Summer reminds me of long days and afternoon spent talking on skype back home. It reminds me of our each afternoon talking with ammi and papa. it reminds me of laughing and gossiping about our life and making plans about what to do on our next get together. This summer when everyone was planning and enjoying back home, I was finding excuses to only call ammi for few minutes and check how she’s doing. I was scared that I will blurt out where is papa if I had long chats with her. And again our emotional breakdown will begin. Each one of us is coping in his own way. Sometimes we cry, we laugh remembering him. Some days are too painful when a memory flashes through. Each day passes but the pain is as fresh as ever feeling of loss. An emptiness that has settled.
This time our BP challenge was given by Swathi our challenge was to make bagels.We are not so fond of breads (with an exception of all Indian breads). But when we bake one, we need our favorite dips, spreads or pickled veggies along it
I was not sure if K will like this bread or not. To make it more interesting for his taste buds, I flavored it with garlic powder and nigela seeds. Actually I wanted to incorporate nigela seeds in the dough itself. But I was not sure as I was trying out bagels for the first time. So I just went and topped the bagels with sesame and nigella. Nigela seeds and garlic is a wonderful combination.
Loved the outcome of this bread. It was chewy with a crusty top. Just perfect for our favorite fillings. This recipe is adapted from Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Bread Every Day. This entire recipe calls for a two day process. But it is simple once you assemble all the ingredients and understand the entire process. On the first day we make a dough and leave it in the fridge overnight for slow fermentation.
I kneaded the dough with my hands. Had too much stress and what better than using your hands. Kneading the dough give me a soothing feeling. I have halved the recipe as usual ending up with 3 bagels. We are two people so smaller quantity works best for us.
Recipe makes 3 bagels
Ingredients
I
For the dough
227 gm flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp lukewarm water
II
Poaching liquid
180 to 275 ml water
3/4 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
III
Topping
Mix of nigela seeds and sesame seeds
IV
Pickled veggies
mayo
tomato ketchup
Method:
DAY 1
- In a bowl mix together honey, instant yeast and lukewarm water
- In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredient flour, salt & garlic powder
- Now mix the flour with liquid to make a stiff dough.
- Keep aside for 5 minutes
- Now knead the dough for 3 to 5 minutes until smooth.
- Cover with cling film and keep aside for an hour for the first rise.
- In a meantime prepare the baking tray with parchment paper & brush with oil
- After an hour remove the cling film and divide the dough into 3 equal parts
- Shape the dough into bagels and put it on the prepared tray.
- Cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight.
DAY 2
- Remove the bagels from the fridge.
- Now take a bowl of cold water. Take one bagel and dip into the cold water. When it floats and doesn’t sink down, then it is ready for next step. But if it sinks down then you will have to keep aside for more 15 -20 minutes until it passes this test. This method is called FLOAT TEST.
- Once the bagel passes through float test, next stage is to boil it
- Mix all the Poaching liquid ingredients and bring to boil.
- Let the liquid simmer and add the bagel. It will float on the top within 15 seconds.Boil on each side for 1 minute on each side.
- Remove and garnish with seeds.
- Place it on well greased tray.
Baking
- Pre heat the oven at 230 degrees.
- Bake the bagels for 15 minutes till brown.
- Njoy with tea or slice and add your favorite fillings.
Note:
- Flavoring with garlic is optional
- Mostly bagels are topped with black poppy seeds, but you can change the topping according to your taste.
- Variation for toppings: Sunflower seeds, melon seeds,poppy seeds, almond flakes.