Well today is Buddha day, so the family is off to the temple for a couple of hours. Interesting thing about this is that each of the three close sisters do different things to prepare for the day. One went into Makham and got the flowers, one did the cooking for the monks and one did the sweets for the monks and family. Kinda neat to see them all involved in what is generally a family day.

So, while Ms. E. G. is off at the temple I figured I would try some baking. We bought a new toaster oven the other week and so far have found it to be OK, nothing too special but functional for the price. It holds a loaf of bread and the temperature seems to be stable.

I’ve done some bread which came out well, so what to do today. Bagels! Yeah, that sounds good. I use the following recipe:

1 ¾ cups of water –warm but not hot
½ teaspoon of dry yeast – don’t be tempted to use more.
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups of flour
1 ½ tablespoons of sugar

Combine water, yeast, salt and sugar, stir until salt and sugar are dissolved

Pour into the bowl of flour and mix. It will be very very dry and seem to crumble instead of clinging together like a bread dough. When you’ve got it all into one clump (you may need to add just enough water, a couple of drops at a time, to make it manageable), put it on a board and let it sit for a couple of minutes.

After letting it rest, knead for at least 10 minutes. It will all start to come together like you’re used to with bread. It will be a very heavy and stiff dough, just what you want. After kneading let it rest again for at least 10 minutes. At this point I divided the dough into halves and froze half. Cut the rest into four equal pieces. Form those pieces into long cigar shapes by rolling between your hands or on a table top.






This step takes a try or two to get the size you want. I roll them about the size of my thumb and then join together. The first one I did today wasn’t quite long enough so no hole in the middle. Don’t handle too much trying to get them right. As one famous baker said, “…make a mistake while your baking? It will still be better than anything you can buy at the store”.

Make a circle and be sure to twist the ends together quite well, you don’t want them to come apart when you boil them.






Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and cover with a damp towel. Let raise for 1 ½ hours. As you can see they won’t rise too much so don’t be disappointed.

Get a couple of gallons of water boiling at a rolling boil (hard boil). Drop each into the water, they should sink but if they don’t, don’t despair just roll them over occasionally. When they float, if they’ve sunk, this should be about 20 or 30 seconds, take out of the water with a slotted spoon and put on another greased cookie sheet/pan.

I have found that instead of using corn meal that caraway seeds work just as well, when keeping breads rolls etc. from sticking to the pan, and are readily available here in Thailand.






Put in your oven at 200 C until golden brown. Each oven is different, but mine took about 20 minutes




This is what they looked like.






The tried and true test of any bread product for me is to toast it and use just plain butter or margarine. That way you get the true flavor of your efforts. These came out quite well in the taste department, as for looks they could be better but are not bad.









Any math geniuses catch the difference in what I started with? Yep dumped one on the floor. They are really slippery coming out of the water.

What I’ll do different the next time? For starters I’ll not let the raise cycle exceed 1 ½ hours like I did today, got distracted watching a torrent… ooops. I will also take great care in removing them from the original cookie sheet. I damaged them slightly getting them into the boiling water. Any time you disturb a raised product prior to cooking you’re liable to damage the raise process – getting air into your dough.

Bagels can be as varied as just about anything you can bake. The next time I might add some fresh dill and spray the tops with vinegar and and then sprinkle some coarse salt on them, right out of the oven. Another time I think I’ll add some chopped chili during the kneading stage, or maybe raisins or something else that crosses my mind, fried garlic and onions are a favorite also.

What makes bagels fun is when served they can be adorned with a huge number of coverings, sauces and pastes. Think cream cheese and olive or onion or chives, jelly, peanut butter, smoked salmon, or dipped in honey or warm olive oil with basil, the combinations are endless. Have some fun and make some bagels. They are not real hard to do and you can freeze them with good success.



E. G.