Bagels are my nemesis!!!!
I am not succeeding when it comes to bagels. Sourdough, Seeded Multigrain, Challah, White Sandwich Bread, French Bagettes - all good. Bagels, not so much. I am following the recipe in Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice relentlessly and exactly. But when I proof them overnight in the fridge, by morning they seem ready to boil - bagel shaped and puffy, but by the time I get the plastic wrap (spray coated) off the top of them and gently peel them off the parchment paper (spray coated) and into the boiling water, they have become deflated intertube tires. My husband says they taste good - but he loves me and would say anything to be nice. What am I doing wrong? See attached pics. This was a particularly bad batch. After this, I took to putting tall custard cups in the proofing bag to hold the plastic wrap up off the bagels so the plastic did not adhere to the bagel and cause deflation when I removed the bag. That fixed the adherence problem but the larger issue of flat dense Frisbie like bagels persisted. The shame!!!!
Comments
Hi Barbara - I can't give a perfect diagnosis since I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's possible that your bagels are either over-proofed or being boiled for too long. When a recipe calls for a cold ferment in the fridge it assumes you're going to put the dough way in the back of a very cold refrigerator and basically never open it. Not very realistic! While this is usually not a problem with most doughs, it might be a problem with bagels since they go through the process of being boiled and then baked so there's more chance for that over-proofed "puffiness" to deflate. I'm not sure how long you are boiling them for but I recommend no more than 30 seconds a side to get the dough just set. Boiling too long sets the dough too much and doesn't allow for oven spring.
I haven't made Peter Reinhardt's recipe but I have made this one from Stella Parks at Serious Eats that is, at least for me, pretty foolproof. Bonus: the bagels will stay fresh for a few days thanks to the Japanese-style technique called yukone.
Good luck!
Best, Lynn
Barbara, Hi. We've making Peter R's bagels for many years now and they turn out well. Could your fridge be too cold? When you mix/knead (using a mixer is perfect for this) your dough make sure you temp it to 78-80 to check for good gluten build. Remember in his instructions Peter R says bagel dough should be stiffer dough so make sure of that. Yes, make sure you don't boil too long. I would email Peter R--he has responded to me quickly when I had a question about his babka. Curious to know if you figured out the problem. Now you have me in the mood for bagels!