The Definitive Updated Bagel Recipe

Codex Bagelensis—The First Book of Bagels As the previous, excellent post by the one and only Monica Meehan shows, bagel making is alive and well in Santa Fe — thanks to the tireless efforts of a multi-talented scientist, bagpiper, and all-around eccentric genius known as Bagel Bob. He recently contacted me to let me know the version I have on the site from years ago has been updated and improved so here it is! There is also a 12-page, elaborate text which goes into the science of the bread and ingredient details which I would be happy to share — email me if you want a copy. Here is a photo from Terrace bagels in Park Slope Brooklyn who I think makes the best bagels in the city.

THE Definitive Updated Bagel RECIPE, in Abbreviated Form

As revealed to Bagelbob, aka Robert Shlaer

Ingredients
540 grams High Gluten Flour (about 4 cups) (King Arthur Sir Lancelot is good)
320 ml water (10-3/4 fl oz) (1-1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon) at 120 degrees F
1 teaspoon instant yeast (SAF is good)
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon Bob’s Red Mill Malted Barley Flour, no more;
   or 3/4 teaspoon diastatic malt powder
1 tablespoon dry malt extract, dark
1 tablespoon dry malt extract, amber
1 tablespoon malt syrup, dark
1 tablespoon baking soda in 5 cups (boiling) water
semolina flour

Procedure
Place the dry ingredients except the salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and run for 5-10 seconds to mix. Dissolve the salt and malt syrup in the warm water, and with the processor running pour the water quickly down the feed tube. Process for 30-45 seconds, until the dough forms a ball. Start a timer now so you can know when to begin retardation of the bagel rings. Remove the dough and knead by hand for 2-3 minutes. Cut into twelve equal pieces, roll out each one into a snake about ten inches long and pinch the ends together to form a ring. Dust a jellyroll pan with semolina flour, place the rings on it and cover with plastic film. When your timer shows 45 to 60 minutes from when you added liquid to the dry ingredients, put the bagels in the refrigerator and leave there for 12-18 hours to retard fermentation.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, and while it is heating take a 2 qt saucepan, place in it 5 cups of water and 1 Tbsp soda, then bring to a boil. Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and poach each bagel for 20 seconds, no more, poking it down repeatedly if it floats, remove, and put on a rack to drain. Arrange the bagels on a heavy baking sheet lined with parchment paper, (they will stick firmly to Teflon or almost anything else,) place on a middle rack in the oven, and spray the bottom of the oven with water before closing. Spray the bottom of the interior of the oven with water again after 5 minutes. After another 10 minutes of baking (15 minutes total at this point) rotate the sheet and turn the oven down to 400 degrees. Bake another 15 minutes (total baking time 30 minutes) to a dark reddish-brown crust, then remove the bagels and put on a rack to cool.

Report from the Bagel-Making Workshop with Bagel Bob!

Hi folks, It's Monica! Just wanted to stop by and report on a fun thing my friend Laura and I did this past weekend. The Santa Fe Jewish Center hosted a bagel making-event with Bagel Bob! About 50 people attended — I think that was way more people than were expected so it was a little chaotic, but still fun. They had pre-formed, pre-risen bagels ready for boiling and baking (Laura and I got drafted to help with extra boiling stations and baking). Next, while the bagels baked, Bob showed everyone how to mix the dough and roll out and form bagels. Everyone got newly made bagels to rise and and boil/bake at home, as well as a copy of Bob's UPDATED Master Bagel Recipe. Then we all ate bagels with lox!


Bagel Bob is introduced

  
Left to right: one of the boiling stations in the main room; over 50 bagels baked (Photo by Laura Wagner); bagel schmear with lox!

 
Left to right: the extra boiling stations got a little messy (don't worry, we cleaned up!); Bagel Bob and I are throwing the bagel gang sign (Photo by Laura Wagner)

I boiled and baked my bagels at home later that night. Yum!

  
Left to right: boiling; boiled; baked

You can check out more photos of the event at the Santa Fe Jewish Center's Facebook page.

Update from Bagel Bob

Update from the one and only master of everything round with a hole in the center, Bagel Bob

I have a small addendum to my bagel method, actually two addenda:

1. The best place I have found recently to purchase 50 lb bags of King Arthur Sir Lancelot flour is Seven Grains Natural Market.
   $54.99, free FEDEX shipping, $10.00 handling charge, total $64.99, which is well below the cost from any other source I could locate. Shipping was prompt and it had been in the warehouse for under 3 months before I got it, so it should easily keep another year. (That would be slow bagel making--under one batch a week.) A year is about the longest I have ever kept this type of flour, and there has never been any sign of deterioration over that interval.
2. 2. Diastatic malt in the form of malted barley flour is an additive here, as it is in most commercial flours. Since King Arthur products can come from any of a number of different mills, my impression is that they each add somewhat different amounts of barley flour. The last bag of flour I had made gummy bagels when my recommended teaspoon of Bob's Red Mill Malted Barley Flour was added to the dough, but using just half of that produced perfect results. I will have to experiment with the new stuff, and I will let you know if it seems any different.

Thank you Bob!

