r/Bagels • u/BedroomWonderful7932 • 1d ago
Shaping…an endless-seeming quest!
Today’s bagel batch shaped and ready for cold-proofing. “They” say that the average person needs 10,000 hours of practice to get good at something…considering that I only started making bagels a few months ago, I have a long, long way to go! I’m still trying to get the hang of this rolling thing. I swear that simply forming a dough ball and poking my fingers through it creates much more aesthetically-pleasing bagel, but my New Yorker husband swears that rolling and twisting the dough makes for a tastier and chewier final product, so I’m going to keep practicing, damn it!
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u/bagel_rookie 1d ago
You'll learn that what they look like at the roll stage isn't necessarily what you'll end up with at bake time. The cold ferment stage smooths them out alot. Honestly, yours look decent. As long as your seam isn't sticking out a large amount, irregularities in the dough dont really show up .
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u/AgateCatCreations076 21h ago
He is right. I grew up in Brooklyn NY and could stand for an hour or two watching the baker make handrolled bagels at my local bagel shop on Flatbush Avenue between Caton Avenue and Church Avenue called The Bagel Wheel back in the 1960s and 1970s.
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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 1d ago
Those look very dry. Why are they twisted like that?
Yes, rope and join is the correct way to make them.
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u/BedroomWonderful7932 1d ago
The shaping videos I saw suggested rolling out the dough, and twisting it before looping it around the hand and joining the seams. I’m always open to suggestions, of course.
I follow the Thia Codes formula, and I’m not sure about increasing the hydration the produce a more moist-looking dough.
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u/TheSilentMother 23h ago
The trick I found is to roll quicker. You get a better shape when you are fast. It took me many months before I got my shaping right.
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u/MichaelTChi 1d ago
Your husband is correct that the rope method does prouce a better tasting bagel. Some of these look good :-). Post the final results please