on the baking tray. Do that for all of your bagels, and then pop 'em in the oven. After 10 minutes, rotate the tray or trays so that you outsmart your oven and your bagels will be cooked evenly. Cook for another 10 minutes, then take the bagels out, let them cool a bit, and then enjoy.

Remember, they don't have creepy preservatives in them like store-bought bagels, so you'll want to keep them in sealed bags in the fridge or freezer unless you plan to eat all of them in one sitting. That is totally allowed. My book estimates that each bagel will have 4 (grams?) of protein and 2 (grams?) of fat. It doesn't include units, so I'm guessing it's grams.

Oh - and you can dress them anyway you like. I kept mine plain to please my adoring fans with different palates, but you could put whatever you like in them - sesame seeds, fried onions, whatever "everything" is, blueberries, or chocolate chips. Nom nom.

*And my apologies, for I do not currently have a gluten-free recipe. I made these while chatting with a GF friend of mine, though, so I'll let you know if either of us find a good GF bagel recipe. And for those of you hoping to try the GF recipe - remember that you'll have to scrub scrub scrub your bread maker and any pots or utensils especially well if you've previously had gluteny stuff come into contact with those tools. And stay away from wooden spoons and cutting boards - they especially trap gluten, which could mean that all of your hard work making yummy GF bagels to delight and impress a GF loved one could go to waste if you accidentally make that person sick. It's best to make GF stuff in a GF kitchen, for gluten is sneaky and even a crumb or two can make someone with celiac sick for a week. Ick.

Mid-week return

I was looking forward to today. I don't have classes on Wednesdays, and I was eager to get some schoolwork done. However, I think I missed my meds yesterday, and maybe the day before, which has made today rather unwelcome. I can't remember taking my meds, and this afternoon's nap rivaled last night's sleep - long, but not restful or deep. I'm having difficulty remembering what I've read, and as Jane Austen isn't by any means a tricky read, I should be devouring it.

Speaking of devouring, I'm making bagels. Well, er, my bread maker is making the dough, and then I've got to shape, boil, and bake the bagels. I'm not very excited about them - I'm mostly nervous - so, again, that's a sign that I need to catch up with my prescribed friends. I'm going to make plain bagels this time, but if they turn out alright, then I'll try some sesame seed or maybe blueberry next time. Nom nom.

Also - the lack of updates since Sunday is an indicator that I'm not feeling like I have anything of importance to say. Sure, I know that's nonsense - that you, dear readers, will forgive me, as long as I write something that's not half as self-deprecating and tedious as this entry is - but it seems to make perfect sense in my head. Silly head. It'll be right as rain after a chat with the partner, my evening meds, and a good night's sleep. Oh, and the homework I still have to do: rewrite one of Shakespeare's sonnets in modern English. Hmm. That doesn't seem like it'll be too painful.

Bagelllllls, hurry up. I want to eat you!

Last night's meatloaf turned out pretty well. The recipe was from Epicurious and only called for a glaze overtop. Next time, I'll put the ketchup glaze (with my secret additions) into the main part of the loaf so that it'll be more flavourful all the way through. Yep. And as a former vegetarian, I was surprised that I didn't get sick either from making or eating meatloaf. A pleasant surprise, I say. Hurrah. And it was cheap - so I think I'll make it again next week.

Back to Austen while I impatiently watch this bagel dough rise.