Mindboggling bagels

"A study performed at the University of Maryland noted that laughter seems to cause the tissue that forms the inner lining of blood vessels to relax or expand, increasing blood flow. Mental stress, on the other hand, causes the opposite effect: making vessels constrict, and thus reducing blood flow." (source: suite101)
Sure thing is that our bodies got a real work-out on that particular Wednesday when we started performing the June challenge, baking bagels from scratch. This challenge proved (proofed?) to be a source of both; a little stress and lots and lots of real belly laughs.

Remember this one is all about bagels. Daring Bakers bagels. In the process we discovered friendship, a Principle, the art of writing a good recipe, the art of reading a recipe and the art of working with bagel dough. I will take you through uncharted waters bubbling with mayhem malt syrup, raising hell and dough in a smallish kitchen crowded by two official Daring Bakers and two less official but nonetheless very dear and daring baker friends. Please meet: Tanna (at My Kitchen in Half Cups, Sue (at Sue Cooks Wild) and Monique (at no blog, not yet) and myself.

First things first: the recipe we had to follow (exact! as in: don't you dare stray/interprete...) used a huge amount of yeast, we frowned, protested, eyed each other, and decided to go ahead with it. Reading the recipe was another thing, there was a lot of white noise which made it hard to get to the core of the recipe (as in instructions: what to do when and how). Which caused a little bravado in the beginning and ended in some stress in getting the bagels ready for dinner. Yes, that's D i n n e r. I know you're not supposed to eat bagels for dinner but since we had lots of them and no time left to prepare dinner we could as well eat them, right? We, that is we adults, I rushed out at half time to get the kids some take-out fries and croquettes...

Second: how to make perfect bagels? I can safely tell you that we explored almost every known method including rope, snake, hole-punching and still had time and energy to invent some more. Mind, we were drinking tapwater at the time! Let me show you the bagel-dance, the bagel-twist, the Halo-bagel, the Helga-bagel, the on-the-floor-laughing-no-bagel-in-sight-bagel and where the-hell-did-that-bagel-go-bagel. Oh and yes, along the way we invented this wonderfull new name calling word: Flat bottomed bagel! To be used in instances like: get outta my way you flat bottomed bagel!

Third: Boil a Bagel... Well that was not easy! We had the occasional sinker, lots of floaters (yeast leaden bageloos?), shrinkers, puffers, wrinklers and combinations of aforementioned.

Fourth: the proof is in the pudding. Let's eat the darn things! We had plans, oh yes, we planned, of having a tapas oriented bagel-feast. (We were officially permitted to get crazy on the toppings.) You know, tapas-style identical bowls, elegantly laid out with salmon, avocado-pear salad, shrimps, eggs, lettuce, paté, tomatoes, hummus, sun dried tomato-olive spread, cream cheese..... Starring the perfect bagels in their midst. Got the mind-picture?

Now forget that and picture the largest plate in the house with all of the above splashed on it, wine, water and the paninimaker right there on the table. Impromptu served dinner. Our excuse: We were tired and famished!! And Monique didn't get to taste one of the bagels, she had to rush out to a meeting.... Shame on us!

Verdict: Bagels were so-so. I think I have to do this again. To really know what was going on. Maybe. Sounds like a good idea. But not for a while. In fact, I was planning to this weekend and do a side by side comparison, but it dawned on me (literally very early this morning) that this post was due today! Please hop over and read Tanna's story over here. Most of the pictures you see here are taken by the incredible talented Sue-chef. Thanks Sue!

You can find the recipe we had to follow: "Real Honest Jewish Purist Bagels", and a round-up of all the bagel posts at All Things Edible and Writing at the Kitchen Table, Freya and Jenny are the hosts of this month's challenge. Thanks gals!