HOMEMADE BAGELS

Everyone has their own version of comfort food. By that I mean food that warms your soul and brings back happy childhood memories. For the British, it might be a luscious steamed jam pudding. For Malaysians, it could be spicy laksa or roti canai. For me, an American whose formative years were spent in Montreal, it's bagels. Montreal is famous for her bagels. Unlike the iconic New York ones, Montreal bagels are not fat and doughy. They're thinner, sweeter, chewier, toastier and, for me anyway, s-o-o-o much yummier, like a cross between a bagel and pretzel. (See link to my favourite Montreal bagel bakery below in case you ever visit:)

https://www.stviateurbagel.com

There's one cafe in Kuching that makes close-to-real bagels but to buy them 'kosong' (plain) you practically have to promise the owner your firstborn child. So here's my attempt at making my own. Boiled first and then baked, folks - the only way to make the real thing, Now, if I had a special kind of Canadian flour and a wood-fired oven, I would be totally transported in time, but I don't so these are the next best thing. ❤️

INGREDIENTS FOR 8 BAGELS

360ml warm water (around 40°C)

2 3/4 tsp instant active dry yeast

500g strong bread flour

1 tbsp light brown sugar

2 tsp salt

lightly oiled bowl

egg white wash (egg white plus 1 tsp water whisked)

Toppings of your choice, eg.

poppy seeds

sesame seeds

sea salt

dried garlic flakes

cinnamon sugar

FOR BOILING

big pot of water

1/4 cup honey

METHOD

Prepare the dough:

Fit your stand mixer with a dough hook.

Whisk the yeast and warm water together in the bowl of your stand mixer, cover and let stand for about 5 minutes.

Add the flour, sugar and salt and beat on slow speed for about 2 minutes. The dough is very heavy so you won't be able to do the whole thing in your mixer - some elbow grease is required.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and start to work it. Knead the dough for about five minutes, punching it down, folding, pressing, turning until your fingers ache! What you should end up with is a smooth, elastic-y ball of dough. Place your ball of dough into your lightly-oiled big bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and leave in room temperature to double in size. This should take about an hour to 90 minutes. In the meantime, line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Shape the bagels:

Now that your dough has taken over the bowl, punch it down to release any air. Place back on a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 roughly equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and then flatten slightly into a fat pancake. Poke your index finger through the middle of each one and wiggle it around until you have a hole about 2" in diameter (sorry not good with cms and mms). Cover the bagels loosely with a clean tea towel.

At this point, you can preheat your oven to 225°C.

To boil:

Fill a large pot with water, whisk in the honey and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium.

Gently drop your formed bagels, 2 to 4 at a time into the boiling water. They should float. (Mine didn't because I think my 'active yeast' had become somewhat inactive but they worked anyway.) Allow bagels to boil for 1 minute, then flip them over and do the same for the other side. If they don't float, just leave them in their bath for 1 minute. Remove bagels with a slotted spoon and place on clean surface.

To bake:

Brush tops and sides with egg white wash and sprinkle over the toppings of your choice.

Place bagels on your lined baking sheets and bake for about 25 minutes or until they're lovely and golden brown like the pics above. Remove bagels from oven. Cool on wire rack.

To eat:

Personally, I like mine with lashings of beautiful French salted butter but you might prefer cream cheese, cream cheese and smoked salmon, cream cheese and jam... whatever... just go for it, baby!