“A bagel is a doughnut with the sin removed.”
George Rosenbaum
I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
The whistling and lyrics of the song have been a favourite for years. Each time I hear the words ‘Gorky Park‘, for some insane reason I get transported to the streets of NY, sitting in a cafe munching a savoury bagel! It’s a very strange connect, maybe a reminder of Central Park in NY … hmmm!
A bagel is a bread product, traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked.The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior. Bagels are often topped with seeds baked on the outer crust, with the traditional ones being poppy or sesame seeds. Some also may have salt sprinkled on their surface, and there are also a number of different dough types such as whole-grain or rye.
I had a recipe in mind, one bookmarked off The Sophisticated Gourmet, which had me making imaginary New York style bagels as I read the post. To quote the young and very talented Kamran, “ Heck, this bagel recipe is so good that you’ll be bowing down to the bagel god after you take a nice bite out of one of these freshly made bagels. This recipe is a same day recipe and doesn’t require two days of dedication. You hear that impatient bakers? ONE DAY bagels!“
NY Bagel Recipe
adapted minimally from The Sophisticated Gourmet
Recipe modified from Ultimate Bread by Eric Treuille & Ursula Ferrigno
Makes 8-9 medium-sized bagels
2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1 ½ tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups of warm water {you may need ± ¼ cup more}
450g plain flour {will need extra for kneading}
50g vital wheat gluten
1 ½ teaspoons of salt
Toppings: Bagel spices from bagelspice.com
Method:
In ½ cup of the warm water, pour in the sugar and yeast. Do not stir. Let it sit for five minutes, and then stir the yeast and sugar mixture, until it all dissolves in the water.
Mix the flour, vital gluten and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast and sugar mixture.
Pour half of the remaining warm water into the well. Mix and stir in the rest of the water as needed. Depending on where you live, you may need to add anywhere from a couple tablespoons to about ¼ cup of water. You want to result in a moist and firm dough after you have mixed it.
On a floured countertop, knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. Try working in as much flour as possible to form a firm and stiff dough.
{Thermomix Recipe
Place all ingredients in TM Bowl, and run on speed 5 for 7-8 seconds.
Put knob to closed position, and run on interval speed for 2 minutes. {Do not leave TM unattended in interval mode.}
Turn out dough, knead briefly to bring into a neat ball for 30 seconds and proceed…}
Lightly brush a large bowl with oil and turn the dough to coat. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in size. Punch the dough down, and let it rest for another 10 minutes.
Carefully divide the dough into 8-9 pieces. Shape each piece into a round. Now, take a dough ball, and press it gently against the countertop moving your hand and the ball in a circular motion pulling the dough into itself while reducing the pressure on top of the dough slightly until a perfect dough ball forms. Repeat with the other dough rounds.
Coat a finger in flour, and gently press your finger into the center of each dough ball to form a ring. Stretch the ring to about ⅓ the diameter of the bagel and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Repeat the same step with the remaining dough.
After shaping the dough rounds and placing them on the cookie sheet, cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 220ºC.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Reduce the heat. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to lower the bagels into the water. Boil as many as you are comfortable with boiling. Once the bagels are in, it shouldn’t take too long for them to float to the top {a couple seconds}. Let them sit there for 1 minute, and them flip them over to boil for another minute. Extend the boiling times to 2 minutes each, if you’d prefer a chewier bagel {results will give you a more New York Style bagel with this option}.
After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the seeds, and then place the seed side up onto the baking tray.
Once all the bagels have boiled and have been topped with the bagel spice, transfer them to a lightly oiled baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack
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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India
Oh my Lord I’m in heaven!! I feel a kindred spirit here (in addition to our usual laundry, tee hee). I was born and raised in New York, and these bagels just took me there too! Big hugs Deeeeeba!
Deeba these look really yummy! huggs xoxoxo gloria
Love your pictures dear! xxx
Wowo they look so so beautiful. I have enver made bagel at home too, now you are tempting me to make them.
These look awesome!
Beautiful Bagels. Must be scrumptious too.
