Homemade Bagels

Difficult: A little
Time consuming: not actively, only about 45 minutes.  But it needs around 10 hours (total) of resting time.

 

So last week I confessed to doing a whole lot of cleaning on spring break and not a whole lot of baking.  With all that time to bake something, anything, even kinda remotely cool coming to an end, I decided to make bagels.  My husband and I visited my parents for a long weekend for Easter and got to do all the bagel magic in my parents fabulous, spacious, and well stocked kitchen.

Bagels made me kinda nervy, I'm not gonna lie.  They need to be doughy and spongy, but the exteriors need to be crisped and well baked.  And the yeast...gah, I always worry about not letting the yeast do its yeasty thing long enough.  But these bagels were not too difficult.  In fact I was surprised about how easy they were.  And oh-em-gee homemade bagels taste was just out of this world, eating them fresh from the oven was some of the best bagels I have ever eaten.  And I had a lot of Jewish friends growing up and ate a lot of great bagels in their company.  The recipe I'm sharing is from Peter Reinhart's book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice which I saw on Smitten Kitchen - don't they just look amazing?

To start this recipe, you need to make a sponge.  As I was making it, I was wondering why it was called a sponge, it seemed sort of odd.  But after combining the water, yeast, and flour, and letting it sit for a few hours, the dough rose.  When stirred to add in the other ingredients, the sponge revealed a most sponge like appearance.  Actually, it reminded me of the sponge my dad uses to wash his car.

After adding the rest of the ingredients to the sponge and kneeding thoroughly, the dough gets divided.  Depending on how big you want your bagels, you can get around 12-24 bagels.  Let the dough balls rest for 20 minutes, then shape into bagels.  I made mine by piercing the center with my thumb then whirling the dough around my fingers until the hole was big enough.  Then let the dough rest for another 20 minutes, then transfer to the fridge overnight.

The next morning, bring a 10 in skillet filled with 1" of water (combined with 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda) to a boil.  Assemble your toppings (I made sesame and everything bagels, but you could leave them plain, top with dried onions, poppy seeds, or anything else you can think of).  Also prepare an egg wash.  Boil the bagels for 1-2 minutes per side (longer = chewier, which to me = good).  Let dry on a cooling rack, brush with egg wash, dip in toppings, then put on a baking sheet and bake.

Let cool before serving.  They are amazing the first day, but keep well at room temperature for a few days, or in the freezer for even longer.

The Recipe

Ingredients

Sponge
1 teaspoon (.11 ounce) instant yeast
4 cups (18 ounces) bread flour (or unbleached high-gluten)
2 ½ cups (20 ounces) water, at room temperature

Dough
½ teaspoon (.055 ounces) instant yeast
3 ¾ cups (17 ounces)  bread flour (or unbleached high-gluten)
2 ¾ teaspoons (.7 ounce) salt ** weighing salt is important if you can since all salt is not created equally
2 teaspoons (.33 ounce) malt powder OR 1 tablespoon (.5 ounce) dark or light malt syrup, honey, or brown sugar

To Finish
1 tablespoon baking soda, divided
Cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting
1 egg white scrambled with 1 tablespoon of water
Toppings: Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, kosher salt, rehydrated dried minced garlic or onions, or chopped fresh onions that have been tossed in oil (optional), everything topping (from Brown Eyed Baker: combine 4 teaspoons poppy seeds, 4 teaspoons sesame seeds, 4 teaspoons dried minced or flaked garlic, 4 teaspoons dried minced or chopped onion, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt)

Directions

Make the sponge
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine (just with a whisk or spatula or something, no need to dirty a paddle) the yeast (1 teaspoon), flour (4 cups), and water to form a smooth, sticky batter.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature (or if you kitchen is cooler, then leave in a warmer place) for about 2 hours.  The mixture will smell yeasty and may appear foamy and bubbly.  It'll be about doubled in size.

Make the dough

2.  Add the additional yeast to the sponge and stir to combine.  Then add 3 cups of flour, all the salt, and the malt.  Mix with a dough hook on low speed until the ingredients for a cohesive ball.  During this slow mix, slowly add the remaining 3/4 cup of flour.  When all the flour has been added, kneed the dough on low for 6 minutes (using the kitchen aid; or 10 minutes by hand).  All the ingredients should be hydrated, but if the dough seems dry, add a few drops of water; if it seems too sticky, add more flour - just a little at a time).  When the dough is kneaded, it should feel satiny and pliable but not tacky.

3.  Divide the dough into balls (don't put the hole in yet!)  For 12 bagels, divide evenly by hand, or if you're really a stickler like me, weigh to 4.5 ounces - this makes a pretty typically sized bagel.  For 24 smaller bagels, weigh each to 2.25 ounces - these are just slightly bigger then the Thomas brand bagel minis.  Let them rest on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with a damp dish towel, for 20 minutes.

