Rebecca bakes KAF Recipe of the Year 2022
So it’s been an rather exciting Holiday this year for me! Not only did I get the flu before Christmas but then I was exposed to COVID directly after Christmas. So all of my time off around the Holidays as been pretty much streaming Netflix at my apartment. Granted, I watched a LOT of amazing shows that I have missed( Hello Henry Cavill in the Witcher and Damian Lewis in Billions! What rock have I been under?) However, I started to become absolutely stir crazy and decided to attempt a few years’ of KAF’s Recipes of the Year to keep myself somewhat entertained.
My love affair with King Arthur Flour began as a small child. My mom is deeply devoted to their flour. She is so devoted that she had my father drive out of their way back from a trip to Maine to stop at their main location and take a bread making class. Needless to say, her love is real and intense for anything around King Arthur Flour. Hence, her devotion to the brand grew my love for their flour.
Needless to say, I decided that if I had an abundance of time on my hands, I’d at least do something that I would feel like I accomplished something and wasn’t just lusting after Damien Lewis on my couch. Hence, I attempted bagels for the first time ever. I’m not going to include the recipe because you need to go to their website for their recipe but I will tell you what I was intrigued with while I was making them.
I’m ABSOLUTELY obsessed with their Dough Whisk Tool. The recipe suggested to use it to flip the bagels while boiling and I literally felt like I was one step from Julia Child because it was so easy to use. This is literally I think the best multi- use tool I have ever owned.
I am my father’s child and if something is great with a little of something, A LOT is even better! Note to self, I aggressively coated my bagels with different seeds. There is no need too. You can also leave as plain or lightly coat the seeds on the top. As I said, more is always more for me.
Dividing out into 8 sections was trickier than I thought. I broke the dough in half and then continued until I had 8 pieces but it didn’t work out as cleanly as I had thought it would. Next time, I really need to re-evaluate how I divided the dough out.
I used my sil-pat pad again to bake the bagels on and it worked out perfectly. The recipe called for cornmeal on the pad so the bagels didn’t stick. I couldn’t find my corn meal but I had polenta on hand so I used that. I strongly always recommend that if you have anything similar enough, it should work close enough for the average baker.
If you get stuck ever, I always google and go from there. Google or Youtube always have solutions.
Onward to the fun stuff! After some resting of the dough, the dough was ready to be shaped, divided, and rolled!
After some dividing and creating balls, it was the perfect mini- snow balls size dough balls ready to be shaped!
After forming, boiling, and baking- the bagels are finally ready to enjoy! Granted, I will fully admit that I need to make sure the sizing is more equal as well as my shapes more eloquent. However, I feel very happy with my finished product for the first time I made bagels.
