photo by: Karen K Will/Mother Earth News

I read somewhere that “an unboiled bagel is just a roll with a hole,” and it caused me to think about the intricacies of various foods, how they’re made and what makes them unique. Good boiled breads, such as bagels and pretzels, are soft and chewy, and they take a while to get through. Fresh from the oven, they’re shiny and deliciously yeasty.

It’s amazing how different something can taste when it hasn’t been corrupted by preservatives, trucked 1,500 miles to a grocery store and aged on the shelf for days. Mass-produced bagels are vastly different from homemade ones. Most brands sold today are extruded, meaning the dough is forced through tubes, mechanically cut and steamed rather than boiled. This process turns out thousands of units per hour, but it stresses the dough. Hand-forming a bagel, followed by boiling, gives much better results.

Why boil? Let’s look at bagels — boiling is responsible for this holey bread’s unique qualities. Boiling serves three purposes: First, it sets the shape and kills some of the yeast on the outer surface of the dough, limiting the bagel’s expansion when it’s baked. Second, it gelatinizes the starches on the surface, leading to a shiny coating and a chewy texture. And, finally, it activates the yeast in the inner layers of dough.

Creating boiled breads is a multistage process. After bringing together the dough, there’s shaping, rising, broiling (to brown the surface), boiling and baking. If you have modest kitchen acumen and a little experience handling dough, you should be able to pull off something resembling a bagel on your first try. But don’t expect to just whip these things out while chatting with company in the kitchen. Give yourself a few quiet hours to assemble your equipment and ingredients, play with your dough and bake the finished masterpieces.

Bagels

Ingredients:

4 1⁄2 cups bread flour, divided

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 1⁄2 cups warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt

1 egg, optional

Water bath:

1 gallon water

1 tablespoon sugar

Directions:

In large bowl, mix together 2 cups flour and yeast.

In separate bowl, combine warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt; combine with flour mixture.

Beat at low speed for about 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl; beat an additional 3 minutes on high speed. Incor-porate as much of remaining flour as possible.

Turn out dough onto lightly floured board. Knead in ad-ditional flour to make moder-ately stiff dough. Knead until smooth and elastic. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Divide dough into 8 equal portions and roll into balls. Punch hole in middle with floured finger and gently pull to enlarge hole to 2 inches.

Place bagels on greased baking sheet; cover with tea towel and allow to rise for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oven to broil. Prepare water bath and put it on to boil.

After bagels have risen for 20 minutes, broil for 1 1⁄2 minutes on each side.

Once water bath is boiling, reduce heat. Place bagels, 3 at a time, in water for 1 1⁄2 minutes, turning after 45 seconds.

Drain bagels and place on greased baking sheet.

If desired, brush with egg wash (beat egg with 1 table-spoon water).

Bake at 400 F for 20 to 25 minutes.