Making (and eating) hundreds of bagels in Bandung
E here. We've been thinking a lot about bagels again. We started experimenting with bagels in 2023 and will copy some snippets from our Instagram post earlier this year as we explain more.
New york bagels have long been a favorite breakfast of E’s. Maybe that's what happens when you grow up in New Jersey, near a deli). Bagels should have a crisp outer, a chewy and tender interior, and good give against heaps of filling. New York style bagels don't usually contain eggs, whereas Montreal-style bagels might.
The first bagels we ever made at Homage (at our old location!) were pathetic and ugly. Here are the photos to prove it:
Yeah, you don't have to imagine. These initial iterations were sad and tough, most likely because they weren't well-prepared. Back then I had no idea how to deal with dough of any kind, and the bagels were tough and small and underproofed.
Bagel dough maxes out at 60% hydration — that is to say, 60 gr of water for every 100gr of flour. the chewy interior of an authentic bagel is partly due to flour with high protein content, and supposedly partly due to the softness of New York tap water. we obviously don’t have New York tap water here in Bandung. I tried a number of different recipes when, instead,I should have stuck to one recipe and adjusted it for ambient temperature and humidity. Making bagels in Bandung is going to be very different from making bagels in Portland or in Australia.
It took a long time, but I've reached a point where I'm satisfied with the bagels I'm making for guests. Here's what's worked: autolysing, gentle but insistent kneading (great for stress relief), high protein wheat flour, a generous resting period. They're how I mostly want them 90% of the time (though of course I nitpick; I can't help it). Sometimes I wish they were softer. Sometimes I wish they weren't. Sometimes I think they're too hard enough and all of you folks will hate me for making dough rocks. Sometimes I think, screw it — these are how my bagels are, and they may not please everyone. They're good enough that I now make around a hundred a month.
The bagels at HomageMakes are deliciously leathery, perfectly blistered bread that serves as an ideal starting point for any sandwich. We love filling ours with a cheesy mini-omelette that’s been salt-and-peppered and topped with a thick slab of cream cheese. You're welcome to come in and try: I'd love to know what you think.
(I'm calling these boring bagels because, try as I might, I haven't found the time or energy to venture into variations. I'd like to make cheddar jalapeno bagels soon and have another go at cranberry bagels. Then there are cinnamon raisin bagels and sun-dried tomato bagels... Oh, that's not even counting the fillings!)
See you at Jalan Kartini 5A~