Bread

Method

Poolish

1. Into a small bowl, add the yeast and water. Stir it together to dissolve, then add in the flour. Whisk this through with a hand whisk to create a wet batter with no lumps of flour.

2. Cover the bowl with a sheet of cling film and leave it at room temperature for 3 hours. After 3 hours you should see lots of bubbles on the surface and the mixture will have puffed up.

Dough

1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the poolish that has bubbled up, and the remaining ingredients. It is ideal to use diastatic malt powder here to help with the flavour and the colouring of the bagels. You can leave it out, or add a little bit of barley malt syrup instead (2 tsp) as a replacement.

2. Attach the dough hook and mix on a medium speed for 10-12 minutes, until the dough is smooth and when you take a small piece of dough and stretch it between your fingers, it passes the window pane test.

3. Shape the dough into a ball, and then place it into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge.

4. Once chilled, cut the dough into 100g pieces, and roll them into tight balls.

5. Place them onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper, and lightly spray the top with cooking oil. If you don’t have cooking spray you can very lightly brush them with any type of neutral oil.

6. Cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate again for 30 minutes.

7. Take the chilled dough, and use your finger to press a hold in the centre. Then place both index fingers in the hole and spin them around, to create a large hole in the centre of the bagel. The hole needs to be bigger than you think as it will shrink as it proofs and bakes.

8. Place the donuts back onto a tray, lightly oil and cover them with cling film again.  Proof for 30 minutes at room temperature, before placing them in the fridge overnight or for 12 hours.

9. The next day, prepare a large baking tray with your chosen bagel toppings. Preheat the oven to 220C/430F Non-Fan assisted.

10. Take a large pot and add the water, malt extract, baking soda and salt. Bring this to a gentle simmer.

11. Working in batches, poach the bagels in the liquid, for 60 seconds on each side (I do two batches of 3 bagels, then a final batch of 2 bagels).

12. Immediately remove them from the liquid using a slotted spoon, and lift them directly onto a wire rack to drain briefly.

13. Next, working quickly, lift them into your bagel seasoning. Flip the bagels to ensure they are evenly coated in the seasoning. Lift the coated bagels onto a baking tray lined with a sheet of parchment paper.

14. Bake the bagels for 20-22 minutes, or until they are a deep golden brown colour. Note – you’ll probably only be able to fit 6 bagels on your baking tray at a time, so I bake 6 bagels first, leaving the remaining 2 bagels in the fridge, before poaching and baking them. Alternatively, you can bake all 8 at once on two separate trays, ensuring you swap the trays over halfway through the bake.

15. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool or serve slightly warm. These are best stored in an airtight container and eaten within 48 hours but may need to be heated up slightly if left for over a day.