Made bagels for the first time and followed this recipe: https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/homemade-sourdough-bagels/comment-page-63/#comments
Here’s pictures of the whole process (backwards) How did I do?
How does the fermentation and proofing look? They bulk fermented for around 16hrs (my house is around 60 degrees right now) and then they proofed after shaping for roughly 2.5hrs.
by aciddisaster
4 Comments
For American bagels I think they look good. If I were to compare them to what we get in Montreal and what I make, I would say they are to fat and there’s no hole in the middle. Regardless, of how they look, how do they taste? As taste trumps looks all day, every day.
Your bagels don’t have any kind of consistency to them. They all look different. You have to pay attention to detail. I’m wondering if you weighed the bagels. 100 g is a generous bagel. You can use a ruler to ensure that the diameter of the hole in the bagel, prior to boiling and baking, should be 2 in. Some of those holes are centimeter and others have a diameter maybe an inch so once again there’s no consistency.
You’re only showing us half the story. We need to look under the hood and see what’s really going on. The crumb also known as a cross section shows us how well they were prepared and baked.
They’re too tall. Bagels should be a lot wider than they are tall.
Did you boil those? I’m thinking you might have used a more modern method that skips that step.
5/10
They look like absolute garbage. Like, the highest or lowest grade of garbage depending on the scale.
Do us all a favor and send them to me so I can dispose of them properly with some cream cheese and maybe a slice of salmon.
I can’t do harsh.
I most especially love the color on your bagel. To me nothing is worse than an anemic looking bagel. My standard order is “a dark poppy seed bagel with tuna, lettuce, tomato, and red onion”. The color on your bagel is what I want to see.
Others commented that the lack of a hole in the center needs to be addressed. That is something you can work on. But since I love bagel sandwiches that is a minor issue to me.
For a first attempt I think you did great- as long as the taste and texture are on point. I look forward to seeing your future bakes and witness your bagel baking journey. Best of luck and happy baking!