Quick Bagels: Milla Style

A couple of weeks ago Milla’s class were asked to design sandwiches. They were able to choose from a range of ingredients and Milla settled on ham and mustard on a bagel.

Having lived in Golders Green for a few years I developed a taste for bagels which isn’t quite satisfied by what’s on sale in shops. In fact, on hearing I lived in Golders Green the standard response was: “Ooh, I had the best bagel there…”

 

I knocked up a quick dough before Milla came home so it was ready for her to work and cook. As breads go bagels are a great bread to bake with children as the proves aren’t too long and there’s plenty of work to do.

Rather than wrap the bagels into rounds we used a wooden spoon to make a hole and then spun them around the handle. This is pretty much the most fun we’ve had bread making.

 

Although you have the extra stage of poaching the bagels I still consider them an easy bake not least because they come together pretty quickly.

The only thing which could slow it down is a slow first prove but despite the cold weather mine took just under an hour thanks to my Great British Bake Off proving drawer (ok, ok, it’s the top rack of a recently finished dishwasher).

Click to read the recipe after the jump…

 

Easy Bagel Recipe

7g of dried yeast

3 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp of salt

450g of bread flour

300ml of luke-warm water

Optional: sesame seeds / poppy seeds or similar to top your bagels

• Put half of the water in your mixing  bowl along with the yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar. Lightly whisk them together then leave for 10 – 15 minutes by which time you should have froth on the top of the water.
• Stir the salt into the remaining water and add to your yeast mixture.
• Next you’ll add the flour starting with about 200g then a little at a time* until you have a soft and silky dough.
• Knead the dough for ten minutes. Then roll into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to prove until doubled in size.
• Preheat oven to 200°C and bring a large pan of water to the boil with 2 tbsp of sugar.
• Divide your dough into 8 – 10 small balls depending on how many bagels you want.
• Flour the surface and use a floured wooden spoon handle to poke a hole right through the middle. Give the bagel a quick swing around the spoon until you have a hole of a bit bigger then a finger.
• Drop 3 – 4 bagels into the boiling water and then let them poach for 30 seconds on each side once they have risen to the top. The dough should have a puffed up skin.
• Use a slotted spoon to lift them out of the water and set on a floured or lined baking tray.
• If you want to add toppings to your bagel roll them on a plate of topping right after you bring them out of the water.
• Bake in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes until the tops are golden and they sound hollow when you tap the bases.
• Cool on a wire rack covered in a dry tea towel (or dig right in if you can’t wait!)

*I’ve tried water into flour and flour into water and this method seems to work better for the bagels.

Perhaps wear an apron, eh?