Visitors

My Daughter's in laws are coming for a visit and she has been cooking and baking for days.  I was planning on having them over for dinner but between Willie's booboo and workmen, I just couldn't pull it together.  I did offer to make something for her and one request was pretzels.  She is preparing a charcuterie platter for tonight when they arrive and she wanted to serve these to go with it. I made some fig spread and truffle mustard for her and I made my pretzels:

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 and 1/4 teaspoons rapid rise yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 and ¾  - 4 cups all-purpose flour
• coarse sea salt and pepper for sprinkling

Baking Soda Bath

• ½ cup baking soda
• 9 cups water

*egg yolk and water for a wash.

Directions:

1. Whisk the yeast into warm water. Allow to sit for 1 minute. Whisk in salt, brown sugar, and melted butter. Slowly add 3 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time. Mix with  dough hook in a stand mixer for about 5 minutes until you have a smooth dough.
2. Cover the dough and let it rise for an hour.  At the end of the hour bring the water and baking soda to a boil.
3. Preheat oven to 425°F . Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.Sprinkle them with cracked black pepper and flaky sea salt.
4. Divide the dough into 8 pieces.
5. Roll the dough into a 20-22 inch rope. Take the ends and draw them together so the dough forms a circle. Twist the ends, then bring them towards yourself and press them down into a pretzel shape.
6. Bring baking soda and 9 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Drop 1-2 pretzels into the boiling water for 20-30 seconds.  Using a slotted spoon, lift the pretzel out of the water place on a towel to absorb the water. Place pretzel onto prepared baking sheet. Brush with a wash made of 1 egg yolk and 1 tsp. of water. Sprinkle each with coarse sea salt. Repeat with remaining pretzels.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

She is making them brunch tomorrow morning and she asked me to make them some bagels:

Ingredients

Starter

• 1/2 cup (60g) bread flour
  
• 1/4 cup (57g) water, cool
• pinch of instant yeast
  

Dough

• 4 cups (480g) bread flour
  
• 1 1/4 cups (283g) water, cool
• 1 3/4 teaspoons (11g) salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
  

Water Bath

• water, to fill a 10" pan about 2" deep
• 1 tablespoon  1 tablespoon (14g) light brown sugar, or dark brown sugar

Topping

• 1/4 cup (35g) sesame seeds or poppy seeds, optional

Instructions

1. To make the starter: Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Combine the starter ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, cover, and let rest at room temperature overnight.

2. To make the bagel dough: The next day, combine the starter with all of the dough ingredients and knead — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to form a smooth, stiff but not dry dough. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and set aside to rise for 1 hour.

3. Gently deflate the dough, and let it rise for another 30 minutes.

4. Transfer the dough to an unfloured work surface and divide it into 12 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. Cover the balls with plastic wrap, and let them rest for 30 minutes. They'll puff up very slightly.

5. While the dough is resting, prepare the water bath by heating the water and malt (or sugar) to a very gentle boil in a wide-diameter (about 10") pan.

6. Preheat your oven to 425°F.

7. To shape the bagels: Use your index finger to poke a hole through the center of each ball, then twirl the dough on your finger to stretch the hole until it's about 2 inches in diameter (the entire bagel will be about 3" across). Place each bagel on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, and repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

8. To boil the bagels: Transfer the bagels, three to four at a time if possible, to the simmering water. Increase the heat under the pan to bring the water back up to a gently simmering boil, if necessary. Cook the bagels for 2 minutes, flip them over, and cook 1 minute more. Using a skimmer or strainer, or the end of a wooden spoon, remove the bagels from the water and place them back on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining bagels.

9. To bake the bagels: Bake the bagels for about 25 minutes, or until they're as deep brown as you like. To top with seeds, remove the bagels from the oven after about 15 minutes, spray with water, and sprinkle with the seeds. Return to the oven to finish baking.

10. Remove the bagels from the oven, and cool completely on a rack.

11. Store up to 5 days in a plastic bag. Freeze in a plastic bag for up to 3 months

These are so much better than store bought and really are not difficult to make.

Good food always makes a visit so much more fun.