Bagels

In an effort to inspire me to make homemade bagels, Bart recently bought some fun flavors of cream cheese: Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil, Spinach and Artichoke, and Chive and Onion. His idea worked—I made bagels the other morning. But because I was in a hurry, I made the dough in the food processor (the first time I have tried that method for bagel dough). It shaved several minutes of time off the preparation of the dough, and the bagels turned out just as good. It’s a method I plan to use again. Just in case you’re curious, I have an 11-cup food processor, and the dough fit just fine. To make the dough in the food processor, add all the flour and the salt to the food processor bowl with the dough blade inserted. In a 2-cup measuring cup, mix together the water, malt powder, and yeast and let sit until mixture is bubbly. With the food processor running on dough speed, add the liquid mixture slowly until all the liquid is incorporated. Add an additional tablespoon or two of water or flour to adjust dough if necessary. Knead for 1 minute. Remove dough from food processor and knead lightly to shape into a ball, then put it in a large bowl to allow it to rise.

Dough:
1 tablespoon instant yeast
4 cups (19 ounces) high-gluten flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon non-diastatic malt powder
1 ½ cups (12 ounces) lukewarm water

Water Bath:
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons non-diastatic malt powder or brown sugar

Mix the dough ingredients to make a very stiff dough. (I mix together half the flour with other dry ingredients, then add all the water and beat at medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes. Then gradually add remaining flour and knead by mixer on low speed for 7 minutes.) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise until noticeably puffy, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.
Divide the risen dough into 8 balls. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
Heat the water, sugar, and malt powder to a gentle boil in a large, wide-diameter pan. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Poke a 2-inch-wide hole through each ball; the entire bagel will be about 4 inches across. (Or roll each ball into a rope, overlap ends by about 1-inch, then roll out overlapped area to smooth bagel shape.) Place bagels on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, and let rest for 10 minutes. (I place bagels on a Silpat-lined baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.)
Gently lower the bagels, 3 or 4 at a time, into the simmering water. Simmer for 2 minutes, gently flip them over, and simmer 1 minute more. (I prefer to simmer them for only 30 seconds—lower bagels into water upside down (top side on bottom), simmer 30 seconds, flip then remove and place on wire rack to drain, then put back on Silpat with cornmeal removed.)
Place bagels on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with seeds if desired. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (I bake for 15 to 20 minutes), or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a rack.

Yield: 8 bagels.