FoodieChat

These boiled circles of bread have been on my “to do” list for a number of years – I have a VERY long to do list by the way, which is why it’s taken me this long to do it.  But having seen Alice do it on Masterchef, I thought hey maybe today’s the day.  I have to admit… i didn’t start off well – the bread mix I had was 7 months past its use by date, and the yeast was 3 YEARS past (LOL – shows how often I make bread ).  But you might know that once you’re committed, you’re committed, and I thought too bad it’ll have to do.  I tested the yeast to see if it activated (frothed) in the warm sugar water mix – it did – so I took that as the go ahead.

I used this recipe:  http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1088/bagels-for-brunch

As I didn’t obey the instructions fully where it said to not use ALL the flour, I did – and as a result, the dough was quite dry.  I thought – great… this ain’t going to work, and I was pessimisstic the whole time.  Nevertheless, I kept kneading for the full ten minutes – great upper body workout – and the dough gradually became softer and more malleable – but still not soft like bread dough should be.  I attributed this to the fact that I’ve never made bagels before, and also to the fact that I didn’t follow the instructions and used old yeast.  Well, put it in a warm spot to rise – it didn’t rise much, and at the punch down stage, it was still very solid

Still wasn’t looking good, but hey , this far down, might as well continue.  I had fun making the hole  - spinning it around a wooden spoon – and let it rise a bit more – which it sort of did.  The moment of truth came when it came time to boil the bagels. I always wondered how on earth that worked – they kinda just floated to the top and still felt hard.

Drained, sprinkled with sesame and poppy seed, they went into the oven.

Not really caring, I went back to check – WOW!!!  They WORKED!! I was ssooooo amazed that they grew!!!!  I tapped the bottom – hollow – awesome!!!!

The moment of truth – I cut it in half and the texture was also akin to the ones I’ve had in the shops. SO happy

And yes, they tasted amazing too. Will definitely become part of my repertoire!!  Give it a go guys!  I cut them in half and froze them and I can confirm they’re still good toasted