Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

There are a few things we've gained since moving back to the west coast. Perfect weather, for example. Good mexican food. Beaches that can actually be enjoyed. On the other hand, there are plenty of things we miss. The walk-ability of the city. Reasonable public transportation. And all types of food; mostly though, pizza and bagels.

I've covered my attempts to recreate the thin crust pizzas of New York City. So far I haven't been successful, but its a work in progress. I've made quite a few pizzas so far and, although they aren't anything like what can be had in Brooklyn, you certainly won't hear me complaining about all the pizzas I've had to eat along the way.

Which brings us to bagels. The bagels in NYC are incredible. There was a corner store just down the street from our old apartment that made bagels fresh, every morning. If we were up early enough we could smell them from our balcony - but we were very rarely up at 4am! 

These bagels were just one of the hundreds of bagel offerings throughout the boroughs - served warm, with a large schmear of cream cheese. After New York bagels, its hard to find a good substitute. So I did what any good food blogger would do - I tried to make my own.

We are an open-bagel household; we love all kinds. Bagels have their place: everything or onion bagels for sandwiches, plain bagels for lox, etc etc. Our favorite bagel, though, is the cinnamon raisin. Its the perfect amount of sweet for breakfast and is good with cream cheese, butter, or even peanut butter. When it was time to decide what kind of bagel I would be making, cinnamon raisin was an easy choice.

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

Adapted from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice

Sponge
1 teaspoon instant yeast
4 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
2 1/2 cups water, room temperature

Dough
1 teaspoon instant yeast
3 3/4 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar
2 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons malt powder or 1 tablespoon dark or light malt syrup, honey, or brown sugar
2 cups loosely packed raisins, rinsed with warm water to remove surfact sugar, acid, and natural wild yeast

To Finish
1 tablespoon baking soda
Cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting
Melted butter for brushing (optional)
Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling (optional)

First, make the sponge. Mix the yeast and flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the water, stirring only until it forms a smooth, sticky batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 2 hours, or until it becomes foamy and bubbly. The sponge should double in size and collapse when the bowl is tapped.

To make the dough, add the rest of the yeast to the sponge and stir. Add all but 1/2 to 1 cup of the flour, and all of the cinnamon, sugar, salt and malt. Mix on low speed with the dough hook until the ingredients form a ball, then slowly work in the remaining flour until the dough is stiff. Add the raisins at the end of mixing.

Transfer the dough to a countertop and knead for at least 10 minutes. The dough should be firm, but still smooth and pliable. If the dough is too dry or rips, add a few drops of water and continue kneading. If the dough is tacky or sticky, add more flour. The kneaded dough should feel satiny and pliable but not be tacky.

Immediately divide the dough into equal pieces - 12 (4 1/2 ounce) pieces for super sized bagels, 16 (3.375 ounce) regular-sized bagels, or 24 (2.25 ounce) perfectly smaller bagels. Form the pieces into rolls.

Cover the rolls with a damp towel and rest for 20 minutes.

Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly spray with oil. Poke a hole in the center of a ball of dough and rotate your thumb to widen the hole. The dough should be stretched as evenly possible around the bagel.

Place the shaped pieces two inches apart on the pans. Mist the bagels lightly with spray oil and cover each pan loosely with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Check to see if the bagels are ready by using the “float test”. Fill a bowl with cool to room-temperature water. The bagels are ready if they float within 10 seconds of being put into the water. Take a bagel and test it. If it floats, return the bagel to the pan, dry it, then cover the pan and put it in the refrigerator overnight. If it does not float, return the bagel to the pan and continue to proof the dough at room temperature. Check the dough every 10 minutes or so until a tester floats

 The following day preheat the oven to 500°F with both racks in the middle of the oven. Boil a large pot of water and add the baking soda. Sprinkle parchment-lined sheet pans with cornmeal or semolina flour.

Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and gently drop them into the water, boiling only as many as comfortably fit. They should float within 10 seconds. After 1 minute, flip them over and boil for another minute.

Place the boiled bagels back on the pans and bake for five minutes, then rotate the pans 180-degrees. Lower the oven temperature to 450°F and bake for another 5 minutes, or until the bagels are light golden brown.

Remove the bagels from the oven and let cool on a rack before serving.