HOW TO MAKE BAGELS (BREADTOPIA VERMONT SOURDOUGH BAGELS)

Steps:

• Combine all dry ingredients. In the video I demonstrate both an all white flour version (Addendum video) and a half white, half bolted flour flour version (Part 1). If you opt for the half and half version, bolted flour can be purchased here or you can pass whole grain flour once or twice through a 40 mesh screen. Turkey Red flour is used in the video, but common Hard Red Spring wheat would also work very well.
• Add dry ingredients to water. If using a power mixer, first add water to the bowl of the mixer then gradually mix in dry ingredients until incorporated. Mix on lower setter for about 6 minutes. If hand kneading, add water to a large mixing bowl, gradually add dry ingredients to water until incorporated. Then turn out onto counter for 10-15 minutes of vigorous kneading. For the sourdough version: follow the video tutorial found at approximately the 5 minute mark of Part 1. (It is super easy to see visually).
• Initial Proofing: Place the kneaded dough into a covered bowl to ferment for an hour.
• Shaping: Divide the dough into 12 or 18 equal pieces (about 113 g each) and shape into bagels as demonstrated at the 10 1/2 minute mark of the Part 1 video. Place the bagels on dusted cookie sheets, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight.
• Final Proofing (if necessary), Boiling, Topping and Baking: How you proceed at this stage depends a lot on the type of flour and yeast you used, and possibly your room temperature. Since a picture (or video in this case) is worth 1,000 words, I am going to save you the reading and instead force you to watch the videos Parts 2 and the Addendum to get the gist of this part. It is nothing extraordinarily complex so please do not fret.
• Basically, an all white flour bagel leavened with common commercial instant yeast will be ready to go into the boiling pot of water straight from the fridge. Whereas a sourdough and/or Bioreal yeast leavened bagel may need up to a few hours at room temperature to rise some before being ready to boil. Whichever path you take, the bagels will be ready to boil when they have risen a bit and are somewhat (not much) spongy to the touch.
• Baking Time & Temperature: Preheat your oven and baking stone to 500ºF. Bake topping side down on the bagel boards for 4 minutes then flip over onto the stone for an additional approximately 14-16 minutes. Just go by site on when they're done baking. Not all ovens bake the same. When the bagels have turned a light golden brown, they're likely done.