Bagels

Tim's bagels will save you the trip to New York.

Ingredients

makes 10; you'll also need a big saucepan with boiling water

• 500g strong white flour

• 12g (2 tsp) salt

• 275g lukewarm water

• 6g fresh yeast (or 3g, 1 tsp dried yeast)

• 1 tbsp of white wine or rice vinegar

• a dash of olive oil for kneading the dough

• 2-3 l of boiling water. Add 2 tbsp of brown sugar

Method

Make the dough

1. Weigh out the dry ingredients individually

2. Mix up in a large bowl

3. In a separate container dissolve fresh / dry yeast in water and add vinegar

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones

5. Mix until you have combined ingredients to a dough

6. Leave for 10 minutes

7. Either knead the dough for 10s on a lightly oiled worktop (or fold dough in on itself a dozen times in the bowl). Cover.

8. Wait for 10 minutes and repeat step 7

9. Repeat the kneading, resting cycle two more times at 10 minute intervals.

Let dough rise, shape, rest

1. Let the (covered) dough rise for 1h

2. Divide the dough into 10 pieces and shape into balls

3. Rest the dough for 15-20 minutes

4. Shape into bagels by poking a hole in the middle and pulling the dough outwards

Pre-heat oven, prepare to boil bagels

1. Preheat oven to 220ºC (Gas mark 7)

2. Heat 2-3l of water (with the brown sugar added) for scalding the bagels

3. Working in batches of 2-3, drop bagels into boiling water and wait for them to rise to the surface

4. When the bagels float to the surface, wait for 30-60s, then flip them over and boil for 30-60s more.

5. Lay bagels out on an oiled baking tray and sprinkle with poppy seeds, sesame (or "everything")

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown

Notes

Which are better: H&H bagels (NYC) or the stuff from the Brick Lane Bagel Bakery?

Quite a dry, stiff dough, so take a break and let the dough relax if it gets too hard to work.

Apparently Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard has some variations of this bagel recipe.