Dirt & Dough

Ingredients:
Water
Instant Yeast
Flour

Day 1

Create a biga. In a sealable container, combine 150g room temperature water and a pinch of instant yeast. Stir together. Then incorporate 205g flour using a Danish dough whisk. If you don’t have one, a strong spoon or spatula will work. Let this sit for at least 24 hours.

What’s a Biga? It is a pre-fermented dough used in bread and pizza making.

Day 2

In a large bowl, combine 300g warm water and 3g of instant yeast. Stir together. Then add your biga and break it apart with your hands.

Add in 715g of bread flour and 20g salt. Mix until a shaggy dough forms.

Dump shaggy dough onto your work surface and knead for 10 minutes. If you have an industrial-sized mixer you can attempt to kneed it by machine for 3-5 minutes. However, my best bagels result from a good arm workout of kneading.

Put your dough back in your mixing bowl and cover for 1 hour or until doubled.

After your bulk ferment, weigh your dough and divide the total by 12. This is how much each of your bagels needs to weigh. Divide your dough into 12 pieces.

After you have 12 pieces, begin to shape. I find it easiest to form into a 2-3 inch rectangle, fold that into itself, and roll forward until you have a 10-12 inch long piece of dough. Wrap it around your hand and squeeze the two ends together. Gently shape into a bagel shape.

Place bagels onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silpat mat. Cover the bagels well with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel. Place in fridge for a cold rise, 20-24 hours (they can ferment longer if you do not have time to bake them the next day but do not leave them in the fridge for greater than 48 hours). If you use a tea towel, check the dampness after 12 hours. You want to avoid any parts of the bagel getting dry.

Day 3

Preheat the oven to 475°F. Fill a large pot 2/3 full with water and bring to a rolling boil. Add 1 tablespoon baking soda.

Working in batches, drop 2-3 bagels in and let cook for 1 minute. Flip after a minute and cook for 1 more minute.

Remove bagels with a mesh strainer and place them back on the cookie sheet (still lined with the same parchment paper or Silpat mat). Continue until all bagels have been boiled.

You can season your bagels in between batches while they’re still wet (our go-to is everything bagel). Some people like to egg wash their bagels first but I’m allergic so I skip this step entirely. However, I am obsessed with cheese and like to experiment with topping my bagels with different cheeses.

Place your bagels in the bottom or middle rack of your oven and cook for 5 minutes. Rotate 180 degrees and cook for another 5 minutes. Finally, place on the top rack and cook for another 2 minutes. Test with a toothpick, if still doughy, add a few more minutes. I never need to cook more than 15 minutes.

Let cool for 5 minutes. Slice in half and either enjoy fresh or put in the toaster for a little crisp.