I want to buy new pans and am considering buying the aluminum pans with the rolled lips at the restaurant supply store. Do you think this would be a good idea?

Since I make about 3 dozen bagels at a time, a pizza stone wouldn't work for me. Are there other items I should use besides a cookie sheet?

I was looking into purchasing a donut cutter for cutting the bagels after I've rolled out the dough. Has anyone used a donut cutter? If yes, which one do you recommend and where did you buy it from?

Finally, a girl at the local store recommended that I buy the brown (untreated) parchment paper instead of the white parchment paper. Is there a difference between the two when baking?

Thank you for any help you can give me.

Marie

I can't imagine using a donut cutter to make bagels.

Ann

Home Cookin 4.9 Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Bagels
======
Source: Hors d'oeuvres Cook Book.

I have typed it exactly how the recipe is printed in the book. If you have a bread machine or kitchenaide by all means use it to do most of the kneading. I always like to finish the kneading by hand. You can also make these in to normal size bagels. I have used this recipe for over 20 years. I have tried other recipes but this is my favourite one.

2 cups warm water
2 packages active dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
about 5 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
3 quarts water with 1 tablespoon of sugar
Cornmeal
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
about 2 tablespoons poppy or sesame seeds.

.
Stir together water and yeast in large bowl of electric mixer; let stand 5
minutes to soften yeast. Stir in the Sugar and Salt. Gradually mix in 4
cups of the flour and beat at medium speed for 5 minutes. With a spoon, stir
in about 1 1/4 cups more flour to make a stiff dough.

turn out on a floured board and knead until smooth, elastic, and no longer
sticky, (about 15 minutes); add more flour as needed to prevent sticking -
dough should be firmer than for most other yeast breads. Place in a greased
bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled ( about 40
minutes to 1 hour).

Punch dough down and divide into thirds. Set 2/3 of dough aside on a floured
board; cover with clear plastic. form remaining 1/3 dough in a log and cut
into 16 equal pieces.

to shape, knead each piece into small ball and poke thumbs through centre.
With one thumb in hole (hole should be at least 1/2 inch) work fingers
around perimeter, shaping ball into a small donutlike shape about 1 1/2
inches in diameter. Place bagels on a floured board or tray and let stand 20
minutes.

Bring water-sugar mixture to a boil in a 4 to 5 quart pan; adjust heat to
keep it boiling gently. Lightly grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with
cornmeal. Lift bagels carefully and drop into water (about 6 at a dtime)
boil gently for 1 minute turning only once (30 seconds each side). Lift out
with slotted spoon and drain very briefly on paper towels, and place on
baking sheet. Brush with 1/3 of the egg yolk glaze, sprinkle with seeds and
bake in a 400° oven for 20 minutes or until richly browned. cool on racks.

Repeat with remaining 2/3 dough (you may need to punch it down before
shaping,) working with 1/3 at a time. Makes 48 cocktail size bagels.

For a long time I was weighing each "roll" and pulled it into a rope and tied the ends together. The last time I decided to roll the dough and used cookie cutters to cut the outer and inner circles to form the bagel. I found this much easier to do. On Good Eats it was mentioned that there is a donut cutter. It seems it would be easier to do one cut than two.

Thanks

Ann

Marie

Her other book, The Pleasures of your Processor, is also very good.

The author is originally from Montreal but I think she moved to Toronto.

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1 cup lukewarm potato water (This is essentially the water left over from boiling potatoes. Covered, this will refrigerate for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 4 months. You can also dissolve 1½ tablespoons of potato flour in 1 cup of lukewarm water, but I haven’t tried this.)
1 envelope of yeast
1 tablespoon beaten egg
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon malt syrup
~3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1½ teaspoon Kosher salt
Poaching Liquid

16 cups water
1/3 cup honey
Glaze

1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water
poppy or sesame seeds

Instructions

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In a large bowl, dissolve 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar into the lukewarm potato water.
Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it stand for 10 minutes or until it gets frothy.
Stir the tablespoon of beaten egg, canola oil and malt syrup into the yeast/water mixture.
Stir together 1 cup of the flour, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and the kosher salt.
Slowly beat these dry ingredients into the yeast mixture using an electric mixer until smooth. This should take about 2 minutes.
Use a wooden spoon to gradually mix the remaining flour in to the mixture resulting in a soft sticky dough.
On a lightly floured surface knead until the dough is smooth and stretchy. Make sure to get all the dry isolated flour spots worked out of the dough. This should take 5-10 minutes.
Place the dough in a greased bowl, rotating the dough around the bowl so its outside is covered in the grease. Cover with plastic wrap (or wax paper with grease on it and a small towel).
Allow the dough to rise for 1 to 1½ hours until the dough has doubled and you can poke your finger into it and leave a mark.
Preheat your oven to 400 F.
After rising, punch the dough down and knead it several times.
Divide the dough into 10 pieces (the recipe originally called for 12 pieces, but my bagels were getting even too small for me. I may tweak the recipe to result in an even dozen). Keep the unformed dough and formed bagels covered when you’re not directly shaping them.
There are two methods for shaping a bagel. One is to make a ball (don’t compress it too much) and poke your thumb through the center. You work your thumb (on the inside of the bagel) and your index finger (on the outside) all the way around the bagel until it’s formed. The other method which I prefer is to roll the dough into a long pipe and then wrap it horizontally around your hand using your fist as well as your other hand to seal it into a ring. The pipe of dough just barely wraps around my hand and I have to stretch it a bit. I like this method because the shapes end up more bagel-like, whereas for me, the first method results in more roll-like creations with small depressions in the middle.
Place your bagels apart on a floured and covered baking sheet. Let them rise for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, in a large pot, bring the water to a boil. Add the honey and stir. This is the poaching liquid.
Gently slide your bagels into the water a few at a time into the water over a medium heat for 1 minute on each side. This is to proof them, they should be noticeably bigger than when they went into the water.
Carefully remove the bagels onto parchment paper or a foil-lined greased baking sheet using a slotted spoon.
Stir together the egg yolk and water and quickly brush over the bagels as they come out of the poaching liquid.
Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds.
Bake in the 400 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the tops are golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

Gaspar