A few weeks ago Nicole of Pinch my Salt tweeted about starting to bake bread from Peter Reinhart’s Bread Bakers Apprentice and called out to all those that might be interested in taking up the challenge along with her. I loved the idea instantly. But I didn’t think I could participate because the local bookstores didn’t carry the book. When I told her how I’d love to hone my bread baking skills but won’t find the book, she instantly offered to send me a copy! I was touched. With a little research, I found an online resource where I could buy this and didn’t have to bother her. But thanks, Nicole, I really appreciate the gesture. 
The book reached me just in time to try something I’ve had on my mind for a while – bagels! I’ve made soft pretzels before and thought this would be perfect to start with since I’m acquainted with the boiling method.
Now, besides those pretzels, the only kind of bread I’m comfortable baking is focaccia and pizza bread so when flipped through the pages to find the first 200 pages full of methods and techniques, I was flabbergasted. Information overload! I didn’t manage to read through all of it and jumped straight to the page on bagels (not the best thing to do). I’m going to start reading it over before I start with next week’s assignment.
For the bagels, I tried a sweet version – cinnamon and raisin bagels. I followed the recipe as closely as I could but when it came to boiling the bagels, I forgot to add baking soda and so my bagel looked quite ugly. Also, the dough had risen a lot more than I expected so it wasn’t holding shape too well.
Learning from my mishap, I shaped smaller bagels the next day and made sure to add the baking soda in the water before plonking in the bagels. And just by the look of it, I knew these would be perfect! For step by step instructions, you must check out Nicole’s post on bagels.
Let me tell you, after making these bagels, albeit with a few bumps on the way, I feel so much more confident about making bread.
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Love the side-by-side photos of the bagels boiled with and without baking soda. Very instructive! And your bagels look great….
Oh, you may as well carve a knife through my heart!
Your bagels look really amazing — your bagels look a lot chewier than mine were. I love how bright and sunny your pictures look — made me instantly crave breakfast all over again. Congrats on the beautiful bagels!
Dianne: Thanks! I couldn’t imagine baking soda would make SO much of a difference!
Avi: This was my first time ever. It’s not like I’m never going to make it again.
ATigerInTheKitchen: Thanks for your kind words about the bagels
I loved this challenge!
Great looking bagels. Thanks for the side by side photo.
You’re doing great,
Susie
Your bagels look beautiful! I love the photo that shows the texture inside. Makes me want to eat one right now!
Very professional looking bagels. The dough doesn’t look heavy. I agree baking soda makes such a big difference.
Wonderful……looks soft and yum…..
Bagels looks good..i have never tried making these at home..not enough courage
but yours have come out wonderful
Simply awesome! Love the way they look. We made Bagels with the DBs a long while back! they were grand – slightly different to this recipe but great too! good one!
They look perfect…my third batch will be cinnamon raisin! I am now addicted to making bagels…great pics…happy baking!
Thanks, all!
)
That's so interesting to see the side-by-side comparison! I only had half the amount of baking soda, I was wondering how much it affected the end result. But from your pics, it's clear that it does have a significant effect!
The cinnamon-raisin style looks really good, I think I'll need to try that next time.
Beautiful bagels. I was wondering if the baking soda really made a difference so thanks for forgetting and then remembering and taking the time to document it. I love how we are all learning from each other.
Beautiful bagels. I was wondering if the baking soda really made a difference so thanks for forgetting and then remembering and taking the time to document it. I love how we are all learning from each other.
You made it like a pro! Looks too good!
I'm not a huge fan of bagels, but these pics are making me want to head to the nearest Einstein Bagels.
shaheen, i knew you cooked, but i had no idea you can make bagels. i love bagels! what'll it take to get you to bring a batch to the office?
by the way your blog is beautiful, awesome photos!
I've always been a little afraid of making bagels, I'll have to remember your baking soda tip
.
these bagels look soft and yummy.. cant wait to try this out.. excellent photography as usual
cheers!!
I'm scared of bread as well. SLowly I'm beginning to conquer it. The Bread Bakers Challenge is so helpful.
Thank you so Nora!
mmm, those make me hungry!
I agree! I just started BBA and was amazed at how many pages I had to go through to get to the first recipe LOL I am doing the bagels next!
{ 1 trackback }