Guest Bagel Bob: Latest Revisions to the Master Bagel Recipe

Bagel Bob's Latest Bagel Pinup
Bob, who just cannot leave the perfect recipe alone, has made more improvements to his amazing bagel recipe and has a new PDF file to share with the people. If you want a copy, please email me and I will send it along. Long live the bagel!

Guest Bagel Bob: Bagel Update from the Master

Bagel Bob Speaks: Good is Bad, Better is Worse!!!
Bagel warning: My bagels have been coming out with a progressively lower rise, and have consequently become very tough and dense. Pondering this, I realized that initially I had specified no rise time be allowed after forming the rings before they went into the refrigerator. BUT over time, I have gotten much faster at rolling the bagels — I can roll a dozen in about ten minutes. Following on this thought, I tried leaving them out in the covered jellyroll tray for 20 minutes after rolling, and the results were once again what they used to be. Moral: you can be too good for your own good. A short rise time turns out to be helpful. I now recommend that timing of the rise start when you first add liquid to the dry ingredients, and after 45 minutes to an hour, put the rings in the refrigerator. I doubt that anyone has yet been fast enough at rolling to run up against this problem, but I am continually looking out for the well-being of Stacy's people.

Secondly, I bought some of the Bob's Red Mill Malted Barley Flour from the grocery store at Eldorado to try it out, and in my first batch I used the same (2 tsp) amount that I had for with King Arthur diastatic malt powder. The resulting bagels were horribly gummy inside, a sign of too much diastatic malt. A later batch with 1-1/4 tsp of Bob's came out well. On reading the labels, it turns out that Red Mill is pure malted barley flour, and King Arthur's diastatic malt powder has wheat flour and dextrose in it as well, so it would exhibit less enzymatic activity for a given amount. I contacted King Arthur to find out what the proportions are in their product so I could calculate equivalencies, and received the following reply: "I'm sorry, this is proprietary info that the vendor will not share." So we are on our own here, but I suspect that 1 to 1-1/4 tsp of Bob's Red Mill Malted Barley Flour will be about right. I will keep you all informed of developments.

— Bagel Bob

Guest Bagel Bob: Local Sources for Diastatic Malt

Special Guest
I have just come across diastatic malt which can be had locally. It is Bob's Red Mill Malted Barley Flour, here's the web address: http://www.bobsredmill.com/malted-barley-flour.html

I came across it today at Eldorado Supermarket in the Agora and then looked it up online. Could be that Whole Foods has it, but I know when I looked there for such a product it was nowhere in my sights, to borrow an image from Sarah Palin.
Yours truly,
High Priest of Bagel Passion (aka Bagel Bob)

The Man and his Mini Bagel

Bagel Bob
Bob wanted to prove he could bake a decent bagel in any kind of oven, so he baked this one in a child's toy; an "Easy Bake" oven. Though it was teeny tiny it was better than any bagel I have ever bought in Santa Fe.

Guest Bagel Bob: The Ultimate Bagel Recipe!

Special Guest
This is the recipe we have all been waiting for! No more reason to eat those mushy dough balls served all over town. They said it was the water, they said it was the altitude, guess what, it was just low standards. Go figure! Created by my dear friend Robert "Bagel Bob" Shlaer, this is the result of hundreds of carefully documented trials, extensive research into ingredients, and pure devotion. I am so excited to share this with the world!

If you would like the full 10 page document in PDF form (which is very informative) please email me and I will forward it with you. Bob is interested in people's results!

P.S. Santa Fe Homebrew Supply on Cerrillos sells all the malt products, so you have no excuse!

Ingredients
540 grams High Gluten Flour (about 4 cups)
320 ml water (10.75 fl oz) (1.25 cup + 1 Tbsp) at 120 deg F
1 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp salt
2 tsp diastatic malt powder
1 Tbsp dry malt extract, dark
1 Tbsp dry malt extract, amber
1 Tbsp malt syrup, dark
2 tsp baking soda in 5 cups (boiling) water

Procedure
Place the dry ingredients (keeping the yeast separate from the salt) in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and run for 5-10 seconds to mix. Dissolve the malt syrup in the water, and with the processor running, pour the water quickly down the feed tube. Process for 30-45 seconds, until the dough forms a ball. Remove the dough and knead by hand for 2-3 minutes. Cut into twelve equal pieces, roll out each one into a snake about ten inches long and pinch the ends together to form a ring. Dust a jelly roll pan with semolina flour, place the rings on it, cover with plastic film, and refrigerate for 12-18 hours.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and in a 2 qt saucepan, place 5 cups of water and 2 tsp soda, then bring to a boil. Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and poach each bagel for 20 seconds, poking it down if it floats, remove, and put on a rack to drain. Arrange the bagels on a heavy baking sheet lined with parchment paper, (they will stick firmly to almost anything else,) place it on a middle rack in the oven, and spray the oven with water before closing. Spray the interior of the oven with water again after 5 minutes. After another 9 minutes of baking (14 minutes total at this point) rotate the sheet and turn the oven down to 400 degrees. Bake another 15 minutes (total baking time 29 minutes) to a dark reddish-brown crust, then remove the bagels and put on a rack to cool.