Yesterday, I wrote about my experience of baking bagels and my discovery of a recipe that yielded good results.

As planned, I did some more experimentation yesterday. For the first batch, I decided to slightly increase the quantities, rounding all the measurements off to neat figures. Whoops! I must have failed on the proportions as the mixture came out very dry. Adding some water, I managed to shape them; after cooking, the results were surprisingly edible but not as good as the first batch.

Therefore, I decided to try again with the previous recipe, which I had adapted from one I found at AllRecipes.com. The dough still looked quite dry so I added a little more water, which I have included in the details below, and I think it could probably cope with being moister still.

Wulf’s Bagels

Ingredients

1. 150ml warm water
2. 3/4 tsp salt
3. 1 tbsp sugar
4. 375g strong white bread flour
5. 1 1/4 tsp yeast
6. More water and sugar for boiling
7. Polenta (cornmeal) for dusting
8. Egg white
9. Poppy seeds or other decoration

Method:

1. Add the ingredients in order to the bread pan and set mixing on a dough cycle.
2. When finished (or, if impatient like me, after about 3/4 hour) remove the dough to a lightly floured surface.
3. Divide into five or six pieces and roll each into a ball.
4. To shape them, poke your finger through the middle. Work round, increasing the size of the hole, gradually using more fingers (I got to two fingers from each hand). Remember the dough will relax, so make the hole quite large.
5. Cover and leave to rest for ten minutes. Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to the boil with a couple of tablespoons of sugar dissolved in it. Also, prepare a baking surface with a dusting of polenta and start the oven heating to 190 celsius.
6. Drop the bagels into the boiling water (possibly in batches, depending on the size of the pot). After 30 seconds, turn over and, after another 30 seconds, remove to a dry cloth, patting dry.
7. Place on the baking sheet, smoothest side up. Glaze with egg white and decorate with poppy seeds.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden.
9. Remove, allow to cool for a few minutes and then enjoy your first bagel with the leftover egg white and yolk (prepared to your taste)!

My planned future refinements are making the dough a little more moist and trying to be patient enough to let the dough cycle finish its full 1.5 hours.

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