But about making them, it seems a bit out of my league for now.
Meanwhile I’d be happy to enjoy it via your brilliant photographs.
Awesome bagels and awesome photos!!
Can I pick one? or two? or three 🙂
Wonderful bagels, need to give it a shot soon !
Delicious looking bagels. These are truly inspire, need to build up some courage to try this heavenly recipe.
homemade bagels are just fantastic and your look stunning! Really perfect.
Cheers,
Rosa
I have never made bagels either but yours look so good with all that awesomeness on top! Have a delicious day Deeba.
Bonjour Deeba,
My mouth is watering. How did you know I have been looking for a bagel recipe – Paris does not do good bagels! I can’t wait to try!
Once again, I have to compliment your fantastic photos!
à bientôt,
Mimi
Oh Deeba – you are like me i LOVE LOVE bagels – when i was living in Boston i used to have sandwich bagels all the time stuffed with cream cheese, lax, tomatoes ohh so good. Here in Seattle bagels suck – but also it is a good thing – because i don’t need all those carbs ever morning 🙂 But your recipes and pictures are fabulous.
I have never made bagels Deeba; now wondering why? Maybe because of the bagel shops close by and in truth…not living in NYC and having a comparable, I’m OK with Einsteins!
But these look gorgeous and the texture with the toppings…yes, yours could be my most favorite. Want to open a shop in Denver? 🙂
Hi deepa, u hav a really nice blog & yummmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyy recipes. Thanx 4 sharing with us. I found ur recipes first @ Better Homes & Gardens.I hav some quieries:
1. I visited this begal spices site, now if i want 2 buy it, how can this b possible?
2. Please do post some good waffle recipes.
3. Where can i get mollasses in bangalore, if u knw pls update it.- RAJASREE FROM BANGALORE.
Oh how absolutely wonderful. NY bagels are one of my all time favourite foods in the world, simple but sublime. I’ve made mini bagels before, but i really must try making these full size beauties. And yes, I do know that song, Winds of Change.
*kisses* HH
Man, those look good! SU’d
These look so beautiful Deeba. I am so glad I discovered your blog and Thermomix recipes! 🙂
I love love love everything bagels….yum!
Wow Deeba I love bagels and this looks scrumptions with beautiful sesame topping.. All the pictures are looking awesome asusual.
Bagels have been on my to-do list for a long time, too. You make it seem so easy – thank you!
WOW! I have never made bagels but am feeling mighty inspired!!! These look fabulous!
Great blog; happy I found you!
Mary xo
Delightful Bitefuls
i am a bog fan of bagel! yum! 🙂
Been aeons since I ate a bagel, would be fun to make these at home. Yeast, am discovering is more addictive than baking powder! This gets added to my mile long list of recipes to try from PAB:-)
Loved that quote above…
you give me some bagels and i can munch them whole day. Never even thought of making them at home, but I am saving this in my wish list .. for someday .. i guess 🙂
These are going on my to-do list! Thanks for the recipe.
Oh bagels! One of the things I miss most that define being a New Yawrker along with a hard copy of the Sunday New York times. One of my all time favorities is the “everything bagel” which these remind me of. Yours look perfect!
I’m a bagel lover!!! I recently made myself some bagels too… I used to be addicted to the dunkindonut bagels and finally had to restrain myself frm eating them daily! they used to be my brkfast n sometimes lunch too! 🙂
Hi Deeba
The bagels look WONDERFUL and delicious. Could you please share what is Vital wheat gluten ? Where did u source it from ?
Cheers Leens
Hi Leena. I got the Vital Gluten from a foodie blogger friend in B’lore. She mailed it to me as it is available there. You can read more about it here.
I love bagels….of course, I’m also a NY’er 😉 I made pumpkin spice bagels last fall, My first time making them – and I can’t believe how easy it was! You bagels look yummy!
Bagels have been on my list of to dos for ever as well. I think it’s time it got on the done list. Love the post and those pictures ….
There making me hungry again, for bagels ………..
