I’ve been baking bagels frequently for the last 12 months since a visit to Russ and Daughter’s and an podcast interview with Cathy Barrow coincided in my little world. Barrow’s book Bagels, Schmears, and a Nice Piece of Fish is excellent. She has you add 5.5 g of vital wheat gluten for every 120 g of all-purpose flour. All the bagels have been excellent so far, and they get raves. She includes Montreal bagels, which I’ve never had anywhere but now enjoy making at home (no wood oven, of course). I’ve also made her cream cheese using goat’s milk (copying Russ and Daughters) and her home-cured lox. It’s all surprisingly little work; the bagel dough comes together quickly in my Ankarsrum mixer. They rise overnight and bake quickly in the morning. I recommend her book if you’d like to get into bagel baking.
