OK, some background here: I am trying to master the “wrap and pull” technique, where you roll out a tube of dough and then loop it around your hand and pull back, rolling the loop inside out and joining the ends. It’s tricky, it takes practice, and I have 8 chances to practice per batch. Until recently, I was just forming a flattened ball and poking a hole and shaping that way, but the dough responds very differently in the oven and you end up mostly with buns with belly buttons.
Tried something different this batch: Instead of letting the dough prove for a couple hours, then beat down, shape, boil, and bake; I tried proving the dough for 30 minutes, then beat down and shape, then let the shaped bagels prove for a couple of hours in the refrigerator.
I used the wrap-around pull-through shaping technique… the bagels came out of the fridge looking very nice. Then I boiled and baked as per usual, flipping the bagels in the oven, at the 6 minute mark. 19 minutes at 400° in total.
They were good, but I don’t think the flipping half-way through the bake is really worth it. I may have reached peak bagel at this point.
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