The logistics of making bagels is sometimes a challenge for me. I’m wondering if anyone has tried or has thoughts on making the dough in the evening, refrigerating overnight, and shaping in the morning rather than shaping before refrigerating. I don’t easily have room in the fridge for multiple baking sheets but would like to make a bigger batch.
Another question: if I’m making say 24 bagels but can only bake 8 at a time on my stone, can I complete the boiling-topping part of the process for all 24 even though 2/3 of them are going to be sitting around until it’s their turn to be baked? Or should I boil and top only the number I am going to bake each time?
It took me a couple of searches, but I knew I saw someone else ask the shape in the morning question! answer
The most I’ve made at once is 18, in two batches of 9. I was concerned about boiling and topping all of them at once, mostly because the transfer from somewhere? to the boards of the second batch and how long they’d be sitting wet. (If you try that though, please share how it goes.)
Doing it in two stages worked well, but remember to re-soak your bagel boards. Last time, I forgot to do that until the last minute…my first three bagels were ready to be placed on the first board and they were all sitting across the kitchen, toasty hot and dry.
Thanks for sending the link to that thread. I’m sorry I missed it. I will for sure try shaping in the morning.
I actually don’t use bagel boards. When I first started making bagels a few months ago, that was one step too many for me! So I tried it without and it works fine for us. After topping I put them on a parchment-lined pizza peel which I then slide onto the stone. I don’t flip them (although I do rotate the parchment 1/2 way through the bake) and it hasn’t been a problem. I use convection and I wonder if that ensures crustiness all over.
I am going to try boiling and topping all at once to see if that works for me. Now that these are becoming a regular around here (and in the freezer) I’m all for streamlining the process!
I bet it will work well with your system. Streamlining is good You’re making me want bagels. I’ve been waiting for the mega line outside my local Trader Joe’s to dissipate so I can buy more everything bagel seasoning. I drove past yesterday…still long.
Interesting about the convection feature. I did some studying of pretzel recipes recently and convection bake was recommended.
Well, I did the morning shaping and then let the 2nd half of the batch sit around until the first was done baking.
The first problem was shaping cold dough. It was difficult and did not roll well into ropes. Many had less than perfect shapes. Then they stuck to the parchment I had put them on (should’ve used cornmeal) so when I lifted them off to boil, the shape got even worse. But to be honest, other than being a pain, I didn’t really care how they looked. The crumb though was not what I like – it was more closed but especially much less chewy. This could be due to 35% whole grain, a higher than I’d done before. I think I’ll go back to the other method and see if I can find a way to fit more in the fridge. Handling cold shaped dough is much easier.
As for half sitting around waiting for the first half to bake, that was not a problem; I saw no difference. So this part I would do again, but not the morning shaping.
EDIT: Just edited to say 35% whole grain, not 65%!
Thanks for sharing your experience with morning-cold shaping, and with boiling and prepping all of the bagels. I dug around to find the stats for my last batch. It was about 35% whole grain yecora rojo if you include the flour from the starter in the calculatoon – and pretty chewy. I haven’t done much less than that for comparison though.
Good luck with the refrigerator tetris as I like to call it.
One thing that’s common in cake baking but not spelled out in this recipe is combining the dry ingredients and wet ingredients first before blending together.
Put all the flour(s), salt, gluten, etc in a large bowl and whisk them. In another bowl dissolve the starter in the water then mix wet and dry together on your stand mixer. Half of the blending is done before the mixer is turned on. You also avoid over mixing.
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You’re making me want bagels. I’ve been waiting for the mega line outside my local Trader Joe’s to dissipate so I can buy more everything bagel seasoning. I drove past yesterday…still long.