A Taste of East Coast Home

About to go in the oven!

Boiling Bagels - The REAL East Coast Deal

When I was last in Jackson Hole over winter break, I was chatting with my friend Ben about missing some part of the east coast - like bagels. The bagels here in the west...well, just aren't up to par. Please, do not tell me that the Thomas' English Muffin - Bagels are REAL Bagels. I might just punch you in the face. I am talking about real, crispy hard crusts, fluffy insides, boiled rings of awesomeness that are at times as big as your face! Those...Are...Bagels. If you want to argue with me, you'll be sorry!

But anyways, off the soap box. Ben texted me when I got back to town for spring break and asked if I wanted to get together with him and actually make some bagels! Of course I said yes! He is from Philadelphia and used to bake breads and bagels to sell at farmer's markets. So this morning, stopped over at his house and we got down to baking bagels. He had already prepped the 'sponge' and we just needed to add the rest of the dry ingredients before any bagel boiling. Ben also wanted to try a new recipe that he had been interested in using, so we used that. You can view the recipe here! But it only took about an hour or so (the night before I got there to make the sponge), then about an hour or so to add the rest of the ingredients and knead it all together. Before we let the dough rise, we had to roll them into little balls. I think that was the hardest part - working with your hands to roll the dough into small, smooth balls. This is gonna be my new arm workout! Haha. After that, we had some coffee and chatted (maybe about an hour) to let the dough rise. Then it was time to make the dough into bagel form. Super fun poking holes through the dough and stretching the dough to make some rings! Almost bagel boil time - we just need to let them rise one more time. So I went to go work on my Master's paper at the library while Ben left for work and the bagels rose in the fridge for the day.

Around 5pm this evening, we came back and boiled the bagels (about 2-min per each side) in a malt syrup and water solution. Covered them in some delicious toppings, and baked them for about 30-minutes (about 15-20 minutes with two pan rotations). It was the longest wait! But after we took them out and let them cool, we were able to indulge in the a wonderful taste of east coast home! Delicious! And I get to take about a dozen of them back to Laramie! However, that recipe was super easy to do - so I definitely see making more in the future!

You should try this!

TheChristyBel

The Longest Wait of My Life!

Reminds Me of Home! 

Drew a Thank You Wolf for Ben on His Fridge!
Will be Sending Him Banana Bread too!