Better Bagels? The Bread Baker's Apprentice Way

I spent most of the morning reading through the first few chapters of the Bread Baker's Apprentice that I checked out of the library last week. I love this book because it literally has 100 pages of reading material on the process of making bread before the recipes are even revealed. Sure, it may sound tedious (especially if you want to jump right in), but I thoroughly enjoyed learning about bread classifications and stages.

After my crash course on the mechanics of bread making, I decided to try the bagel recipe first. Since I had such success with my first batch of bagels, I thought I'd give them another try with a recipe that promises to produce a "bagel for the ages." In my mind, that's a tall order. I hope I don't mess it up! Apparently, the secret to making bagels that are so close to New York deli-style is the proofing overnight in the fridge. Personally, I like the idea of this recipe for no other reason than the fact that I can do a bulk of the dough work the day before I actually want to serve the bagels. This means that we could potentially eat them for breakfast instead of brunch.


Around noon, I whipped together the first step: The Sponge. According to Peter Reinhart, the sponge is a wet pre-ferment that prolongs fermentation time, thereby necessitating a smaller amount of yeast and maximizing the grain flavor. The sponge for my bagels looks like a thick pancake batter. In about two hours, I should have a foamy, bubbly goop that has doubled in size. It's a little cool today, so I'm thinking that it may take a little longer, but who knows! This is an experiment.

Afternoon Update: The Dough

Shortly after mixing up the sponge, Jesse and I headed out to a concert. I thought it was going to be finished by 3pm (just enough time for the 2-hour rise), but the band showed up late (naturally) and we didn't get in until 4:30. So, my sponge percolated for about 3.5 hours instead of 2, but it didn't seem to be a problem. Oops. After about 20 minutes of kneading, the dough was ready to form into rolls.


With very tired arms, I used the technique to make dough rolls with the palm of my hand and it worked perfectly! Jesse helped out because my arms were literally approaching muscle failure. Who needs running when you make a batch of homemade bagels over the weekend?! Calorie burning with carbs. I love it.

After rising for 20 minutes, I shaped the rolls into bagels and popped them in the fridge for their overnight rest. Stay tuned tomorrow for the final results....will they live up to our expectations? I certainly hope so!