By the way, I took the photo from the web, this is not me or anyone I know, OK?On Sunday I decided to make some bagels, having found a simple looking recipe on the web a few days before. I immediately found that I had a problem - no yeast! Hm, won't get far without that, so I took a stroll in the morning sun up to the local corner shop which is owned by some really nice guys from Sri Lanka. As immigrants, they tend to get a bit of a bad deal from some (OK a lot) of the locals, but they are great people and work hard at their business. I also feel for them as they lost a total of 14 relatives to the Tsunami! To put that into perspective, I don't think I KNOW 14 of my relatives! Anyway, while there I met up with my daughter and one of her friends, so got hit for some extra funds. Oh well, I am putty in her hands, how can I refuse?
Back in the kitchen, I set to work, mixing and kneading the dough. I love making this sort of thing, there is something wonderful about the feel of a good dough on the hands.
A nice cold beer while the dough rises, then on to the next stage, shaping the bagels, which was a bit fiddly at first but by about number 4 I had the knack.
Another cold beer to give more time to rise, then on to the broiling stage. This was something totally new to me, but it seemed to go OK - a wire rack suspended 5 inches above a gas burner seemed to give just what I needed.
Another cold beer? No, better not, a coke instead this time.
Now it was time to boil them. This was the bit that worried me. Surely they would just go soggy and fall to pieces? No, they didn't! Ha ha! Rock Chef rules!
Finally on to the easy bit, baking them. 25 minutes later I am taking a dozen golden brown bagels out of the oven and after allowing a couple of minutes for them to cool enough for me to cut one, my wife and I are sampling the results.
Well, even though this is going to sound like boasting, they were absolutely fantastic, totally different to the horrible things they sell in our supermarkets, and once the kids realised they were ready the rest of them vanished in short order.
So, if you fancy trying your hand, have a go and give your taste buds a treat! They are certainly going to be a regular thing in our house from now on!
11 comments:
I am totally impressed!! You must share your recipe Rock Chef!
"Putty in your hands"...HA! Again, evidence of a wonderful father!
Hi Logzie - the recipe is here:
http://www.dianaskitchen.com/page/recipes04/a40226l.htm
With the extra broil and boil stages they are a lot more work than normal bread rolls, but it is really worth the effort!
Wow - I am ultimately and supremely impressed John! Not only do you "rock" at pizza, but you're somewhat of a "Rock Baker" as well!
It makes me laugh that you've only recently discovered bagels, but that you are already in so deep with them that you make your own.
You've got much more patience than this girl, that's for sure!
Ali - give them a try. It is quite easy really and Chris will love you for ever if you make them. He will, of course, love you for ever ANYWAY, but it can't help to make sure.
As the saying goes, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach...
I can pretty much guarantee that if I attempted to make them, I would either:
A) Get annoyed with the whole project halfway through, yell "Screw This!" and throw the whole lot in the garbage, or
B) Finish...only to end up with hard, heavy bagels, lethal enough to kill anyone in a bagel flinging fight.
Then start off by trying your hand with simple bread rolls. They are very easy to make. I can send you my recipe if you want.
Amazing! I can believe they were incredible. Everything homemade is better than anything you can buy.
Thought you might find this interesting
http://rachaelray.fanrocket.com/
Jay Gray - hey that is cool! Maybe I should do something for this! It says no professionals, but nothing about no Brits!
I didn't see a No Brit clause either so there ya go! If I had a video camera, I'd give it a shot myself.
Jay - when are you starting your blog? Hot sauce, huh? Sounds good to me!
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