Montreal Style Bagels

During these crazy times, one of the things we've really missed is getting a good bagel. We have our favourite place to go, but of course we're unable to right now.

To solve the problem, I decided to try my hand at making Montreal Style Bagels...and I'm glad I did. They turned out perfectly.

I borrowed this recipe from CBC. It was featured on the Great Canadian Baking Show and can be found here: Montreal Style Bagels. 

I pretty much followed the recipe, but had to change a few things, I think for the better. Rather than bake these on a sheet pan, I placed my bagels directly onto a pizza stone to better simulate the way these are really made and instead of simply sprinkling seeds on top of my bagels, I tossed them in a bowl of sesame seeds coating every surface...just like the real thing!

As well, the directions found at the link provided are a bit backwards. I've included the same instructions below, but I corrected what I felt needed correcting and put things in the proper order, or at least the way I do things.

Ingredients

• 350 g warm water
• 60 g sugar
• 30 g oil
• 10 g active dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 20 g honey
• 8 g salt
• 700 g flour

For finishing:

• 350 g honey
• Sesame seeds or Poppy Seeds - at least 1 1/2 cups of whichever you choose.

Preparation

In a large measuring cup, combine water, sugar, honey and yeast. Let sit for approximately 10 minutes until the yeast is activated. Add this mixture the bowl of your stand mixer and add the egg and oil. Mix well.

In a separate bowl combine flour and salt.

Add dry ingredients to the mixer bowl. With a dough hook attachment knead the dough on low/medium until a nice soft dough form. It will take about 5 minutes.

Scoop out your dough  and knead it a bit further on a lightly floured surface, forming it into a nice ball. This will just take a couple of minutes. Place your dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel and put it somewhere warm to rest for 30 minutes. In my kitchen, my oven is the best place.

Once your dough has risen, cut dough into 16 pieces (about 75g each). Keep pieces covered with towel while you work.  

Roll each piece into a 10 - 12 inch rope. Do not add flour to the surface, unless to prevent sticking.

Wrap rope around your four fingers, overlapping the ends on the inside of your hand to make a circle. To seal, roll your hand back and forth, pressing gently to complete the circle. Place on floured surface to rest and cover with a towel as you work. Keep bagels covered as you go. 

Let bagels rest 30 minutes.

While your shaped bagels are resting, fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Once boiling turn down to medium and add 350 g or so of honey to the pot.  

Preheat your oven to 450 F. If using a pizza stone, make sure your stone goes into a cold oven letting it come up to temperature with the oven.

When your bagels have rested, gently place the bagels into the boiling water. Boil bagels in batches, 1 ½ - 2 minutes per side. Remove from water using a slotted spoon. Place the bagels directly into a bowl filled with your topping of choice and coat well on all sides. Put the now coated bagels onto a wire rack on a sheet pan (you'll want to catch all the seeds!).

Place your bagels directly onto the pizza stone and bake until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Remove cooked bagels to a wire rack over a sheet pan to cool. That last part is important. You'll have seeds everywhere!

Let them cool for as long as you can wait before tearing one open and enjoying!