Anyone have a bagel recipe?

[rtnaw]

I am close to the final curing fire and wanted to prepare a batch of bagels. Does anyone have a good bagel recipe to try? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Rob

[CanuckJim]

Rob,

I've tried several formulas from several sources before settling forever on the one given in Jeffrey Hamelman's book, Bread, for my microbakery. This and Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice should be standard in your kitchen. It's likely you could find both at your local library. The tricks to consistently good bagels are: the dough must be very, very stiff, so careful with the hydration, the formed bagels must be refrigerated overnight in a controlled 40 F unit, they must be boiled for about a minute just after they come from the fridge and baked immediately.

The only change I've made to the Hamelman method is that I form the divided dough into balls, then poke a hole in each with my finger and stretch the hole out to about two inches. Hamelman uses a more traditional forming method that just doesn't work very well for me.

If you have a problem getting the Hamelman formula, send me an email and I'll send you a file.

Jim

[rtnaw]

Jim,

Thanks, I found both of the books for sale online. I just ordered the pair and can't wait to get started.

Thanks again,
Rob