Bread Atlas · Bread

Hand-Rolled Bagels

Advanced
50 min
roughly 2 of 4 for cost
Vegetarian
Vegan

bright · nutty-toasted Leads with acid holding everything up to the light, toasted, nutty warmth throughout.

Ingredients

1000 g high gluten bread flour, 13-14% protein
560 g water at 20C (68F)
20 g fine salt
6 g instant dried yeast
30 g barley malt syrup
3 litres water, for the boil
40 g barley malt syrup, for the boil
60 g sesame or poppy seeds
10 g neutral oil, for the trays

Equipment

Sheet pan

The skills inside

Boiling bagels Salted water & the float test

Allergen screen

Found: gluten · sesame

Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.

Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.

Method

Mix everything to a stiff, dry mass and knead on low in a mixer for 10-12 minutes. At 56% it will never look silky; it is ready when it is dense and barely tacky and a torn edge shows fine strands rather than a ragged break. 12 min
Divide into 16 pieces of about 100 g, roll each to a 22 cm rope, wrap it around four knuckles and roll the overlap against the bench to weld the seam shut.
Prove on oiled trays 20 minutes at room temperature, then cold retard 12-18 hours at 4C (39F). They are ready when a test bagel dropped into cold water floats within 10 seconds. 20 min
Bring the pot to a rolling boil with the 40 g malt. Boil 30 seconds a side for a thin crisp skin, 60 for a thicker chew, drain on a rack for a moment, then press seed side down.
Bake at 240C (465F) for 16-20 minutes, turning the tray at 10 minutes, until the crust is glossy mahogany and the base sounds hollow. 20 min

How to tell it is going right

This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the technique it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.

Salted water & the float test 188 recipes

The water was salted before anything went in, and tasting it confirms it: seasoned on the tongue, with the salt dissolved rather than sitting on the pot floor.
There is enough water, hot enough, that the pot returns to its boil quickly after the food goes in and never stops moving.
Where the dish uses the float as its signal, the signal is obeyed: the pieces rise and they come out then, not several minutes later once something else was finished.
Nothing is stuck to the bottom of the pot or welded to itself, and the water has not thickened into a cloudy sludge.
Drained on a bite rather than on the clock: resistance at the centre, with no chalky raw core.

Where it goes wrong The pot was too small and the water unsalted, so it never recovered its boil: the food sat in slack water, went gummy at the surface, and comes out bland in a way that no sauce afterwards can fix.

At the Table

The Pour: Grüner Veltliner
Also Right: Vermentino or dry Chenin
From the Taps: Saison
Zero-Proof: Sparkling water with citrus & herbs

The vegetable whisperers: peppery, high-acid whites that flatter greens, roots, and grains without bullying them.

Family notes

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Film school

This dish, cooked on camera Search films of Hand-Rolled Bagels The cuisine, deeper Technique films from the Bread Atlas kitchen