Okay, this is the most recent Recipe Thread

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Before today's Food section, I had no idea what went into making bagels -- I was raised in the mountain states in the seventies, and it was a New Jersey buddy who introduced me to the Jewish toroid. Toroid, not Torah; you stop that. This recipe is for a high-gluten white flour, the writers note that this one isn't so hot for whole-wheat while retaining the true bagel ethnicity:

Bagels

Start to finish, 15 hours clock time, 1:15 active.

Servings: 12 regular or 24 small bagels

The Sponge:
1 tsp Instant Yeast
4 cups Unbleached White Bread Flour
2 1/2 cups Water @ room temperature

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine yeast and flour. Add water and mix together with a spoon until it forms a sticky batter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature about two hours, or until foamy and bubbly. Mixture should nearly double in size and collapse when bowl is tapped on the counter.

The Dough:
1/2 tsp Instant Yeast
3 3/4 cups Unbleached white bread Flour
2 3/4 tsp Salt
1 TBSP Barley Malt Syrup, or Honey

Set the bowl with the raised sponge in the mixer with a dough hook attachment on. Turn mixer on Low, add the yeast, then the 3 cups of the flour, all of the salt and the syrup/honey. Mix on Low speed until ingredients form a ball, slowly adding in the remaining 3/4 cup flour. Let mixer knead dough for six minutes. Dough should be pliable and smooth, feeling satiny but not tacky. Add a few drops of water or a sift of flour as needed to get the desired texture.

The Finishing Touches:
1 TBSP Baking Soda for the boiling water
Cornmeal or Semolina Flour, for dusting
Kosher Salt, Sesame Seeds, Poppy Seeds, or other bagel toppings, for sprinkles

Form the Bagels:

Wipe down your worksurface with a damp cloth. Transfer dough onto work surface and divide into 12 to 24 portions. One at a time, cup each portion in your hand and firmly press it into the counter. Move your hand circularly while pressing. In a short time, the dough should form a tight ball. Cover dough balls with damp towel, let rise 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line 2 baking pans with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray.

To shape bagels, pick up each piece and push your thumb through the center. Gently rotate your thumb around in the hole to stretch it to about 2 1/2 inches (somewhat less for smaller bagels). Keep bagel evenly shaped all the way around, no thick or thin parts.

Arrange bagels 2" apart on baking sheets, and spray lightly overall with cooking spray, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let sit another 20 minutes at room temp.

This is important: then refrigerate bagels overnight, or even over two nights. Rest, therefore, from your labors. Under refrigeration, the bagel dough slowly ferments, releasing enzymes essential to true bagel-ness and savor.

To cook Bagels:
Arrange oven racks in the middle of the oven and preheat to 500 degrees F. Bring a large pot of water to boil with the 1 TBSP baking soda added. Have a slotted spoon ready to turn bagels with.

Remove bagels from refrigerator and gently place a few of them into the boiling water. After 1 minute, flip bagels over for 1 minute on the other side. If you want chewy bagels, boil 2 minutes each side.

While bagels get boiled, sprinkle the parchment papered baking sheets with the cornmeal or semolina flour. As bagels finish their boiling, return bagels to the baking sheets. If topping is desired, sprinkle toppings as soon as the bagels come out of the boiling water, while they're still wet.

When all bagels have been boiled, place pans in oven and bake at 500 degrees F for 5 minutes. Rotate the pans 180 degrees for evenness of cooking, switching shelves too, and lower heat to 450 degrees F for an additional baking time of 5 minutes, or until bagels are golden brown.

Cool on rack for 15 minutes.

Note: Bagel dough is stiff stuff. You want a powerful stand mixer to do the mixing. Commercial bakeries have those big Hobarts -- Kitchenaids on steroids and growth hormone -- but look to your mixer's directions for stiff doughs: it will likely be either to only use low speed or to give your mixer motor a rest every couple of minutes mixing time to avoid serious heat buildup. Some people start with a mixer and finish kneading by hand to "get a feel for the dough." Maybe they do.

Find barley malt syrup at natural-foods grocers. Malt powder isn't a good substitute as it messes with the dough texture.

There are special high-gluten white flours milled for bagel making, and bagel bakeries can be persuaded to part with some for a consideration. Failing that, unbleached white bread flour works. Mr. Reinhart is researching on a recipe for whole wheat flour -- and it seems to me every W/W bagel I've ever eaten more nearly resembled a Freckle-Face roll than a whole grain slice of bread...

--From Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice