Nothing says ur-Passover in Pandemic Land like bagels.
I received a bag of artisan baking flour. I really wanted to test it out and baking unleavened crackers because of shit that happened a long time ago seems not to respect the gravity of our daily situation.
I have improved my bagel recipe over the old one, but it is still fun to read. Also, today I used commercial yeast but you can use sourdough. Simply substitute the yeast, ¼ cup of four and ¼ cup of water for ½ cup of starter.
ur-Passover Pandemic Bagels
Ingredients:
- 3 ½ cups flour
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 1 packet of active yeast
- 1 ½ tablespoons white sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
Boiling solution:
- 2 tablespoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 cups of water
Bagel Toppings to taste.
In a measuring cup I combined 1 ½ cups of water with the sugar and yeast. I let it sit for 15 minutes. In a bowl I put the flour and salt.
I combined all the ingredients all into a big ball. I kneaded it 2-3 minutes and set it aside in a bowl for about 60 minutes on a warm surface.
I spread baking soda on some aluminum foil to bake the moisture out of it and evidently up my bagel skin game. I heated it at 300F for the time my dough was rising.
After an hour I set the pot of water to boil and separated the dough into balls. This made about 7 bagels in the size I preferred for today's dining application. I then let the balls rise for 15-20 minutes again and set the oven for 425F (I actually go for 430F cause my Mom's oven gives me serious grief.)
I created a hole in the center of each ball with my fingers and then set them back down to rest.
When the water was boiling and the oven hot, I added the sugar, salt and hopped up baking soda. Then I boiled the bagels for about 45-60 seconds on each side, and set them on a baking sheet with parchment paper.
I sprinkled some with sesame seeds and then baked the lot for 20 minutes.
