I never did find my bagel boards. They’re here somewhere and some day, maybe, I’ll find them. In the meantime, I remembered that Vince has a huge roll of burlap in the shop so he cut off a piece of burlap, I serged the cut edges and washed it. Vince had a piece of red oak and he cut it to lengths the same as y pizza stone and stapled the burlap to the boards.
Bagel Boards
Vince was 100% sure I was going to catch the house on fire, even though I’ve used my purchased bagel boards before and didn’t burn the house down. I keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen so I got it out and proved to him that I knew where it was, and promised I wouldn’t leave the kitchen while the burlap covered boards were in the oven, even though I had soaked them and everything was wet. Why doesn’t he trust me? 🙂
Vital Wheat Gluten
Bagels need a high gluten flour and recipes recommend bread flour but I don’t keep bread flour on hand. I do keep gluten to add to all purpose flour.
Bagels
I’ve always made bagels by making a flat disk and poking a hole in the middle but many of the “professional” bagel makers use the snake method where you make like a rope, then roll the ends together. I wanted to see whether the texture came out different so I tried this method but I need to do better of connecting my ends. They tended to want to separate. I’m not sure the texture was different from making the disk and poking a hole but the bottoms do look better because when making the disk, I keep pulling the dough from the top to the bottom which makes the bottom kinda messy looking. I’ll try the snake method again and try to do a better job of sealing the ends together.
Bagels
Six bagels were baked yesterday and I saved six to bake tomorrow. I do like the texture better if they spend a day or two in the fridge before baking.
Bagels
They aren’t beautiful with their bad joins but they were quite tasty. We don’t have a Panera Bread or place around here to get really good bagels so making them is the best way to get the best ones.
Inside of Bagels
In my opinion, the inside, or crumb, of a bagel matters as much as the outside. I like for the outside to be crunchy with a little blistering and I like for the inside to be a bit chew and have a few holes.
These were good inside and outside . . but I should have let them cool a bit before slicing them. Just could not wait! 🙂
wanda j says
Wow they look great to me. Do you ever season them like Panera does? We love the asigo one and the cheese ones. My dh like the jalopene one with cheese inside.
Dotti says
Having never made bagels, you are tempting me to do so. Why the burlap boards?
Judy Laquidara says
From what I’ve read, the bagels are placed top side down on the board and cooked for 4 minutes, then the bagels are flipped off onto a baking stone, right side up and the boards are removed. This is so that the bagels cook more uniformly. Sometimes if they’re baked without a board, the top begins to rise and will crack. With the board, they’re cooked from the bottom up, then from the bottom down, so the top and bottom are cooked pretty much the same (instead of having an obvious bottom that was cooked more).
Cilla Tyler says
You didn’t mention a water bath. I boil my risen bagels before baking them. Great creativity on the bagel boards.
Judy Laquidara says
Yes, they get a water bath with a little malt syrup in the water.
Mary says
The shape looks as good as some of the ones I’ve had at Einstein Bagels.
Tricia says
You are amazing! Vince is one lucky guy!
Dar in MO says
Those are beautiful and I bet they taste as good as the Panera ones oto. I love their crunchy cinnamon bagels sliced breadwise, they last longer that way. !
Susan says
I don’t know why I thought boiling was involved in making bagels. LOL This sounds interesting – you put them on the boards to bake, or the boards go under the pan, or what? I’ve never made any, nor watched anyone else make them. I like them with strawberry cream cheese. I will have to go to Einstein’s this week and pick some up.
Susan says
Oh, I guess it is, from other comments!
Nelle Coursey says
Makes my mouth water just looking at them!