Cooking with Solveig: Bagels and Rolls

Everything Bagels

Ingredients:

  • 1 c unbleached all purpose flour
  • 2 t baking powder - check the date!!!
  • 3/4 t kosher salt
  • 1 c non-fat Greek yogurt (if you use whole yogurt, you’ll need to increase the flour as it will make the dough very wet)
  • 1 egg white or whole egg, beaten
  • Topping- We combined dark and light sesame seeds, poppy seeds, granulated garlic, kosher or sea salt and a little fresh ground black pepper. You can use dried garlic and onion flakes, be careful as they tend to burn a little and turn bitter.
  1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper (spray with cooking spray) or use a silicon baking mat.
  2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk well. Add to yogurt and mix until yogurt and flour come together. It will come together on the board!
  3. Lightly dust work surface with flour and knead the dough a few times until dough is tacky, it takes about a minute and the dough should be clean from your hands.
  4. Divide into 4 equal balls for large bagels, divide into 8 or more bagels for smaller bagels. Roll the balls into ropes about the thickness of your finger and join the ends to form the bagel. Top with egg wash and sprinkle top or top and bottom with seasoning of your choice. Baking time will depend on the size that you make your bagels - I prefer to make small ones. Larger bagels take up to 25 minutes, smaller around 12-15. Let bagels cool before slicing. These freeze very well unbaked. Remember to increase the baking time if you choose to bake from frozen. Defrost overnight in the fridge for quick baking.

If you want to try the air fryer, I recommend preheating the air fryer to a minimum of 350. Spray the basket before you preheat the air fryer. Try not to overcrowd the basket or you won’t get a nice crust on the bagel.

Parker House Rolls

This recipe is from the Holiday Class I teach at Williams-Sonoma. I’ve made them with both instant and regular yeast and prefer to go with the regular yeast.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups (12 fl. oz./375 ml) milk
  • 8 Tbs. (1 stick) (4 oz./125g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, plus 2 Tbs. melted unsalted butter
  • 4 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
  • 4 cups (20 oz./625 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 3 Tbs. sugar
  • 1 Tbs. kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp. Maldon sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp. dried onion flakes
  • 1/2 tsp. dried garlic flakes
  • 1 tsp. white sesame seeds
  1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk and the 8 Tbs. (4 oz./125 g) butter. Heat until the butter is melted, about 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to 105° to 115°F (40° to 46°C). Add the yeast and stir until dissolved. Let stand for 10 minutes.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the 4 cups (20 oz./625 g) flour, the sugar and kosher salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the milk mixture and knead until the dough forms a ball, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium-low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the mixer bowl, oil the inside of the bowl and return the dough to the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Divide the dough in half.
  3. Grease a 9-by-13-inch (23-by-33-cm) baking pan. On a lightly floured work surface, roll each piece of dough into a log 12 inches (30 cm) long. Using a pastry scraper, divide each log into 12 equal pieces. Using the cupped palm of your hand, roll and shape each piece into a taut ball.
  4. Transfer the dough balls to the prepared baking pan, arranging them so there are 4 rows of 6. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. In a small bowl, combine the Maldon sea salt, onion flakes, garlic flakes and sesame seeds.
  5. Preheat an oven to 375°F (190°C).
  6. Remove the plastic wrap from the pan. Brush the tops of the rolls with the 2 Tbs. melted butter and sprinkle with the sea salt mixture. Bake until the rolls are golden and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a roll registers 190°F (88°C), 18 to 20 minutes. Invert the rolls onto a wire rack, then turn them right side up onto another rack. Let cool slightly before serving.

Makes 24 rolls

Williams Sonoma Test Kitchen