he vuelto//bagels.

He vuelto {I'm back}.

Yes I'm learning Spanish. But how do I learn during the summer, without formal classes to guide? One way is to regurgitate everything I am thinking in English into Spanish.

solid method.

I haven't posted in a while, and that's because posting hasn't been my priority. Traveling as a Teaching Assistant, you reserve less time for what you're doing and thinking and spend more time doing and thinking things with your colleagues and students.

But ahora, he vuelto. So, I'll indulge. With bagels. Let's begin with this short video:

Food Science understanding adapted from thekitchn.com

Ingredients. 

This recipe is adapted from Margaret Anne's "Best Homemade Bagels".

Yield: 8 bagels [Today's making yielded 7 –– we lost some dough along the way]

Time: at least 3 hours.

Le Dough:

• 1½ CUPS warm water (Margaret's recipe calls for the water to be 110° F – I didn't have a thermometer)
• 1 TABLESPOON active dry yeast (a little more than the yeast in one of those Fleischmann's packets)
• 1 TABLESPOON brown sugar (I didn't have brown sugar either – scroll to the bottom for what I did to cope)
• 4 CUPS flour (I used all-purpose unbleached)
• 2 TEASPOONS salt

Le Water Bath:

• 8 CUPS water
• 2 TABLESPOONS brown sugar (one again, what did I do to cope? scroll down)

Directions.

1.) Pour the water into the bowl, and sprinkle in the yeast and brown sugar. Let sit 5 minutes. Add in the flour & salt and mix (you can mix with a mixer, but I don't like to use mixers. I use spoons & hands). A dough is now formed. Knead the dough gracefully for 10 minutes, like I did below: 

2.) Place the dough in a greased bowl (I greased the bowl using the bare end of a stick of butta), cover with a kitchen towel or cling wrap, and let rest for 1-1.5 hours.

resting just to rise. so poetic.

eyes targeting individual messes. not so poetic.

3.) Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts to shape into balls. Punch a hole in the middle of each ball and swirl the thing around your finger with its tip on the top of your work surface. Cover whatcha got with a kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

it's the bro. 

his hands were too lovely up there to the right so i made them black & white

these are my hands tho.

4.) While the dough is resting (to save time, of course), prepare the water bath by heating the water and brown sugar to a gentle boil. I was going to use a large pot, by Margaret recommended a wok. I didn't have a wok, so I used a large sauté pan.

upstage – what i was going to use

downstage – what i actually used

5.) Preheat the oven to 425° F. Re-poke a hole through the center of each ball, as some holes may have closed over. Swirl the dough on your finger to stretch the hole, like you did before.
Place each newly-swirled bagel on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.

6.) Transfer the bagels to the simmering water, four at a time. Simmer the bagels for 2 minutes, flip over, and simmer for another minute.

7.) Use the end of a wooden spoon to remove the bagels from the water and return to the baking sheet.

8.) Ah! Because you preheated your oven, it is now hot. Bake the bagels for about 25 minutes, or until they look like the best NYC bagel you've never had.

9.) Transfer the bagels to a cooling rack 5 minutes before serving. Serve with whatever you'd like. You probably already have something on your mind...

Cream cheese ~ Lox ~ Butta ~ Bacon ~ Eggs ~ Cheese~ Bacon, Egg, & Cheese ~ Peanut Butter.

Y'all know I tend to opt for the PB. I won't add an end photo here because I don't want to perpetuate bagel paragons. You make what you make. 

enjoy.

****brown sugar note:

this was why I did not have brown sugar.

so I made brown sugar instead! 1 tbsp molasses for every cup of white sugar.

All videos made with Splice Video Editor by GoPro. Download it here --> it's free!