Bagels

Bagel, Bugel, Beugal, Beigel

I don't know where bagels originated from. Fact is, at least three countries are vying for bragging rights as creator of the bagel. One story tells of a baker making bagels as a present for his king, and the bread was shaped like a stirrup because the king loved riding horses. In another story, bagels were given to women while they were giving birth (how this went in the ancient times should be interesting to know. I could not imagine giving birth with a bagel in my mouth!)

As I was growing up, the bagel was one of those breads that you would not find in the local panaderia or sari-sari store. It is only with the entry of specialty bread shops in the last decade or so that the bagel has found its way to the common Pinoy household.

I could not let Easter break pass without trying another bread recipe. Here is what I found:

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp white sugar
6 cups All Purpose flour
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 quarts water
1 tbsp molasses or honey
olive oil
sesame seeds, onion flakes, poppy seeds

Procedure

Soften yeast in warm water with one tablespoon sugar. (five to ten minutes)

Add salt and sugar to yeast mixture.

Add six cups of flour and knead until dough comes off the side of the bowl. If using Kitchen Aid mixer, use with dough hook and put on low setting for about three to five minutes.

Take out dough and roll into a ball. Put in greased bowl and let rise in warm place (again, overnight in fridge preferred) until double in bulk.

Punch out air from dough and roll into two logs. Cut each log into ten parts.

Boil three quarts of water. Add molasses/honey to water. Heat oven to 375F.

Roll each piece of dough into a rope and form like a doughnut. Place in well-greased baking sheet. Let rise for about half an hour. (I used a dough cutter.)

Drop dough into boiling water and boil for thirty seconds on each side. Remove dough from water and drain on another baking sheet.

Sprinkle with sesame seed, onion flakes, or poppy seeds while tops are still moist.

Transfer to original baking sheet (greased) and bake in oven for about 25 minutes.

Take out the cream cheese and enjoy.

Notes:

• Next time, I would probably lower the temp to 350F and extend the cooking time to evenly brown the inner portion of the bagels.
• I used the olive oil to grease the baking sheets.
• As with most recipes, I doubled this recipe.

One website mentioned that the bagel is the only bread that is boiled and then baked. Not true. My son reminded me, while the bagels were being boiled, that we followed the same procedure when we made pretzels.