Why did I get wrinkled bagels?
I made bagels for the first time yesterday. I followed the instructions...my bagels tasted great...but they ended up "wrinkled" after baking. It was a copycat recipe for Panera cinnamon crunch bagels. It may be possible that I didn't boil them correctly, it called for 45 seconds on each side, but I didn't have a timer and kept losing count with family interupting constantly. It only called for "flour" and I used some bread flour and some all-purpose. It didn't call for rising after shaping, only letting it rest 10 minutes. Any ideas?
Best Answer
It sounds to me like you've already diagnosed the problem. Just to cover the basics, though, here's some of the reasons why bagels are unsightly, based on my personal experience making bagels and a few internet resources (links below):
- Failure to knead the dough adequately, leading to inadequate gluten development.
- Overhandling of the dough while shaping the bagels.
- Inadequate proofing after shaping.
- Putting them into a roiling boil instead of simmering water.
- Leaving them to get cold after boiling before baking -- they need to go into the oven still warm from the pot.
- Making them during Passover*.
Per your description, inadequate proofing was certainly one of the reasons your bagels were lumpy. You may have been affected by the other reasons as well.
Resources:
(* the bit about Passover is a joke. However, I did once make the mistake of making bagels during Passover, a Jewish holiday during with you don't make or eat leavened bread, and they were lumpy and flat, so maybe check the calendar just in case)
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Quick Answer about "Why did I get wrinkled bagels?"
Failure to knead the dough adequately, leading to inadequate gluten development. Overhandling of the dough while shaping the bagels. Inadequate proofing after shaping. Putting them into a roiling boil instead of simmering water.How do you keep bagels smooth?
Use bread flour, not all purpose flour \u2013 you need the extra protein and gluten content to make the bagel dough turn out smooth and elastic. Trust us \u2013 all-purpose flour will give you a lumpy, dense bagel that you'll likely toss din the trash after one bite!How do you tell if bagels are Overproofed?
Bagels deflate when they're overproofed. If you're making wood-fired bagels and leave them on the board too long before flipping, then they get flat too, but I don't think that's a problem many home cooks are having. I think they're overproofed and/or they're boiling longer than they need to.Why are my bagels bumpy?
An underdeveloped dough will produce bagels with a poor rise, fewer blisters, and a rougher sort of topography that may look like webbing, or like fingers stretching across the crust. In extreme cases, the dough will have a cottage cheese\u2013like texture, while the finished bagels will be lumpy and pale.How do you make bagels smooth and shiny?
Bagels need to be boiled to get a shiny crust. Boiling gelatinizes the starches in the surface to make the bagels shiny and chewy. Adding baking soda to the water makes it alkaline, which makes the bagels shinier after they are baked.The History of Bagels
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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