There is an old Yiddish saying, “Lign in drerd un bakn baygl,” which means, “May you lie in the ground and bake bagels.” It’s intended to be a curse, sentencing someone to an eternity in Hell, baking delicious bagels they will never get the chance to eat. A curse such as this, exemplifies the humor of Yiddish statements as well as the importance of bagels in Jewish culture. Can you imagine, baking endlessly, day after day, smelling the alluring scent of fresh bagels and never having the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of your labor – a curse indeed.
As an East Coast transplant from Miami, there are certain delicacies I miss while living in California: southern BBQ, good delis, Cuban food, cafe con leche, Arepas, croquetas and of course, real bagels. I have searched high and low for a decent bagel in town and the best I have found are at Spudnuts Donut shop on upper State Street. Though these are better than most, they are still more dense than I prefer. I’ve been complaining for a while about the lack of good bagels in town, it was time to actually do something about it – after all, I am a trained chef.
This past weekend provided me with the perfect excuse to make the mess required of baking fresh bagels. Sunday was “Mitzvah Day” at my son’s religious school. The direct translation of the word “mitzvah” in the Jewish religion means a commandment. Amongst reform Jews such as myself, the meaning of a “mitzvah” is to perform a good deed. Since we were the designated snack people for this week’s class, I decided our mitzvah would be making homemade fresh bagels. These “poor underprivileged” west coast kids had probably never eaten a proper bagel. It was our civic duty to introduce this Jewish rite of passage. The golden sheen of a finished bagel, the caramelized outer layer, the crunch, the light airy dough – by G-d, these kids shall be enlightened!
I hadn’t made bagels from scratch since culinary school. Making bread of any kind can be a bit intimidating and it requires a willingness to make a mess as well as the energy to clean it up. My alarm was set for 6:00 am – “time to make the bagels,” a rhythmic chant circulated in my head.
I made two batches of dough early Saturday morning. After allowing each batch of dough rise for a couple of hours, I then divided the first batch (by sight, not weight) into 18 pieces. I rolled each piece into a circle, placed them on a parchment lined baking sheet, covered them with plastic wrap and placed them into the refrigerator for 24 hours.
Notice how uneven this bagel dough is? I can hear my bread instructor, Sandy, saying with frustration, “Really? Really? This is not what I taught you.” She would be correct, this is what dough looks like when it is not weighed correctly. It’s simply inconsistent and not the correct technique to portion dough of any kind.
Fortunately, I had my second batch waiting since my first attempt was highly unsuccessful. For one thing, I couldn’t get the pre-rolled bagels off the parchment paper without damaging their shape – this is a very sticky dough. I got so frustrated, one ball of dough went whizzing by my husband’s head on the way to the sink – luckily, I have been blessed with perfect aim. Garrett took this as a cue to go outside and busy himself, while his crazy hot-tempered wife figured out how to fix this mess.
Once I managed to get the sticky pre-rolled bagels off the cookie sheet, I placed them in the honey enriched boiling water. I drained them on a cooling rack and then placed them onto the pre-heated pizza stones in the oven. They weren’t looking pretty, as they were misshapen, of inconsistent size and eventually, they even got burnt. Perhaps someone had cursed me, “Lign in dred un bakn beygl.”
Yep, round one was a failure. Take comfort in knowing disastrous cooking results can happen to anyone, including professionals. This negative outcome reminded me of two very important rules: weigh my dough portions and keep a close eye on the oven. Though the first batch did not turn out as expected, the flavor was still quite good. The texture however, was crunchier than desired, as though they had already been toasted.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
The second batch of dough had not been pre-rolled and instead was simply placed in a covered bowl in the refrigerator for 24 hours. This time around, I correctly weighed each cut of dough, leaving me with 15 portions, each weighing 2.5 ounces. I rounded the dough as I was taught, proceeded to create my circles and made sure to keep an eye on the oven.
Phew! I was triumphant. The second batch was indeed a success.
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