The Hole Truth

Now that bagels seem to come in 31 flavors, chances are you won’t bother baking them yourself. But they’re a lot of fun to make, and you will gain some insight into why bagels are so unique.

You can use any yeast dough to make bagels. Milk in the dough can help keep the crust from getting too crisp during baking. Scalding the milk--heating it to about 180 degrees or until tiny bubbles form around the edge of the pan--is the first step.

Butter, sugar and salt are then added to the milk, and the mixture is stirred until the butter melts and sugar dissolves. When the mixture cools to between 105 degrees and 115 degrees, stir in the dry yeast. (Temperatures below this level will not activate the yeast; higher heat will kill it.)

In about five minutes the yeast will be dissolved and you can stir in the flour. Adding eggs to the dough will heighten the interior softness of the bagels. Purists will object, but spices, raisins, finely chopped nuts or finely chopped onions may be added to the basic dough.

Once a soft dough is formed, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead about 10 minutes, adding flour until the dough is firm enough to handle. Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place for an hour.

Punch the dough down by making a fist and pushing it into the center of the dough. Pull the edges of the dough to the center, then turn it over and divide into 18 equal pieces.

Roll each piece into a ball by cupping the palm of your hand over the dough and rolling it on the work surface until rounded. To form the bagels, press a floured index finger into the center of each dough ball. Work your finger through the dough until it touches the work surface (Step 1).

Lift and twirl the dough on your finger (Step 2) to enlarge the hole to about a third the diameter of the bagel. Place the formed bagels on a floured surface, cover and let rise again for 15 minutes. Limiting the first rising to an hour and the second to 15 minutes produces the density of a good bagel.

While the bagels rise, bring the water to a boil and stir in the remaining sugar. Reduce the heat so the liquid maintains a gentle boil.

Briefly poaching the dough before baking is what makes bagels unique among breads (pretzels are also made with the poaching technique) and gives them their dense, tender interior and soft, chewy crust. Poaching moistens the outer dough and prevents the bagels from crisping when they are baked.

Drop the bagels, one or two at a time, into the boiling liquid. Poach 15 seconds, just until the bagels begin to puff up. Use a skimmer or slotted spoon to remove the bagels (Step 3) and place them on a greased baking sheet.

Before baking, brush the bagels with an egg glaze (Step 4) so that they brown well and develop a glossy crust. If desired, sprinkle the bagels with coarse salt, seeds (poppy, sesame or caraway) or chopped, lightly sauteed onion.

After baking until golden brown and crisp, cool the bagels on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes, then slice (Step 5) and toast, if desired. Cream cheese and lox are the traditional accompaniments (Step 6) for a hearty snack.

BAGELS 1 cup milk 1/4 cup butter 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 package dry yeast 3 eggs 3 3/4 cups flour

Scald milk. Add butter, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt. Stir until butter melts and sugar dissolves.

When mixture is between 105 and 115 degrees, stir in yeast. Set aside 5 minutes until yeast dissolves.

Blend 2 eggs and flour into yeast mixture, forming soft dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary to make dough firm enough to handle.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place 1 hour.

Punch dough down and divide into 18 equal pieces. Roll each into ball by cupping palm of hand over dough and rolling on work surface until rounded.

Press floured finger into center of each dough ball. Work finger through dough until touching work surface.

Lift and twirl dough on finger to enlarge hole to about 1/3 diameter of bagel. Place formed bagels on floured surface, cover and let rise 15 minutes.

Bring 2 quarts boiling water to boil. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Reduce heat to maintain gentle boil.

Drop bagels, 1 or 2 at time, into boiling liquid. Poach 15 seconds, until bagels begin to puff up. Use skimmer or slotted spoon to remove bagels and place on greased baking sheet.

Beat remaining egg with small amount of cold water and brush mixture over bagels. Bake bagels at 400 degrees 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and glossy. Remove and cool on wire rack at least 10 minutes. Makes 18 bagels.