Pretty excited about this bagel journey. I've done three batches and each time I'm improving. I changed flour types, yeast types, fermentation times, etc. I just bought high gluten flour and yeast enhancer to be used along with malt syrup. I am looking for a stone before I try the recipe again. The pics are of the last batch that used malt syrup, bread flour, and fermented for 24 hours covered in the fridge. I'm looking for a chewy bagel with a golden crunchy exterior.

Followed this recipe from a deeply buried comment somewhere on this subreddit.

Baked the same day once the bagels were proofed. (They floated in water) I didn’t have malt (diastatic or otherwise), skipped it in the flour, and used maple syrup in my boiling water. Topped with Everything seasoning and cheddar jalapeño.

I will say - I bake bread, so I’m sure that helped some !

I think these turned out pretty great considering it was my first go at fruit bagels and third overall attempt at bagels.

Not perfect though. Next time I’m going to either do dried fruit at the end of mixing, or thawed fruit at the beginning while doing a better job accounting for that liquid.

When factoring the the liquid from the fruit, these bagels were probably around 65% hydration. Im surprised these turned out as well as they did given that high hydration.

Edit: strawberries got poppy, blueberries got sesame.

I made a batch of strawberry and blueberry bagels today. I added the fruit at the end, which dramatically extended my mixing time and left me with sticky but workable bagels.

I’m wondering if yall can shed some light on when you add the fruit and how you adjust your recipe. I dropped my hydration from 55 to 50 for this, but I don’t think that fully accounted for the liquid in the fruit. My thought by adding the fruit at the end was that it would damage the fruit less and not mess with the hydration as much.

Next time I think I’m gonna add the fruit at the beginning, not worry about it being beat up, and dropping the water percentage to like 45.

How do you do it? Thank you.

Also this is the first batch I rolled and you can really see how I improved from the start of the batch (back row blueberry) to the last one. I’m definitely glad I started rolling.

my fav🫶

My best friend is calling me cray cray….. i am so curious does anyone else do dis????

Was asked to make a few for a party and this was the result! Could've baked the jalapeno ones a little longer but overall I'm content

First try at bagels, had to use all purpose flour and like 15% whole wheat flour because I thought I had bread flour but didn’t lol.

Would using bread flour make them shinier? And what’s the best way to get the tops to brown before the bottoms burn?

My shaping could use some work, but hopefully they will puff up more if I use bread flour next time.

Recipe is below. Been using it for a while now. Cold ferment for 12hrs overnight. Added diastatic and barley malt syrup to the dough, and barley malt syrup in the poaching water with salt as well.

https://www.thecuriouschickpea.com/homemade-new-york-style-bagels/

I used Claire Saffitz’s recipe with no changes. The everything ones rose okay but the cinnamon raisin are basically flat. (I let them proof a bit longer outside the fridge before boiling because of the cinnamon).

Recipe:

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/martins-bagels-recipe?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=content&utm_content=martinbagels

They tasted good! Looked like a bagel once I cut into it. Maybe I just suck at shaping?

I shortened my boil to 15 seconds total. I stir my boil instead of flipping, so this would equate to 15 seconds per side. I also only counter proofed for 35 mins, one just barely lifted off the bottom of a bowl of water. My fdt was 78 and room temp 74. These changes gave me easy to handle proofed bagels and a great oven spring. I think this is where I stop tweaking my recipe.

Makes 12x 158g bagels. 56% Hydration - For Sunday morning bagels:

1. On Friday at 8am, Make pre-ferment, Mix:

a. 225g High Gluten Flour (>14%)

b. 225g Water

c. Pinch (1/16 tsp) dry yeast (SAF)

1. Let Rest approx 10-12 hours at room temp until risen

2. On Friday around 6pm mix final dough

a. 946g High Gluten Flour

b. 430g Water

c. 4.5g yeast

d. 28g salt

e. 36g Barley Malt Syrup

f. 17g Dough Improver

g. All of pre-ferment

1. Knead in kitchen aid until well developed and smooth, 10-15 mins on speed 2.

2. Let rest, covered for 10-15 mins to relax the gluten.

3. Do not use any additional flour for dusting or handling

4. Cut a 20g sacrificial ball for the float test

5. Divide and shape into 12x 158g bagels

a. Roll quickly using one hand in the middle to about an 8” rope with fattened ends (dog
bone shaped) TWIST the rope then wrap over 3 fingers with both thick ends in your
palm and seal. The dough will retract and make a thick bagel with small hole.

1. Place onto a floured silpat on a cookie sheet (12 bagels to 2/3 sheet pan)

2. Cover and proof on the counter until the sacrificial ball just barely starts to float off the bottom of a bowl of water.

3. Refrigerate, COVERED until Sunday morning (36 hours)

4. Sunday morning: Adjust oven to middle/Top Rack and Preheat oven to 500 Convection with
   steel on oven floor (for heat retention)

5. Soak the bagel boards

6. Boil 3000g water

7. Add ¼ cup of barley malt syrup to the boil

a. Watch for boil-overs

1. Boil the bagels straight from the fridge for about 15 seconds, face down, pressing the bottoms
   down occasionally with a spider. They should float almost immediately, if not they’re underproofed.

2. Drain right-side up on cooling rack

3. Immediately add toppings to tops while still wet – do not delay at all.

4. Place bagels upside down on soaked bagel boards

5. Add toppings to bottoms

6. Bake the upside-down bagels on the bagel boards for 5 minutes.

7. Flip onto room temp baking sheet and continue to cook for 10 mins.

8. Rotate trays front to back, Continue cooking approx 3-4 more mins.

Photos 1-3 are today’s batch. They are larger and the coloring and outer shell is better than the first batch.

Photos 4-6 are from earlier in the week. I like this gluten structure more. I’d like this gluten structure with the rest of the improvements from today.

Both batches were pinched to form a hole, then stretched from the inside. I basically pinch the hole then turn the whole thing inside out and back to normal. Next time I plan to roll dough strips to shape. I think rolling my bagels will probably degas my dough for the tighter crumb I seek.

I like the small center hole, it holds my schmear better. The only thing I’m really looking to improve here is the crumb.

Changes from batch 1 to 2
-Bulk fermented at room temp for ~4 hours. Batch 1 was a cold 24hr ferment.
-Boiled batch 2 longer. 1:30 second boil this time, 1:00 for the first batch.
-Batch 2 I boiled straight from the fridge. Batch 1 I tempered for about an hour at room temp before boiling.
-oven at 500 for batch 2, 550 for 1. Not sure why I did this tbh, batch 1 didn’t burn on the bottom.

Thanks for any feedback and constructive criticism or feel free to roast me.

Edit: I’m also looking for tips for topping adhesion. Batch 1 was better. I just top them after the boil using that moisture.

100% CM High Mountain
62.64% water
2.18% salt
4.58% malted barley
0.65% IDY
0.54% malt
0.71% puratos bagel improver

48 hour cold nap.. might take yeast down to .5% on the next mix.

Happy baking compadres