Doughnuts, Bagels, Pretzels…
January 17, 2022
I had thought of creating a kit where you would have enough dough to make 1 dozen doughnuts, or 1 dozen bagels, or 1 dozen soft pretzels. The dough for each of those would be the same, only the preparation of the dough would differ.
Today I made my bagel dough into doughnuts, and they were delicious! However, I would like to experiment further with a fortified dough instead of my simple “French bread” dough that’s my go-to whenever I bake bread.
I have been making it without any oil, and the entire proofing process and sometimes even the baking can be completed in under an hour. It’s a great versatile, quick, bread recipe. I’ll share it here. I think the short proofing time results in a close texture, which is perfect for bagels, but I want to experiment with different types and amounts of oil before I attempt pretzels.
Ingredients:
4 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp yeast
Add the yeast to the warm water. Make sure all the yeast gets wet, but don’t stir it. Allow this mixture to sit.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F and turn off immediately, once this temperature has been reached. Pour boiling water into a shallow dish and place this in the bottom of the warmed oven.
Whisk salt and flour together in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle of this and pour the yeast mixture in. Knead the dough and form a ball after all the flour is incorporated.
Cover with a damp towel and place in oven to proof for 10-15 minutes.
Knead the dough and form a ball.
Cover with a damp towel and place in oven to proof for 10-15 minutes.
Then you can form shapes or a loaf, if you wish.
Allow to proof for 10-15 minutes and then bake it.
A loaf takes about an hour at 350 degrees F. I’ll write about how to prepare bagels and pretzels in a later post. Enjoy!
I fried the dough this time.
I formed a ring of dough and let it sit for a few minutes while heating the oil. I deep fried the ring for about 3 or 4 minutes and rotated it throughout. When it got to be this beautiful deep golden color, I removed it and let it sit in a sieve so that some of the oil could drip off, and then I transferred it to a paper towel and dusted it with a little powdered sugar.
It was really delicious, but I think this recipe could use a little work. For example, I would like the outside of the dough to have a smoother texture before frying, and I would like the inside to be lighter and fluffier. This was a bit chewy, but I use this same dough to make bagels and I rushed the process of kneading and proofing, so I expected the chewiness. Still tasted great!