4.  Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper (or move your bagel rolls and reuse the parchment from above; or just let the dough rest in step 4 on another surface).  Spray with nonstick spray.  Shape the bagel.  There are 2 ways to do this: (1) stick your thumb into the center of the roll and stretch out the hole to about 1" or so, or (2) roll the dough into a rope slightly longer then the distance across your hands from pinky to pinky, overlap the ends and smoosh together, creating a bagel.  Woo! Place the bagels on the pan, lightly mist with nonstick spray, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 20 minutes.

5.  To determine when the bagels are ready to go to the fridge, drop a bagel into a bowl of cool or room temperature water, it should float within 10 seconds - if not, then pat dry, and let rest for another 5-10 minutes, then test again, repeat until it floats within the 10 second time frame.  (You don't need to test all the bagels, just one.)  When the bagel floats, remove, pat dry, and place the trays of bagels to the fridge over night (and up to 2 days)

Make bagels!
6.  When you are ready to make the bagels, place the oven racks in the middle and preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Bring 1" of water to a boil in a 10" skillet.  Add 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda.  Have your egg wash and toppings ready in their various bowls.  Also grab some cooling racks and place them in the vicinity of where the boiling and topping festivities will be happening.

7.  Remove the bagels from the fridge and drop into the boiling water.  About 3 large bagels or 5-6 small will fit - don't overcrowd the pan as they will puff up slightly during the boil.  Boil for 1 minute on each side (or 2 if you want a chewier bagel), then transfer to the draining rack.  Repeat until all the bagels have been boiled.  If the water seems to get too low, add more, and add the remaining baking soda.

8.  Get the baking pans ready for the oven by sprinkling cornmeal or semolina flour over the parchment paper, set aside.

9.  Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash over the bagel, then dip into the topping mixture, place on baking sheet leaving about 1" between bagels.  Repeat until all the bagels have been topped.

10.  Place in the oven, bake for about 5 minutes, then rotate the pans 180 degrees and alternate the shelves.  Decrease oven temperature to 450 degrees, and bake for another 5 minutes.  The bagels should be turning a light golden brown - this might take longer than the 10 minutes (mine took around 13ish).  Remove the pans from the oven and cool on a rack for 15 minute or longer (they are really hot!)

11.  Split in half, schmear with cream cheese, and enjoy :)

The bagel recipe and the everything topping recipe were adapted slightly and rewritten here in my own words.

Mini Chocolate Chip Scones

Difficult: No way.
Time consuming: About 30 minutes to make, a 30 minute rest, and 20 minutes to bake.

 

I saw these mini chocolate chip scones on Pinterest and knew they would be my next sweet for our special ed team meeting.  Honestly, I had never had a scone before - which is actually pretty terrible considered I spent 10 days in London on spring break for a study abroad my freshman year of college.  So I didn't really know what to expect but these were great!...especially with a cup of coffee!!  These were sweet with bursts of chocolate in every bite. They have a drier texture compared to a cookie (making it so dunkworthy) but I really love how they turned out.  And the glaze was super easy to apply and helps hold in some moisture so they can last a few days before going stale (but only if they last that long!)

Prebaked.  They can all get squished pretty close on a baking pan.

I've been doing a crazy amount of baking with the holiday's coming up...so many great treats to share on here (eventually). First I made cut out sugar cookies, then I made these scones, then hot chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow buttercream to share at school, then hot chocolate cookies for a cookie exchange, then all the rest of my regular holiday baking (which I'm toning down this year to a chocolate cookie, my cut out cookies, peppermint shortbread, and soft ginger cookies).  Phew.  It's getting exhausting but I am loving every minute of it :)

 

The Recipe:

yields 32-64 scones, depending on how you cut them

 Ingredients:
Scones:
 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated, white sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into pats
1-2 cups mini chocolate chips (I used 1 bag, which is two full cups)
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (but if you don't have it, you can up the vanilla to a full 2 teaspoons)
1/2 to 2/3 cup milk

Glaze: (honestly I had so much extra, you could probably reduce the quantities listed below but I haven't tried)
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
7 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
Directions:

Before you start, line a large (18"x13") baking pan with parchment paper, and set aside.

1. In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or 2 forks.  The mixture will be unevenly crumbly and some large chunks of butter might remain, but that's ok.  Stir in your chocolate chips.

2.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, and 1/2 cup of milk.

3.  Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until all the flour mixture has been moistened and the dough seems to stick together.  If it seems too dry, add a little more milk until it forms a nice dough.

4.  Well flour a work surface, and scrape the dough into a ball.  Roll it into an 8"x8" square, it should be about 3/4" thick.  Cut into 2" squares (so you have 16 squares), then cut each square diagonally into a triangle.  (I used a pizza cutter).  Transfer the triangles to the baking pan (I used an offset spatula to help with this) - you can keep them pretty close together because they don't spread a lot during baking.  All the triangles should fit onto one large baking pan.

5.  Pop the pan of scones into the freezer for 30 minutes.  In the meantime, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

6.  After they chill, bake for 17-20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking.  They'll be golden brown when their done. (Note: at 19 minutes, the bottoms on mine were on the verge of being over done).

