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marie26_gw

Items needed for baking bagels

marie26
19 years ago

Hi. I haven't used this forum for several years but I need advice now. I have been baking bagels for about a year but now they are not cooking properly in the stove in my new apartment. I've been cooking them on parchment paper on older cookie sheets.

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

Comments (12)

  • sus905
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you are doing everything as you did before and the only change is the oven, I would have the oven temperature checked. Sometimes even being 15 degrees off can make a big difference. I bake cakes and had the same problem in a way, used the same everything except a different stove and the oven on the stove did turn out to be the problem.
    There has been no difference in my experience between brown and white parchment paper.
    Hope this helps!

  • ann_t
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm guessing the problem is the oven as well. Not the pans. I let the bagels rise on a flour coated sheet. Once the bagels have risen and have been boiled, I place them on a cornmeal coated baking sheet to bake.

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


    Ann

    Home Cookin 4.9 Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

    {{gwi:1471358}}
    ======
    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.

  • marie26
    Original Author
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you for your responses. Ann, thank you for the recipe but the recipe I use makes Montreal Style Bagels which are like no other. Actually, if it weren't for this recipe, I wouldn't be making bagels. I'm living in Texas now but I am from Montreal.

    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.

  • ann_t
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Marie, Being Canadian I am quite familar with Montreal Bagels and agree completely with you. If only I had a wood oven to bake bagels in. LOL! Could you post your recipe?

    Thanks

    Ann

  • marie26
    Original Author
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ann, I am not ignoring your request. The recipe is in my other computer and the internet stopped working on it. So, when I have a chance I will rewrite it and post it here.

    Marie

  • irena103
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Marie,
    I'm in Toronto.
    I'd love to get your recipe for Montreal style bagel.
    Irina

  • irena103
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Marie,
    I am not sure if you've got my message or I don't know where to look for it. Maybe you can e-mail it to me at irena103@rogers.com
    Thanks

  • marie26
    Original Author
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My computer that had the recipe for Montreal-Style Bagels on it crashed. I finally figured out which book I had gotten the recipe out of. It is on page 287 of MealLeaniYumm! by Norene Gilletz. According to my copy of the book, the ISBN is 0-9697972-2-2 and sells for $33.95 Canadian.

    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.

  • pinko
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am not an afficianado of Montreal bagels, but here is a recipe that seems to replicate them. I proof them overnight in the fridge, not authentic but beneficial.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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 havent 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

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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 youre not directly shaping them.
    There are two methods for shaping a bagel. One is to make a ball (dont 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 its 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.

  • marie26
    Original Author
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The recipe I use doesn't call for malt syrup and is probably the only Montreal style one that doesn't. I've tried another recipe with the malt powder and it didn't come out as good as mine.

  • gaspar
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Anyone else bake their bagels on a baking stone? I have had good results doing this, but have only made them a few times. Pretzels and breadsticks also better when done on the stone!

    Gaspar

  • marie26
    Original Author
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just made a batch of bagels and for the first time I baked them on quarry tiles. They did come out better than when I had baked them on a cookie sheet.