Bagels

Method

1. mix5 min
   stiff dough, ~55% hydration
   bread flour + yeast + salt + malt syrup + warm water, until no dry flour remains. It will look too dry and refuse to come together in a smooth ball — that is correct. Bagel dough is drier than any other yeasted dough, and that low hydration is what gives the crumb its dense, tearing chew instead of an open, bready crumb.
2. knead10 min
   by hand on an unfloured counter
   the shaggy mass, leaning into it rather than stretching it, until a pinched piece stretches thin enough to see light through without tearing. Stiff dough hydrates slowly, so it goes from ragged to satiny only in the last two minutes — stopping early leaves the gluten too weak to survive the boil, and the rings slump into blobs.
3. proof90 min
   covered, 75°F
   dough, until roughly one and a half times its volume — not doubled. A full double spends gas the dough needs later; you want most of the rise to happen in the cold overnight, where it builds flavor at the same time.
4. prep10 min
   room temperature
   divide into 4 equal pieces (about 100 g each), roll each into a tight ball, then poke a hole through the center with a floured thumb and spin the ring open to about 2 inches. Make the hole larger than looks right — it closes in the proof, the boil, and again in the oven, and a small hole bakes into a solid roll.
5. ferment720 min
   uncovered on an oiled sheet, 38–40°F
   shaped rings, overnight. The cold slows the yeast to a crawl while enzymes keep working, which is where the malty flavor and slight tang come from; leaving them uncovered dries the surface into a skin that browns faster and blisters in the oven.
6. boil4 min
   rolling boil, 1 minute per side, two at a time
   water + malt syrup, then slip in the cold bagels straight from the fridge — if one sinks and does not surface within about 10 seconds, it is underproofed, so give the rest 30 more minutes at room temperature. The boil gelatinizes the starch at the surface into a sealed skin, which limits oven spring; that restriction is the whole point, and it is what separates a bagel from a bread roll. Past two minutes a side the skin turns leathery and wrinkles as it cools.
7. bake20 min
   475°F, upper third, flip sheet at 12 minutes
   drained bagels, seeded on the wet surface right out of the water (dry bagels shed toppings), until deep glossy brown. Malt sugars brown early, so pull them on color rather than time — pale bagels are underbaked in the center and go gummy as they cool.
8. rest20 min
   on a rack
   the baked bagels, until barely warm. Slicing hot bagels smears the still-setting crumb into paste; cooling on a rack also lets steam escape from the bottom so the crust stays crisp.