7.  If you want smaller scones, cut each triangle in half down the center as soon as they come out of the oven (if you do this, you'll have 64 small triangles).  I didn't cut mine again, but I wish I would've made some of them smaller, it's nice to have the option of a small snack or just a bite.

8.  Let them cool on the pan for 10 minutes.  Then pop into the freezer for 10 minutes to quickly cool them.

9.  Prepare the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar, water, and extract in a bowl with a whisk.  Line a baking sheet with wax paper, pour a little less than half the glaze into the pan.  Take the scones out of the freezer and place them into the glaze.  Pour the remaining glaze over the scones.  Using a pastry brush, schmear the glaze all of the tops and the sides of the scones.

10.  Transfer the scones to a cooling rack and let the excess glaze drip off (I put wax paper under my rack to catch drips).  Allow the glaze to set before serving.

Recipe slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour.  Head on over there for some great step-by-step pictures.

Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread

Time consuming: yes.
Difficulty: hard.

Pumpkin | Part 2

This bread is so good, words can't describe how happy I was it turned out. I've never made a yeast bread before so that's partially why I was excited it turned out but also why I thought it was difficult to make. This bread is like an amazing fusion of pumpkin pie flavors and a cinnamon roll.

I first saw this recipe on Pinterest, then my Cooks Illustrated did an article on a pumpkin quick bread and I knew I had to make this for my school's monthly special Ed team meeting.

This recipe, although tasty, had a lot of down time between steps. While preparing this recipe I: did the dishes, wrote an IEP, skimmed through a new cookbook from the library, made chili, and watched tv and tooled around on Pinterest.  So be warned, have things to do.

The recipe

Ingredients
3/4 cup + 3 tablespoons canned pumpkin
2 oz cream cheese
1/8 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter, unsalted, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoon) active dry yeast
1/4 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt

1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter, unsalted, melted
  
2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 - 3 teaspoons spiced or white rum, depending on how strong you want it to taste OR 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Heat pumpkin puree in a saucepan stirring constantly to cook the puree and caramelize the sugars in the pumpkin, about 6-8 minutes over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add cubes of cream cheese and stir until melted and incorporated. Add milk and mix until combined. Set aside to cool (the fridge is fine).

2. Mix 2 tablespoons melted butter with warmed milk (microwave is fine). When mixture is around 100-110 degrees (check using a candy thermometer) mix into the bowl of your stand mixer with sugar and yeast - stir quickly to combine,then let sit for about10 minutes so the yeast can activate. It will look frothy and bubbly and smell like bread.

3. Add cooled (but not cold) pumpkin mixture, salt, and 1 cup of flour. Stir until combined. Add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time. Knead for about 6 minutes (using a kitchen aid mixer on speed 2 and the dough hook). If after 6 minutes the dough is still wet or sticky, continue to knead adding 1 tablespoon of bread flour at a time until the dough is only slightly sticky and smooth.

4. Transfer dough to a greased bowl, cover with a damp towel, and leave in warm place to rise until about doubled in size (about 60-90 minutes). Because I live in Ohio and the weather is temperamental in the fall, it was particularly cool in my kitchen so I heated a small cup of water in the microwave, moved it to the back corner of the microwave, and set my bread bowl in to rise. **Do NOT turn on your microwave - just keep the door closed. If your kitchen is "normal" you can just leave it on the counter to rise.

5. While the dough is rising, melt 2 tablespoons of butter (if you haven't already) in a small bowl and mix with the sugar and spices to form a paste. Set aside. while you're waiting, prepare the pan. Grease and flour a 9"x5" loaf pan and set aside.

5. Once 90 minutes have passed or your dough has doubled in size, deflate the dough (aka punch it down) and turn onto a flour surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 12"x20" but don't stress if you can't eyeball measurements and end up with a rectangle 24"x16". If the dough becomes challengingly tough to roll, cover with a damp cloth and let rest for a few minutes then keep going.

7. Once your dough is rectangular, spread with the butter/sugar/spice mixture and evenly coat. Use your hands to press the mixture into the dough.

8. Cut dough into 3 long strips (if you rolled your dough out right you'd now have 3 strips each measuring 4"x20"). Stack the strips and cut in half so that the strips are now 10" long. Cut each 10" strip into thirds. Stack the strips so they stand vertically in the loaf pan. Put pan in a warm place, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise for 45 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

9. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until deep golden brown. While it's baking, prepare the glaze.

10. Combine all glaze ingredients (2 tablespoons butter, brown sugar, milk, powdered sugar, rum/vanilla) in a sauce pan and heat until combined and sugar has dissolved.

11.  After the loaf has baked, let cool for about 5-10 minutes.  Run a knife around the loaf and turn onto a plate, then carefully turn right side up.  Pour glaze over loaf, pull apart, and enjoy!  Alternatively you can glaze the loaf while it's still in the pan.



Inspired and slightly altered from Sunny Side Up