I know, what am I doing posting bagels and pie when it's Pesach. Truly, I'm eating matzo and carrot kugel et al. I have a huge container of matzo ball soup in the fridge for lunch. But I'm playing a bit of catchup and wanted to share with you my first bagel attempt. I'll post a more enlongated version of my next try, as there were some kinks I want to work out, but here they are.
As you can see below, actually giving the bagels the recommended rise in the refrigerator overnight instead of getting impatient and baking them right away does have an effect. The specimen on the right is the only refrigerated experiment, and is not only twice the size of the others but a much more respectable shape. Next time.
The Bread Baker's Apprentice has its recipes organized alphabetically. So, after anthos, comes bagels. These bagels are similar to the recipe that I made last month, and I had the same easy time with them, and some of the same issues with the finished product. I think I made the dough too wet, as the final product was soft, perhaps leaning a little more into the pretzel camp. This can be better. It will take some perfecting, but I will definitely get there.
Brioche, coming up.
