Bagels

Ingredients:

400g strong white flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon fresh yeast

250ml lukewarm water

2 tablespoons olive oil

Method:

1. Measure the water and stir in the fresh yeast. Place the flour and salt into a mixing bowl, pour in the yeast liquid and add the olive oil.

2. Have a little water to hand to add if necessary. Remember, it is better for your dough to be wetter (slack) rather than drier (tight). Begin to mix by stirring the ingredients together with a knife, cutting through the dough as it forms. When it gets too stiff for the knife, use your hand to squeeze the mixture together. As it forms into a solid mass, keep turning it over and pressing it down to pick up the flour at the bottom of the bowl – but make sure it stays soft. Don’t be afraid to add more water to keep it soft! When all the flour has been mixed in, wipe the bowl around with the dough, turn it out onto the worktop and begin to knead.

3. Knead by flattening the dough out, folding it over and flattening it again. If the dough is too sticky, instead of putting extra flour on your worktop, place some in the bowl, put the dough back in and turn it round to coat it all over. That way you keep the flour under control and you won’t be tempted to add too much. Knead until the dough becomes smooth – and then stop before you get fed up!

4. When you are ready to proceed, put a large pan of water on to boil, about 5-6cm deep and put the oven on at 220C, 425F or gas 7. Place the dough onto your worktop and either divide it into 12 pieces (for large bagels) or 16 pieces (for medium sized ones).

5. Form each piece into a bun shape and make a hole in the centre. The hole needs to be at least three times the thickness of the dough, otherwise the hole will close up – and you’ll just have a dimpled roll! Start by pushing your finger through each one, gradually enlarging the hole until it is wide enough to put two fingers in from each side – and keep going. Another fun way to enlarge the hole is to put one on the floured worktop, put your finger in the hole and gently ‘whizz’ it around. Good for kids (and I confess I haven’t grown up yet, so I enjoy this method!). Place on a floured chopping board.

6. Let them rise for a little while until you see that they’ve increased slightly in size. Take your bagels over to the pan of water. With the water just simmering, gently lower several bagels into the water, one at a time. Don’t overcrowd the pan because the bagels will plump out considerably in the hot water.

7. Using an egg slice, flip the bagels over after a minute or two (wet the side of the pan first, so they don’t stick). Give them a minute or two on that side then take them out, place them on a prepared baking sheet and put them straight into the oven.

8. Now bring the water back to the simmer and repeat with the rest of the bagels. The bagels are done when they are brown underneath.

Variations:

Like a lot of bread recipes (ciabatta springs to mind), bagels are a technique as well as being a bread in its own right. Many different recipes can be converted to bagels, starting with a spicy fruit bun recipe 

Fruit braid

Ingredients:

200g (or 1 mug) strong white flour

2 dessertspoons sugar

125ml (or 1/3rd mug) lukewarm water

1 teaspoon yeast (any sort)

2 tablepoons olive oil

For the filling:

1 large or two medium Bramley apples, diced

100g (1/2 mug) sultanas

2 dessertspoon sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix the fruit, sugar and spice together

Glaze: Make a glaze with a teaspoon of sugar and a dessertspoon of hot water.

Method:

1. Measure the water and stir in the fresh yeast. Place the flour and sugar into a mixing bowl, pour in the yeast liquid, then add the olive oil. 
2. Have a little water to hand to add if necessary, remember, it is better for your dough to be wetter (slack) rather than drier (tight). Begin to mix by stirring the ingredients together with a knife, cutting through the dough as it forms. When it gets too stiff for the knife, use your hand to squeeze the mixture together. As it forms into a solid mass, keep turning it over and pressing it down to pick up the flour at the bottom of the bowl – but make sure it stays soft. Don’t be afraid to add more water to keep it soft! When all the flour has been mixed in, wipe the bowl around with the dough, turn it out onto the worktop and begin to knead. 
3. Knead by flattening the dough out, folding it over and flattening it again. If the dough is too sticky, instead of putting extra flour on your worktop, place some in the bowl, put the dough back in and turn it round to coat it all over. That way you keep the flour under control and you won’t be tempted to add too much. Knead until the dough becomes smooth – and then stop before you get fed up!
4. Shape the dough into a round and roll it out into a 25cm square, roughly. 
5. Spread the filling down the middle of the square– and cut each side cut into strips. Fold the top and bottom of the bread over the filling, then braid the strips over the top of the fruit. 
6. Leave to rise until the dough has grown puffy, then bake for 15 minutes at 220C (425F, gas mark 7). Check by lifting the edge of the braid with a palette knife - the bottom should be browning. Brush with the sugar glaze.
7. Either eat straight away with cream, custard or ice-cream, or wait until it is cold and slice and eat as a cake. 

Variation:

Make this as a sweet focaccia – roll the dough out into a circle about 20cm across and spread with the topping.


These breads in the picture were made by my special needs students - with a little help from me.


[Note: I hate blogging! In the draft this recipe has no spaces between the title and the text, and  each step is numbered - no idea where the flowers came from!:(]

Seitan

Latest effort on the seitan front (much more info here.)

300g veg curry, blitzed to a lumpy liquid + 150g gluten powder.

Mixed to a dough – about a minute.

I cut off enough dough (150g) to shape into a cutlet and put the rest into a small casserole dish which I baked at 220C for 60 minutes. The rest of the dough I flattened out into a cutlet about 12-13cm across. This I fried for about 5 minutes on each side.

I had the cutlet with some pan-fried potato wedges and some vegetable curry.

The rest of the seitan (260g) I shall chop into chunks - for stews, chilli non carne, etc - and I shall also mince some for a bolognaise sauce, etc.

Here it is: