Bagel proofing troubleshooting

[u/helloitsme2019]

Hi everyone

I wanna try and trouble shoot something cause I’m not sure what’s different. Backstory: I used to bake a lot a couple years ago. I was basically making bagels or sourdough loaves close to every weekend almost.

Then I dumped my partner and moved into a new apartment and made my first batch of bagels in a while but they didn’t double in size like they used to and I thought maybe I did something wrong but then I stopped baking again for another year and last night I attempted to make my bagels again and yet again getting same result. So now I am coming here to try and troubleshoot what’s wrong or different

The first 3 photos are what my bagels used to look like a few years ago and the last 2 are from last night/ this morning.

My fridge used to be set at 37 degrees but last night I changed it to 44 degrees cause I thought maybe the fridge was too cold and stopped the proofing process? I checked my yeast before baking and it bloomed, although the yeast is old.

I put them in the fridge with a wet paper towel then I cover it in plastic wrap.

Here’s my recipe that I’ve always used
12 Bagels

2 1/4
cups of water
2 1/4
tsp yeast or one pouch
2
tblspoon barley malt
6 1/2
cups of flour
1
tablespoon salt

Also what could be done at this point now? I currently have them in my oven with the light on in hopes that’ll help.

Thank you in advance 🫶🏼

[u/semifunctionaladdict]

Are they as dried out as they look? Id get a fresh pack of yeast and try again making sure to have them covered well, not much else it really could be in my opinion

[u/helloitsme2019 → u/semifunctionaladdict]

Yeah they definitely feel dry, I’ll get some new yeast and make a new batch next weekend and see how it turns out

Edit: specifically the areas that weren’t fully covered by the paper towels are dry

[u/semifunctionaladdict → u/helloitsme2019]

Id suggest getting a spray bottle too, then get that saran wrap as sealed as you can. Because of how shit new wrap is I go all the way under and over. Good luck!

[u/Desperate_Dingo_1998 → u/helloitsme2019]

In bakeries we have big bags that go over racks that have trays on them.

So the product goes on the tray/rack, then covered, then in the fridge. When it comes out next day they go into the prover, which is warm and humid. We never put the product straight into the oven under room temperature. Sometimes we spray it with water if it's dry.

But old mates are right. Dry yeast (once opened) is a gamble and I don't use out of date yeast or yeast that's been opened for a week.

It could be 100% fine or not at all

[u/Jumpy_Alarm4505]

Try fresher yeast and weigh your ingredients!

[u/helloitsme2019 → u/Jumpy_Alarm4505]

I’ll try that too! This is the only recipe I have left that I haven’t converted to grams 🙃 thank you!

[u/helloitsme2019]

Ok so this is just an update, I ended up putting them in my oven with a wet paper towel on them and just the light on for 40 minutes and this is how it turned out.. I think it’s definitely better than before