What is a bagel? pt 2

Yield: 1 Servings

Measure Ingredient
\N \N See part 1

5. Glaze and apply topping: This step is not essential to the final product.

6. Bake: Bake in a preheated oven for 20 to 35 minutes.

STEP 1: MIX, KNEAD AND FIRST RISE: The Bread Machine:

The bread machine yields excellent results every time when you use fresh ingredients and follow directions. Set the machine on "dough cycle", and let it produce a dough with the texture of velvet and the stiff consistency required.

When using a bread machine, add ingredients in the order recommended in your manufacturer's instructions. The recipes in this series have ingredients listed for machines that require adding liquids first and dry components last.

Reverse the order for those that add dry ingredients first and wet ones last. Process on the "dough mode," or "program", or "mix bread cycle" or whatever it is termed by your machine's instructions. Allow the dough to rise through the full first rise period after the kneading phase, between 35 minutes and 1 hour.

On shorter cycles, and depending on the weather and moisture of the ingredients, you may have to leave it in the machine for 10 or 15 minutes longer, or until the dough fills about ⅔ of the pan. Whole grain flours may require up to 1 to 2 hours for the first rise. Do not allow the dough to bake in the machine.

Dry ingredients such as spices, cinnamon, nutmeg and finely chopped nuts are added with the fours at the beginning. Wet ingredients such as mashed bananas, applesauce, pumpkin, grated carrots and frozen berries are added with the liquids, but if you add more wet ingredients to the recipes in this series, their liquid content must replace an equal amount of liquid.

Adding raisins and other dried fruits at the beginning is not recommended; most bread machines pulverize them so they're hardly visible in the finished bagel.

Check dough about 5 minutes after you have started the machine. The dough should form a nice round ball. If a ball doesn't form, and the mixture appears crumbly, add water, a tablespoon or less at a time, until the correct consistency is achieved. If dough looks too wet or formless, add flour, a tablespoon or less at a time, until the dough forms a ball.

Add ingredients such as raisins, dates, chocolate chips and apple pieces about 5 to 8 minutes before the end of the kneading phase. Some machine beep to indicate the optimum time to add nuts or raisins. Check your manufacturers instructions for the time required for each process in the dough cycle. If your machine does not provide this timed signal, determine the length of the kneading phase and set a timer for 5 minutes before the end; then open the machine and carefully add the ingredients, being sure that they do not spill onto the heating elements. Ingredients can also be kneaded into the dough by hand after it is removed from the machine.

NOTE: When adding reconstituted dried foods to the dough in a bread machine (5 to 10 minutes before the end of the kneading phase), foods should be blotted very dry with a paper towel so that any retained moisture does not change the texture of the dough and inhibit it from rising properly.

A 60 minute rise period is ideal. It's ok to open the machine and quickly test the dough during the rise period. Gently push your finger into the dough, and if the dent remains, dough is ready. If the impression bounces back, let dough rise a few minutes longer and retest. Dough can become slack if allowed to rise too long. White flour rises highest. White flour combined with whole wheat, rye and oats will not rise as high. Generally, the darker the dough, the lower the rise and the longer it takes.

When ready, remove dough form the pan and proceed to Shape Bagels.

THE FOOD PROCESSOR

A food processor will knead dough ingredients very quickly and easily. It will reduce the process to a few minutes, even cutting down the time of the a bread machine. Our testers found the results extremely reliable. One tester much preferred it to the bread machine because he was in charge all the way and never had a failure. By mixing and kneading in the food processor and allowing the dough to rise in the microwave, bagels can be ready for boiling in under a half hour. You can optionally use the microwave for the first rise for dough that has been mixed in the bread machine, by hand or with an electric mixer. Then work the flavoring ingredients into the dough after the first rise as you would for dough made in the bread

continued in part 3

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