‘Doughnuts dipped in cement’ N.Y. treat

Press, 10 March 1984, Page 12

‘Doughnuts dipped in cement’ N.Y. treat

Food & Fable

by

David Burton

Bagels are very New York, very Jewish, and most decidedly delicious. A type of hard-glazed doughnut-shaped roll, they are so much apart of everyday life in that city that once when the flags were flying at half-mast after the death of some dignitary, one of the song writers on Tin Pan Alley claimed it was really because , the bagel makers were on strike.

The Yiddish name beygel is derived from the old High German “boug” meaning ring, which seems to indicate that they were invented by German Jewish immigrants. The rather unique texture of bagels, which have been defined as “doughnuts dipped in cement,” results from their being both boiled and baked. Connoisseurs say bagels are at their crusty best from five to seven hours after baking, after which they really do begin to become cement-like. Bagels past their prime are best toasted. Bagels: Vt cake (18g) fresh yeast 1 tbsp lukewarm water pinch sugar pinch salt % cup lukewarm water ‘A cup peanut or soya bean oil 1% tsp salt 3 cups plain white flour legg sesame or poppy seeds (optional) Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water, add pinch of sugar and salt, and leave for about five minutes until the mixture turns frothy. Place in a bowl with % cup warm water (not too hot, or the yeast will be killed), oil and salt. Gradually stir in the flour. Now knead the dough (use the heel of your palms) on a floured surface for 10 to 15 minutes until it is shiny and elastic. Lightly oil the inside of a bowl (the bowl used for mixing the dough will do) place in the dough, cover with a tea towel, and leave

in a warm place for one hour, until the dough has doubled in volume. It should be puffy, almost foamy, and not rise back up when poked with a finger. Cut the dough into quarters, then cut each quarter into four, making 16 pieces in all.

Roll each piece into a ball and press it flat, then poke a hole through the middle with the handle of a wooden spoon, to form a doughnut shape. (You can also form it by rolling the pieces into ropes and pinching the ends together, but this is not as neat and the ends have a tendency to become unstuck.)

You may have to stretch the formed bagels a little to make the holes a little longer to allow room for expansion when cooking. While you are forming the bagels, have a large pot, or preferably 2 pots, of salted water on to boil.

Put the formed bagels into the boiling wate two or three at a time. Allow only a minute or two, or at the most three, for the bagels to cook on each side, just enough for them to puff up in size. (If they are overcooked they will begin to deflate again).

Remove with a fish slice or slotted spoon and place on an oiled oven tray as they are,done. Preheat the oven to 230 C (450 F Beat the egg with a dash of cold water and brush the top sides of the bagels only. Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds if using. Place in the oven and bake 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Bagels can be eaten hot but are best left to cool to • room temperature. Makes 16 bagels. For a variation bagels can be flavoured at the dough stage with such in-, gradients as a clove or two 4 of crushed garlic, 2 tablespoons grated onion, ojr for., sweet bagels, 3 teaspoons sugar and half a teaspoon of ln New York

bagels are also available made from rye and pumpernickel doughs. As for accompaniments, anything goes. Bagels can be used exactly like bread, split through the middle and spread with butter and a topping such as salami, chicken, honey or jam.

The most famous combination however, and one which is guaranteed to send your food-loving friends into paroxysms of eye-rolling ecstasy, is bagels and lox. Translated this means bagels split through the middle and spread with cream cheese and an equal quantity of smoked salmon. Take it from a goy, this is God’s chosen nosh. Smoked salmon has been around since pre-history — the north-western American Indians used to preserve their huge once-yearly catches by smoking the fillets over log fires — but it was the Russian immigrants who first really popularised the dish in the West. Lox in fact is the Russian name for salmon, which in German is lachs.

The first smoked salmon company which opened in London in 1879 did 90 per cent of its business with the local Jewish community, and Jewish cookery also incorporates much smoked fish of other species, such as pike, sturgeon and carp. If the astronomical price of smoked salmon deters you from serving it with bagels and cream cheese, try smoked eel instead.

For practising Jews, the yeast-based bagels present a problem at Passover time, when any form of leaven is forbidden. Instead unleavened matzo bread must be eaten, recalling the hasty departure of the Jews from Egyptian slavery, when the bread was baked in such a hurry that it did not rise. Accordingly bagels are made during Passover with metzo meal, and plenty of eggs to take the place of a rising agent