Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

I'm a little bagel crazy this week. Cinnamon raisin are my third and final bagel post for a while. Surprisingly, these gave me a lot of trouble. I followed the directions on the King Arthur Flour's website for making cinnamon raisin bagels, and it ended up being incredibly hard to make them look normal. Adding in raisins after the dough's been kneaded makes it hard to incorporate them, and rolling the finished dough ball in cinnamon sugar was problematic. I don't know that I would do it the same way again. After the dough ball finished rising there was a pool of melted cinnamon sugar mixture in the bowl. The dough was wet and hard to work with since the cinnamon sugar was preventing it from really sticking together. Next time I'll just add the cinnamon sugar and raisins in the beginning, but I left the recipe as I made it. Happy bagel making! I'll be happy to move on to a new project for a while. :) Side note: we finally got some snow in Massachusetts this morning, yay for snow!

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

For the dough:
1 tbl instant yeast
4 cups (17 ounces) unbleached bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbl non-diastatic malt powder or brown sugar
1 1/2 cups water, lukewarm (about 115 degrees)
2/3 cup raisins
5 tbl sugar
1 tbl cinnamon

For the water bath:
2 quarts (64 ounces) water
2 tbl non-diastatic malt powder or brown sugar
1 tbl granulated sugar

Combine the yeast, flour, salt, and malt/brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for a second to combine. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in the water until you've added the whole 1 1/2 cups. The dough should be very shaggy looking. At this point you can switch to the dough hook. With the mixer on medium-low speed, knead for about 10 minutes. Add the raisins just before the dough has finished kneading to let them incorporate. The dough will be quite stiff and "thwap" the sides of the bowl. It should hold its shape (without spreading at all) when you stop the mixer. When the dough is satiny and smooth, it's done. Turn the dough onto a work surface sprinkled with the sugar and cinnamon. Give it a few turns and kneads to incorporate the cinnamon sugar. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, and set it aside to rise until almost doubled in bulk - 1 hour 15 minutes.

Prepare a large tray by lightly dusting it with cornmeal. Transfer the dough to a work surface, and divide it into eight pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll it into a smooth, round ball. Place each ball on the tray, leaving room around each to rise. Cover the tray lightly with plastic wrap, and let them rest for 30 minutes. They'll puff up slightly.

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 4 inches across). Place each bagel back on the tray, secure tightly with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to ferment for 12-24 hours.

When you're ready to make bagels, take the tray out of the refrigerator and let rest on the counter for 45 minutes. While the dough is resting, prepare the water bath by heating the water (I've never actually measured out the exact amount given), malt and sugar to a boil in a large, wide-diameter pan. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and prepare two 9x13" baking sheets with parchment paper.

Transfer the bagels to the boiling water, two or three at a time. Cook the bagels for 2 minutes, flip them over, and cook 2 minutes more. Using a skimmer or strainer, remove the bagels from the water and place them back on the baking sheets (you might want to prepare an extra for draining).

Bake the bagels for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the pans 180 degrees halfway through (make sure to switch rack positions if your baking sheets are on seperate racks). Remove the bagels from the oven, and cool completely on a wire rack.

Source: Adapted from King Arthur Flour.