The Hampton Smoker: February 2009

People who need people: Bessinger's BBQ in the News

People magazine has been mentioning bbq alot recently. First the Justin Timberlake BBQ bombshell and then featuring their bbq of the month-- Bessinger's.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: Gene Pitney

Vacation Time: Barbecue n' Bagels, Anywhere USA

Presenting a few pictures of some recent cooking shenanigans. We've cooked alot of country style ribs, chicken and brisket recently and had fun coming up with ways to use up what we've cooked without eating 'bbq' every night. More on that coming next...There's also been a fair amount of baking going on, which leads us to the bagels...

This was something that I had wanted to do for a long time, but just hadn't found the time or the confidence to attempt. But since we got our bread machine last year I've had visions of all kinds of doughy grandeur that have yet to coalesce into much more than a few (increasingly promising) loaves of bread. I was enthusiastic at the time, and without considering the limited opportunities I would have for baking at home when I started my new job, I overbought (seriously!) on bread flour and yeast at one point (remarkably still viable yeast...) and had wondered when it would be used.

Well, being home all the time recently has led me to experiment more and 'bagels!' popped into my head one day. They have always seemed daunting because the good ones are so rare and the process involves not only making a good dough and baking it well, but multiple raises and boiling before baking the signature rings. Somehow, the time was right.

There are various recipes that I've come across that are more involved (and time consuming) and using extra gluten or Malt (dry and syrup) and other ingredients that probably yield a more 'complexly' flavored end product, but this recipe is straight forward and quickly assembled with the readily available ingredients I had on hand-- bread flour, yeast, dried garlic, dried onion, salt, water, eggs, and sugar in just a few hours. And they were pretty darn tasty...

Bread Machine Bagel Dough Recipe

1 Cup Water (80 degrees F)
1.5 T Sugar
1.5 t salt
3 Cups Bread Flour
2 t Active Yeast

For Glaze: One Egg Beaten

Select Dough Cycle for 1.5 Lb batch. When dough is ready, bring 2 quarts water to a boil and add 2 T sugar. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

On Floured surface, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball and poke a hole in the center of each with your thumb. Gently pull to make a 1" hole. Place the dough pieces on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let them rise in a warm place for 10 minutes.

Place a few bagels in the boiling water at a time. Boil them for 3 minutes, turning once, then remove them with a slotted spoon back to the greased baking sheet.

Brush each bagel with egg and bake them for 20-25 minutes or until done. Cool on a wire rack and serve. If you would like to top the bagels with sesame/poppy seeds, dried garlic or onion, etc...do so after egg glaze and before baking.

Bagels: Post Bath