Bagels

Poppy seeds bagel sandwich with smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, cuke and rocket.

I added the rocket (arugula) which came all the way from Adelaide, thanks again to Yolanda.

I just love the little delis and sandwich shops in New York that serve all kinds of breads with an unlimited choice of spreads and fillings. Bagels, like pretzels, are so New York to me. Here in KK, you can't find these chewy doughnut-lookalike bread anywhere, not even at Hyatt's bakery or Starbucks. Why did I suddenly make a batch of bagels today?

Because Vero's back! She is back! Vero's back! (*sing to Eminem's Without Me*) Now I can go back to baking without getting upset and flustered over the washing up. Nothing makes you appreciate a person until she/he is not there for you. From the clothes to the floors to the drinking water, we depend on dear Vero. Her two months of holidays made me realise how terribly useless we have become, like we have no hands as my mom put it. And when Hub came up to tell me this morning "Vero's back," I can tell you it was like (as my mom put it again) "The skies have cleared." It's good to know the feeling's mutual because Vero reported to me about the low wages and widespread unemployment in Indonesia.

Another reason I made bagels is W came back from Canada with a pack of smoked salmon for me. Because of the long travel hours, she brought me hot-smoked salmon which tasted more like canned trout, and it was packed in a sweetish liquid which spoilt the taste of the sandwich. I hereby declare I prefer cold-smoked salmon so anybody who intends to bring smoked salmon for me, remember that.

I've made bagels a number of times, and each time I wasn't fully satisfied with the results because although they tasted pretty okay, most of my bagels would be wrinkled and compressed at some spots. I read Hungry Hamster's and BakingBites' (teaches you how to shape the bagels step by step) bagel posts, and their perfect bagels upset me. How come their bagels look so puffed and smooth? I know the only thing I didn't follow according to my recipe is the final proofing time. I usually proofed the bagels twice as long, thinking that the airier they get, the better. This time however, I obediently followed the instructions and sure enough--none of my bagels shrunk or wrinkled. It is like I have finally cracked a secret code.



Bagels
5 cups of bread flour
2 t dry yeast (make sure it's active)
2 T fine sugar
1 t salt
1 1/2 cups water

sesame and poppy seeds for topping
1 egg, beaten
2 T sugar

1. Put the flour, yeast, salt, sugar and water into your mixer bowl and knead at low speed, 10 to 15 min. until dough is smooth and springs back when you press it with a finger.

2. Cover the bowl with a wet tea towel and let it rise for an hour in a warm place like the oven.

3. Take dough out, punch it down, then divide into half and half and half again to get 8 equal pieces of dough. These will make pretty large bagels so if you like them small, divide dough into 10 or 12.

4. Roll each piece of dough on a lightly floured surface until it is a smooth ball. Let it rise for 30 min.

5. Take a ball of dough and press your thumb and forefinger through the middle to make a hole, then jiggle the dough with your fingers until the ball of dough becomes like a doughnut (but with more height) with a hole of about 3"/7 cm in diameter. Place the bagel on a well-floured surface and let it rise 30 min. While waiting for the bagels to rise, boil a large pot of water (I prefer using my big wok because it has a shallow but larger surface area) and switch oven on to 200 C. Add 2 T sugar to the boiling water. Prepare two oven trays lined with greaseproof paper (I didn't have grease-proof paper so I used al foil, dusted with flour).

Oh no, I thought, not again! But when they baked in the oven, these wrinkled rings puffed up again. Take a look at BakingBites' bagels--how did they stay so smooth in the water??

6. Carefully drop the risen bagels, 2 or 3 at a time, into the boiling water, cook 2 min. on each side at medium boil, then scoop them out using a slotted spoon, drain on a clean tea towel and place them on the greaseproof paper-lined tray, spaced slightly apart.

7. Brush the top of the bagels with the beaten egg, sprinkle your choice of seeds on top and bake for 25 min, or 20 for smaller bagels.

Note: I've seen a recipe that includes 1 T veg oil, and I wonder if that'll improve the bagels? Next try.