Last month, after finishing up med school, I had a looong list in my mind of things I really wanted to make during my time off before residency. Of course, the list was so long I don’t think I would have been able to get through it even if I had a whole year off, but that’s okay. I will get to it all eventually! These bagels were right at the top of my list. I first made homemade bagels last summer, and after making them successfully several times since, I have been wanting to try some variations. Cinnamon raisin was a logical first choice, and I decided I would just throw a handful of raisins and a spoonful of cinnamon into the dough of my usual bagel recipe. Then, the very next day after I had thought about this, Smitten Kitchen posted cinnamon raisin bagels – and wouldn’t you know it, the base was the very same bagel recipe I always use. So, rather than guessing and possibly messing up the amount of cinnamon and/or raisins, I just used the variation described on her blog.
Let me just say, these were heavenly. I didn’t think it could get much better than regular homemade bagels, but now we’ve gone to a whole other level of awesome. I am now totally inspired to try lots more flavor variations, some traditional and some not so much. I am glad I read her entry on these bagels because I would not have known to rinse the raisins before using to remove any wild yeast on them. Great tip! Normally I get 12 bagels out of a batch, but due to the addition of a whole bunch of raisins, this time I got 14 large bagels. These are really best for the first three days after making them, and then they become significantly more stale, so either make a half batch or freeze them if you won’t finish them in that time period. (We shared ours with friends. Everyone loves homemade bagels!)
Bagels
Yield: 12 large or 24 mini bagels
Ingredients:
For the sponge:
1 teaspoon (.11 ounce) instant yeast
4 cups (18 ounces) unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
2 ½ cups (20 ounces) water, at room temperature
For the dough:
½ teaspoon (.055 ounces) instant yeast
3 ¾ cups (17 ounces) unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
5 tbsp. sugar
2 ¾ teaspoons (.7 ounce) salt
2 teaspoons (.33 ounce) malt powder OR 1 tablespoon (.5 ounce) dark or light malt syrup, honey, or brown sugar
2 cups loosely packed raisins, rinsed to remove surface sugar, acid and wild yeast
To finish:
1 tablespoon baking soda
cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting
Directions:
1. To make the sponge, stir the yeast into the flour in a 4-quart mixing bowl. Add the water, whisking or stirring only until it forms a smooth, sticky batter (like pancake batter). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the mixture becomes very foamy and bubbly. It should swell to nearly double in size and collapse when the bowl is tapped on the countertop.
2. To make the dough, in the same mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer), add the additional yeast to the sponge and stir. Then add 3 cups of the flour, cinnamon, sugar, salt and malt. Stir (or mix on low speed with the dough hook) until the ingredients form a ball, slowly working in the remaining ¾ cup flour to stiffen the dough. In the last couple minutes of mixing, add the raisins. You may need to add a bit more flour at this point, due to any extra moisture that was added with the raisins.
3. Transfer the dough to the counter and knead for at least 10 minutes (or for 6 minutes by machine). The dough should be firm, stiffer than French bread dough, but still pliable and smooth. There should be no raw flour – all the ingredients should be hydrated. The dough should pass the windowpane test and register 77 to 81 degrees F. If the dough seems dry and rips, add a few drops of water and continue kneading. If the dough seems tacky or sticky, add more flour to achiever the stiffness required. The kneaded dough should feels satiny and pliable but not be tacky.
4. Immediately divide the dough into equal sized, 4 ½-ounce pieces for standard bagels, or smaller if desired. Form the pieces into rolls.
5. Cover the rolls with a damp towel and allow them to rest for approximately 20 minutes.
6. Line two sheet pans with baking parchment and mist lightly with spray oil. Proceed with shaping the bagels by pushing a hole through the center and stretching out the hole to 2 ½ inches in diameter.
7. Place each of the shaped pieces 2 inches apart on the pan. Mist the bagels very lightly with the spray oil and slip each pan into a food-grade plastic bag, or cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let the pans sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.
8. Check to see if the bagels are ready to be retarded in the refrigerator by using the “float test”. Fill a small bowl with cool or room-temperature water. The bagels are ready to be retarded when they float within 10 seconds of being dropped into the water. Take one bagel and test it. If it floats, immediately return the tester bagel to the pan, pat it dry, cover the pan, and place it in the refrigerator overnight (it can stay in the refrigerator for up to 2 days). If the bagel does not float, return it to the pan and continue to proof the dough at room temperature, checking back every 10 to 20 minutes or so until a tester floats. The time needed to accomplish the float will vary, depending on the ambient temperature and the stiffness of the dough.
9. The following day (or when you are ready to bake the bagels), preheat the oven to 500° F with the two racks set in the middle of the oven. Bring a large pot of water to a boil (the wider the pot the better), and add the baking soda. Have a slotted spoon or skimmer nearby.
10. Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and gently drop them into the water, boiling only as many comfortably fit (they should float within 10 seconds). After 1 minute flip them over and boil another minute. If you like very chewy bagels, you can extend the boiling to 2 minutes per side. While the bagels are boiling, sprinkle the same parchment-line sheet pans with cornmeal or semolina flour. (If you decided to replace the paper, be sure to spray the new paper lightly with spray oil to prevent the bagels from sticking to the surface.)
11. When all the bagels have been boiled, place the pans on the 2 middle shelves in the oven. Bake for approximately 5 minutes, then rotate the pans, switching shelves and giving the pans a 180-degree rotation. (If you are baking only 1 pan, keep it on the center shelf but still rotate 180 degrees.) After the rotation, lower the oven setting to 450° F and continue baking for about 5 minutes, or until the bagels turn light golden brown. You may bake them darker if you prefer.
12. Remove the pans from the oven and let the bagels cool on a rack for 15 minutes or longer before serving.
Source: The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, 10 Speed Press, 2001, as seen on Smitten Kitchen
