Modern life, frenetic paces and everything that comes along. I’m ok with running 700 meters because I'm super late and I really can’t miss the metro –I missed it, by the way-; in always having, as a consequence, two pairs of shoes in my bag: one for the daily marathon and the other one for when I’m pretending to be cool and relaxed, or not at all cool and relaxed, but still having a job interview –well, that’s when I actually remember, to take them. For the just mentioned job interview, before wearing the I’m-cool-and-relaxed shoes I had just walked across half of the city barefoot-.
Anyway, as I was saying, I’m fine with all of that, but not with sad, monotonous lunches.
Here come the bagels.
BAGELS
Makes about 12 bagels
INGREDIENTS:
- 225 ml milk (at room temperature or lukewarm)
- Water (just enough, say a glass)
- 1ts salt
- 1ts sugar
- To guarnish:
- poppy seeds
- sesam seeds
DIRECTIONS:
1- put the flour in a large bowl and make a hole at the center .
2- pour the milk in a second bowl, then melt yeast, sugar and honey in it.
3- Pour the milk into the flour and strat kneading. Add the egg and keep on kneading.
4- Melt salt in a glass of lukewarm water and add it to the dough. Start by adding just a bit of water, adding it until when the dough will have the perfect consistency -see elastic and not sticky-.
5- Now dice the softened butter and add it to the dough. Then knead. Knead, knead, knead.(Hold on and think about the crazy muscles you’ll have after just a few batches). I was almost forgetting: at least 10 minutes, that’s for how long you have to knead. If you read it doesn’t seem like being a very long time so, don’t trust yourself and get a watch.
6- Brush a bowl with a bit of olive oil, lay the dough down into it and brush it as well, then wrap the bowl with some plastic film and let it rise for a couple of hours.
7- After congratulating your dough for how good it has done, it’s time for some… kneading! No worries, this time it has to be just for a few seconds.
8- Now divide the dough in 12 little balls, then make a hole at the center of each one forming donuts. Make the hole pretty large and let your almost-bagels rest for more or less an other hour.
9- Boil some water and put a teaspoon of honey it.
10- Now, dip the bagels gently into the water and leave them there for some 10 seconds, 5 seconds on one side, 5 seconds on the other (and this is the secret to… ooohhooh… sticking the seeds! Treasure it and brag with your friends). Pull them out of the pot and drain carefully, then lay them down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle with seeds as if rained. à pay attention at not letting them dry for more than 5 minutes before baking.
11- Bake for more or less 20 minutes (which is to say “until ready”) at 430° (430F° = 220C°). if you want them to remain soft and not particularly crunchy, put a bowl of water inside the oven all along the baking time.
INGREDIENTI:
- 450 gr farina
- 25 gr burro
- 225 ml latte (a temperatura ambiente o tiepido)
- 1 uovo
- Acqua (qb, diciamo un bicchiere)
- 15 gr lievito birra
- 1 cucchiaino miele
- 1 cucchiaino sale
- 1 cucchiaino zucchero
- Per guarnire
- semi di papavero
- semi di sesamo
PREPARAZIONE:
1. Versate la farina in una ciotola capiente e create un buco al centro.
2. In una seconda ciotola, versate il latte e scioglietevi il lievito, lo zucchero e il miele.
3. Versate la parte liquida nella ciotola della farina e cominciate ad impastare. Aggiungete anche l’uovo.
4. In un bicchiere di acqua tiepida sciogliete il sale ed aggiungetelo all’impasto. Cominciate con poca acqua ed aggiungetene fino a che la pasta non avrà una bella consistenza –vedi elastica e non appiccicaticcia-.
5. Ora tagliate il burro ammorbidito a cubetti e aggiugetelo all’impasto. Quindi, impastare, impastare, impastare. (Forza e coraggio. E pensate ai bicipiti incredibili che avrete dopo solo poche infornate di bagels). Dimenticavo: almeno per 10 minuti, dovete impastare. Non fidatevi di voi stessi, guardate un orologio.
6. Spennellate una ciotola con un po’d’olio, adagiatevi la pasta espennellate anche lei, avvolgete la ciotola con della pellicola trasparente e lasciate lievitare per un paio d’ore.
7. Dopo esservi complimentati con la vostra pasta per quanto è crescuita, è il momento di... impastare! Tranquilli, questa volta sono pochi secondi.
8. Ora dividete l’impasto in 12 palline, fate un buco al centro di ognuna di esse e create delle ciambelle, facendo in modo che il buco al centro sia piuttosto largo.
9. Lasciate riposare i vostri quasi-bagels per un’altra oretta.
10. Mettete dell’acqua a bollire in una pentola ed aggiungeteci un cucchiaino di miele.
11. A questo punto, tuffate delicatamente i bagels nella pentola e lasciateli sbollentare per circa 10 secondi, 5 da un lato e 5 dall’altro (e questo è il segreto per.. ooohhooh.. attaccare i semini! Fatene conto e stupite i vostri amici). Tirateli fuori dalla pentola scolandoli per bene ed appoggiateli sulla vostra piastra foderata di carta da forno, quindi cospargeteli di semini come se piovessero. à attenzione a non lasciarli ad asciugare per più di 5 minuti prima di infornare!
12. Infornate per circa 20 minuti (che vuol poi sempre dire: fino a che non sono pronti) a 220°. Se volete che rimangano paricolarmente morbidi, mettete una ciotola d’acqua in forno e lasciatela durante tutta la cottura.
