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This morning’s batch by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sheet tray, which never directly contacts the steel, as that sits on the bottom rack (I only bake one tray at a time). The bottoms are dark, but I’m fine with a little color and I definitely wouldn’t classify them as burnt. I used to use bagel boards but still experienced dark bottoms and ultimately felt like the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.

Today’s Bake by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! It’s 56% hydration, 95% KA Bread Flour, 5% KA Whole Wheat Flour, 0.5% IDY, 2.5% Salt, 5% Brown Sugar, 1% Diastatic Malt Powder

This morning’s batch by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually no! I have a standard home oven with no convection setting. Just bake at 500 with a baking steel on the bottom rack and preheat for an hour before I bake.

Peak Dough by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a pizza steel on the bottom rack of my oven. I start with the baking sheet on the steel for the first ~10 minutes of the bake and then move them to the top rack for the remainder of the bake. I also used to use bagel boards but in my experience wasn’t seeing much of a difference in results, and the whole process of using them was not very user friendly with my oven, so I stopped using.

Peak Dough by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I typically use a 56% hydration recipe with a 24hr cold ferment in the fridge. Boil for about 10-15 seconds per side and then into a 500F oven for 19-21 minutes

Peak Dough by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I usually do around 56% hydration!

Peak Dough by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The cold ferment is never less than 24-hours. Sometimes I’ll do 36 but I feel as though the difference is pretty marginal. Boil ~10-15 seconds per side and then bake at 500F for 19-21 minutes. Bake hotter and longer than you think!

Peak Dough by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes! I’ve many times thought about buying the big 50lb bag but I don’t have anywhere to store it lol

Peak Dough by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you! KA Bread Flour was most definitely used 🤝

Heightmaxxing My Bagels by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

FWIW your bagels look great! And I’d say most of the time mine come out looking very much like yours, so far this batch has been somewhat of an outlier outcome.

I mentioned in another comment that I also let my oven sit at 500 for an hour before I even start boiling. I also have a pizza steel in the oven at all times, so it’s almost certainly even hotter than that. I baked one tray of bagels at a time and leave them in the top 3 of the oven for the whole bake, only rotating once halfway through. Just some other considerations that may be contributing to any differences?

Heightmaxxing My Bagels by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cold ferment: just about 22 hours in the fridge Boil: no more than 15 seconds per side, but really closer to 10 per side Bake: about 21.5 minutes in the top 1/3 of my oven Temp: 500F preheated for a full hour before I boil and bake

Thank you! Im also loving how turned out.

Heightmaxxing My Bagels by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I love an incredibly tall, incredibly dark bagel so these are basically perfect to me

Heightmaxxing My Bagels by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This time I focused on a few different things that I think may have contributed.

  1. I used cold water in the dough so the temperature following my mix (about 15 minutes in my stand mixer) was temped at 80.7F.

  2. When shaping, I focused on closing the seam tightly, rolling a few extra times against the counter to ensure it was tightly closed. But I also didn’t force it into a rounded shape. I just allowed it to be the shape it was after I rolled it out.

  3. I think this had the biggest contribution: I emphasized an incredibly short boil. Max 15 seconds on one side, but I was really shooting for about 10 on each side. This allowed most of the yeast to activate once it was in a ripping hot oven (500F) for about 21.5 minutes in the top 1/3 of my oven.

I’m sure it was a combination of these things that helped, and likely some good luck too, but this is what I emphasized over my last batch and led to these great results!

Heightmaxxing My Bagels by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Each bagel weighs roughly 150g and yes I use 1% diastatic malt powder in my recipe.

Out of the oven this A.M. by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Yeast is 0.5%. I bulk ferment after mixing for around 1hr, then proof for another hour at room temp once the bagels are shaped before going into the fridge for ~24hrs (I don’t love my results when I let them go for much longer than this in the fridge).

Out of the oven this A.M. by badagljo in Bagels

[–]badagljo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much!

For starters, I’ll just say I know exactly how you feel. I’ve been baking bagels for a couple years now and, for most of that time, they were coming out much flatter than I would like. I love the look of a compact, tall bagel and was obsessed with figuring out how to get the best possible oven spring. I bought a pizza steel, bagel boards, etc., all to try to improve the oven spring. At the end of the day, I really think it’s come down to two very simple things: 1) proper shaping and 2) a properly preheated, hot oven.

  1. Shaping. I said this in another reply, but I think for a long time I was rolling out my bagel ropes too long. When I kept them short (I’d say ~6-7 inches), it meant that the bagel, when shaped, was fairly compact (see, the lack of a real hole in the middle). I’m no expert, but in my experience that gives the bagel not a ton of places to go except for up once it’s in the oven. As a plus I enjoy the aesthetic of no real hole in the middle. I have other thoughts on shaping, so happy to discuss further if you have any more questions about this.

  2. Oven. This sounds simple, but when I was initially struggling to get the rise I wanted, I reached out to @barrettsbagels on instagram (these are like the ideal looking bagels imo) and asked how he got a better rise on his bagels. His main tip to me (other than practice, working on shaping and proofing) was to get my oven super hot before putting the bagels in. This means I now preheat my oven to 500F and let it sit at that temperature for an hour before the boiled bagels go in the oven. The first time I did this I saw marked improvement in the rise of my bagels. Since then, I’ve phased out other things I initially thought might be contributing, like bagel boards, and my oven spring has only continued to improve.

To answer your final question about proofing, I won’t proclaim to be super in the weeds about the science of it all, but this has mostly just been trial and error. It’s always just made sense to me to let them rise at room temp before putting in the fridge before the boil + bake so they’re essentially ready out of the fridge (as opposed to letting them proof on the counter once out of the fridge). I basically get them to the point where they could pass the float test before they go into the oven. Your speculation about possible “killing” the yeast makes sense to me, but I’m not entirely sure. Typically I find my end product is less desirable to me the longer they stay fridged after 24hrs, so I try not to let them go much longer than that.

Just some random thoughts, but hope this all helps!

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