Bread #3 - Bagels

Not bad looking! And mighty tasty!

Whew! I can finally post about my bagels! It's the end of the school year, so it is totally crazy, bordering on the insane!

I began the bagel adventure with the sponge on Sunday afternoon and had great success with that. Unfortunately, though I only skimmed the recipe and did not see the part about "retarding" the bread in the fridge overnight until late Sunday night. But I really wanted to try a bagel! Ah, ha! I thought ! I'll bake two of them off tonight, retarding the rest for tomorrow. Thankfully it was Memorial Day, so I would have the time.

I boiled and baked the two, finally getting to eat one around midnight. While a bit frumpy in appearance, the taste was unbelievable! Much better than any bagels I've had in a really long time. This was the taste I remembered from my first bagels as a child.

Next morning, I couldn't wait to bake the rest, but I made myself work out first. (It is clear that I need to workout six days a week, if I am to make it through this challenge without turning into the "two tons of fun!")

I thought it would be fun to create a little photo essay of my journey, having been inspired by my fellow "breadonistas."

The first picture is how they looked post "retardation," just coming out of the fridge:

The next one is during the boiling stage:

They reminded me of gigantic dumplings at this stage.

Here they are post boil:

And in the Oven

Fresh and Hot out of the Oven

The finished product, ready to enjoy with a cup of tea:

And then there's the art:

Still Life #1

The roses are from my garden (another passion).

Still Life #2

This was, for me, a truly adventurous bread to make. I had attempted to make bagels once before, more than 25 years ago, and they were such a disaster that I decided I'd rather buy them than go through all that angst again. I therefore made this lastest attempt with a bit of trepidation and was more than a little nervous when they were not looking like some of my fellow BBA challengers' finished products. Thankfully, they looked a lot better when they came out of the oven, and they tasted like the real thing. Since I had baked those two the night before, I could compare them with the ones that had been in the fridge overnight to see if there really was a benefit to the slow rise and retardation. There is. In fact, it is a remarkable difference. They looked way better and had far more flavor too. I'd say the adventure was a resounding success! Given that they were not hard to make at all, I can't imagine settling for those imposter bagels ever again.

I'm beginning to understand Peter Reinhart's "slow rise as metaphor" philosophy. I may have to read that book too. Who knows where that road may lead?