I am thrilled to hear Hayabusa Rider rests his credentials on his bagel making skills, as or this thread, its yet another Thread that sheds heat and no light.
I'm a person who appreciates good food, and I'll put in the work necessary to make it. Take bagels for instance. One could go to the store and buy Thomas brand bagels. They're easy and you can get them without a fuss. The problem is that I find them insipid, yet they are very popular. To many they are what bagels ought to be since that's all that they bothered to try. Baking? Please, that's hard!
When I was young I didn't know what a bagel was. Never even heard of them. When I met the family I mentioned they had access to a first rate Jewish bakery. The bagels I first had were outstanding, in the NYC/Philly tradition, and that's what I was longing for.
I also love all sorts of breads, and I had it in mind that I should learn how to make whatever I wished without being embarrassed at the results. So I went on the internet and found a few good sites which detailed sourdough, pizza, and a whole world of baked goods that promised to be delicious- if - I were prepared to do what was required.
I found a few books on one of the bread sites that were constantly referred to and bought them. One of those had a recipe that looked to be just the thing. I then looked on the web and found comments about the relative merits of various recipes and techniques. There were photos of the finished products and they looked good, but something was not quite right about the appearance. Backing up, I should say that bagels were boiled. In today's world that's expensive so most are steam baked. If done well it's not too bad, but if you are Thomas, cheap and easy is better for them. The end result is that their product is cheap to make, has a lot of preservatives and lasts a long time, it's packaged and marketed, and priced to sell. It's perfect except that it tastes like crap. There is no difference between the interior crumb and the exterior "crust" which I put on quotations because I don't think it's any different at all except for coloration and that the outside is sealed.
So back to boiling vs. steaming- Everything being equal, boiling and baking produces a superior product, but it's not as cheap and fast as steam cooking. Not only that, but just passing a steamed cooked bagel under a heating element just doesn't do it.
Well, the method I described makes a decent product, but it won't brown right in the oven. The easiest solution is to paint it with egg wash. It browns and there is a crust better than most steamed bagels, and certainly better than pre-bagged supermarket ones. Well if you are going thorough this trouble, then in for a penny in for a pound.
Best practice is this- Make your dough, let it rest for a bit and then shape it into bagels. Then you put it in a fridge for 6-12 hours covered. The bagels proof (just means rise) under cooler conditions causing a slowing of the process. One might think that faster is better, but there are chemical and biological processes that take time. The dough "ripens" during this time. After that you can dip them for half a minute in boiling water. If you add malt syrup to the water you get a nicely colored product, but it's still too "bready". What is needed is an alkali to react with the surface molecules which in turn produces a real bagel crust. Again one can use egg wash, but that just browns and does nothing to the dough itself.
The easy way out is to use baking soda and most people do that. It's easy to get and not so strong that caution has to be used in handling. That's what I was looking at in pics of others work. Not bad but not exactly as I remembered. Then I found a link to someone who uses lye instead of baking soda. It involves some care since lye is serious stuff, but it looked exactly as I remembered. So I bought lye crystals on the web and went to work. There was a lot to keep in mind, many little things done properly in correct order. It involves time and attention. It also involves some additional items, such as a baking stone, lye, and parchment paper, but those are basic items anyway.
I made enough to take to work and when people tried them they were amazed. All of them said that they never had the like. Bagels come in bags at the store and are bland white bread circle with a hole in the middle. What they got was something with layers of textures and tastes. Something that had "tooth" to the exterior, a not-quite-crunchy not -quite-hard exterior, but not soft either. Something that's impossible to describe, but it's there. The interior was chewy and dense, but not a brick. It didn't compress into bland dough when bitten, but released a complex flavor.
In short it was exactly what I hoped for. It was a whole new sensation for those trying them and they ask "are you bringing more in soon"?
So LL there you go. The next question I would expect is "what does this have to do with politics or news or Israel or anything?"
I'd say that public policy and that includes foreign relations is much like a bagel. To get something that is first rate requires knowing just what you want, putting effort into learning about what is required, going about it in a logical and consistent way expending the time and effort needed. One may have to borrow ideas from others. Sometimes things will have to be done that aren't all that easy. That also applies to the citizen, who too often picks based on advertisements and brand loyalty over quality and substance.
Here, have a Thomas.
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