I had no idea about the versatility of bagel spice so bravo on post. I am wondering where you found that low fat cracker recipe–on the bagel spice web site? Also, you are the second person who mentioned a thermomixer in her blog. I have to google this to see what it is exactly! Bon Appetite
I lurrrrve bagels and I’d eat them daily for breakfast! Cream cheese (lotsa them!) and jelly usually and also cream cheese with slices of cucumber when I’m cheating myself thinking it’s a healthy snack!! Sadly, last time I ate them was back in 1996 since I came back home from doing my degree in the US. Sigh. Thanks for posting this. Am now inspired to bake some!
Yummy spicy bagels, Deeba! I love ’em!
They look amazing D. We actually have a bagel shop here, but I’ve never tried making them on my own. *adds to the list*
LOVE this and so glad to see you making more breads! Every one should make bread at least once a week and the world would be a much happier place.
I can never get enough toppings on bagels!
As a New Yorker that has been around bagels her entire life, these could not look more delicious and authentic!
The bagels look great. I have yet to make a good one.
I love a good bagel for breakfast in the morning or a snack. I’m afraid of yeast so I haven’t yet ventured into bagel-making but someday soon I’m going to try it out. This spice blend looks fantastic!
Making bagels is on my list of things to try as well. I’ve ventured into making pretzels so now on to bagels!
Deeba, absolutely lovely, lovely job! The photos are spectacular! And your bagels look absolutely gorgeous. I think someone needs to open up a NYC-Style Bagel shop in India 😉
I know the song but I’m highly amused it reminds you of New York!! I love bagels but have never made my own. These look extremely pretty with the seeds on them.
I am transported to New York merely by looking at your pictures. Much more if i am able to pinch and munch the bagel with all these spices… yeah i could almost smell it haha.
Thanks for dropping by my site. I’m glad you found my blog. which led me to yours… Great meeting you and I really hope we could know each other more through our blogs.
have a great weekend!
malou
I will have to try these when I have time. They look delicious!
DId u hear my heart deeba?…This song brought in me a plethora of nostalgia!My early wedded days…my husband used to play this song always…I went back to india and how i wish i cud be there in that time period!.the photoes looks brilliant….I have never tried eating them or even making them. I saw them over supermarket aisle. I once had a feel of it and it was so hard, i even dropped the idea of getting it!love reading ur posts….
Oh my, such perfection…I must learn to do these bagels. Ans the crisps look like something that should be in my kitchen…always lovely!
The photos, the song, chewy bagels — all conjure delicious memories of my gluten-free days. The photos and songs still abound, but a gluten-free bagel — doesn’t exist. Thanks for the memories 🙂
Hey there Dana, sorry for stirring up memories but with nothing gluten free on offer! Have found a couple of gluten free rceipes on the net. This one seems good, http://www.food.com/recipe/gluten-free-bagels-255600 . If I had xanthum gum I would have tried making them. Maybe you can?
What gorgeous pictures! 🙂 When I was in the states a couple of years back, we would eat breakfast bagels with cream cheese, it was devine. Such a fun summer…. Got me some cravings now! 🙂
Your photos and recipe are appealing, now I want to test these heavenly bagels. My question may seem silly but wheat gluten has to be incorporated to flour right (since I didn’t find any mention in the method)?
Is there a substitute for vital wheat gluten ?
They look so yummy! Bagel has been on my list for like forever!
They look amazing, I have tried several time to make bagels and though they taste good they to not hold that shape yours have but are rather flat. Do you think the vital wheat makes a difference?
I want I want I want! Stunning, gorgeous, NYC-bakery-perfect bagels, my gal! I knew we were twin sisters! Fabulous bagels and love the topping. It has been too long since I’ve made bagels and you’ve got me craving. I even have this book! I’m next! Love love love ’em!
Beautiful Bagels!
I really should try making my own bagels. It’d probably save a lot of money over buying bags of them at the grocery store every week.
These are very tempting bagels! What a delicious treat for bagel lovers out there. This bagel spice can indeed make a humble bagel taste scrumptious. It will surely spice up one’s life!