Bagels

In a moment of madness, I decided to volunteer in a flour mill at York’s Castle Museum. Wild at the thought of working in a mill, I underestimated how very cold it was in there and how little time I actually had to work in the place. Plus, little gripe here: it’s a crime that museum funding is so low that they have to rely on volunteers to run things. As a student, I’m not ashamed to admit I really did need money. I am ashamed, however, to admit that as a result of the wallet, I had to give up volunteering before I’d even begun! One good thing that came out of this process was that the thought of being able to work in a “demonstration bread kitchen” got me so excited, that I quickly whipped up some bagels to give to people in charge to land me the job. Which would have worked, if anyone cared. Volunteers just need to turn up, they don’t need to bring bribery bagels, do they? I ate them myself and gave some to my neighbour, Maria.
They’re delicate little things, perfect for a teeny little smoked salmon and cream cheese hit, or pastrami and gherkins if that floats your kosher boat. This is taken from a car-boot gem called The Complete International Jewish Cookbook by Evelyn Rose. I’d recommend using fresh yeast if you can get it as the bagels will definitely rise more.

Ingredients:

500g bread flour

2 tsp salt

3 tsp caster sugar

2 tbsp oil

15g fresh yeast/ 2 tsp dried yeast

1 large egg

200ml warm water.

Method:

1)      Heat the water until warm, then put in a large bowl. Add one third of the flour, all of the sugar and the yeast. Mix until smooth, cover with a tea-towel and leave for twenty minutes until frothy.

2)      Now add all of the remaining flour, the salt, oil and egg.

3)      Knead for 5-6 minutes by hand (or processor if you’re rich) until soft and smooth.

4)      Place the dough in an oiled polythene bag and pop in the bottom of the fridge overnight (12-24 hours) for a nice, slow rise.

5)      The next day, work with the chilled dough straight from the fridge. Separate the dough into 20 pieces, and shape. The best way to describe this is straight from the book: “knead the piece into a ball, then flatten with the palm of the hand and roll into a rope 7 inches (18cm) long and ¾ cm thick. Wind the rope round the knuckles of the hand and press on the table to seal the joint. Roll the joint gently on the table to seal it firmly, then slip the bagel off the knuckles onto a floured board.” There. Simple.

6)      Once you’ve worked your way through all the bagels, leave to rise for an hour until larger in size, but not as puffy as rolls.

7)      Have the oven set as high as it’ll go, and a big pan of water boiling on the stove.

8)      Fun time! Very carefully, place a few bagels in the boiling water for two minutes until they puff up, turning once with a slotted spoon as they rise to the top.

9)      Next, drain from the water and keep aside, repeating the process with the remaining bagels.

10)   Put the boiled bagels UPSIDE DOWN on a prepared tray and put in the oven for ONE MINUTE to dry out the possibly soggy bottoms, before turning them over.

11)   Once turned the right way up, I glazed them with beaten egg and poppy and sesame seeds, before reducing the heat and baking for a further fifteen minutes, until a rich golden brown at 220˚.