Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Peter Reinhart's Bagels - Go BBA!

When we bake bread and start posting it, it means we are back. Remember, we are on the challenge? Anyway, this is our third bread in the book. Here is the recipe. And this turned out to be bagels. I love bagels. There is no disguising it. Give me a warm bagel slathered with cream cheese, and you've got me there. I still remember the first time I ate a bagel. I hated it. I came to Mountain View, CA on work and my friends and I planned a road trip to Monterey Bay, CA. We wanted to leave early, so we picked up breakfast at a bagel shop near our apartments. The guy packed us 2 bagels each - new to the US, none of us realized the enormity of the portions in this country! We struggled to finish a bagel with all that cream cheese. And there were so many more left! I hated the cheesiness of it all. No, I didn't appreciate or like cheese at all then.

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2 years later, I got married and came here to Atlanta and I still refused to eat bagels. Not like A appreciates bagels that much, anyway. And A does not like eating out. A pain, yes. So, since I didn't even know how to cook dal, baking a bagel was out of question. A is the kind who loves to cook and cooks rather well at that. So, anything you want to eat, and you mention it to him, he will cook that for you. So, after a tiring road trip to Florida, in a bid to eat out, I mentioned I wanted Thai food. It was 10 PM. He just looked at me and said, 'sure.' I slumped back and slept while he drove home. I reached and went on to take a shower and dress up. I came down 10 mins later to see the table all set and A cooking Thai food :) I know it seems nice and all that, but this is what happens every time we want to eat out. Nowadays, I just dress up and say, let's go, and decide on the cuisine on the way! Look at him eat a home made bagel while I was slogging at the pics!

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Anyway, I digressed as usual. We went on this Thanksgiving trip to NC last year. We decided to make it a cozy romantic road trip travelling through the Blue Ridge Parkway only through the bylanes. And I'd convinced him that we should eat out. No cooking at home when we come back, no packing food ( though we've never done that!) Much to my agony, not ONE single cafe or restaurant was open through the way thanks to the holidays. And the ones that opened didn't have one Vegetarian option. I was boiling mad. A was grinning away to glory. I cannot live without breakfast. Or lunch or dinner, for that matter. Finally, we reached this town where there was one coffee shop open. I had 2 smoothies and 3 bagels after one full day of not eating anything. And trust me, I haven't loved anything more than bagels. I came back home and ever since, every weekend, when we hit the Farmer's Market, I eat a warm bagel making up for all the years I've lost in not eating any bagels!

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So, when we saw Peter Reinhart's bagels, we were obviously excited. We made them last weekend for breakfast with some cream cheese spread!

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Needless to say, I loved it. However, I felt the bagels I've eaten at the Farmer's Market are better than these. Also, I loved Peter Reinhart's Anadama Bread and Christopsomos way more than these bagels. But a bagel is a bagel and was given appropriate respect :D We made only 6 bagels. It was impossible to scale the recipe further down. Sometimes, I wish I had kids just so I could bake and bake and bake and let them eat and I could just take a bite. Sigh. I only hope my mom or in laws or a variety of aunts don't read this blog. Or, they will use this as my alter ego and pester me to have a baby!

30 comments:

Archana said...

You're back with a bang !! Those bagels look nice...I had one on my work trips to the US too and really didnt like it so much...But baking bagels at home, thats really something !!

amna said...

the pics are amazing! enough said :D

Raaga said...

It's Murphy's Law... when your car is packed with food for a road trip... you'll cross fantastic eateries... if not, there'll not be a single one. Muffins it always is for me somehow :)

Anonymous said...

Oh my god! Those bagels look to DIE FOR! That pic of A crunching into a nice chewy homebaked bagel just makes me wanna swoon! into MY mouth, please!

Chibog in Chief said...

oh my these bagels reminds me of the great bagels of new york i had two years ago..hmmm delicious!!thanks for sharing i have never tried makign them though :-)i think its about time

Deepthi Shankar said...

Hey, you are back .. Hope you had fun with your in laws .. Bagels look good .. I wish I have kids too cuz I love baking :)

SJ said...

Aha! I hate bagels, doesn't go down my throat. I stick to muffins instead. I agree with Nags on the pics!

Susie said...

Great to have you back and such great photos.
It was fun making bagels although mine needed some help. LOL.
Have fun and nice baking along with you,
Susie

rads said...

I wish I had kids just so I could bake and bake and bake and let them eat and I could just take a bite

Please treat mine as yours, I'd gladly lend them all to you everytime you bake. Coz the last time I "baked" I made charcoal :|

chef and her kitchen said...

welcome back..Nice bagels..back with a bang

Adam said...

Awesome job on the bagels, guys. They have that perfect texture for storing all sorts of speadable fun :)

Glad to see ya back!

Soma said...

;-)

Your pictures are getting better & they say it all... N u r one lucky girl i must say.. tho i would like to dress up & go out once in a while:-)

Cindy said...

Welcome back. Even though you're a little behind, think of all the wisdom you'll glean from the mistakes all the rest of us have made along the way. loved reading about your road trip and your photos are beautiful

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Glad to hear you've seen the bagel light! Yours look terrific! LOVE the seeds. I am definitely a nut and seed loaver! The more the better!
~ingrid

Sakshi said...

Great pics and a warning abt cooking for kids - I end up eating half the things like cake, muffins, cupcakes which I pretend to make for Samy. We end up fighting for the last cupcake.

Have you tried smearing some chutney on bagels? Just a suggestion ok? Don't sue me for Bagel Blasphemy.

Uma said...

Beautiful pics. Tempting Bagels :)

NKP said...

They look great! I love the shape. Bagels freeze really well too.

Bianca said...

I love the snake-y shape of those bagels! I made some recently too (from Vegan Brunch) and I gotta say that homemade bagels totally trump storebought bagels!

Cynthia said...

You are on a baking spree with tremendous success!

Tell me, what lens are you using for your close-ups? Macro?

maxdavinci said...

ROFL at the last line!

You can fedex me some, I wont complain!

Amanda said...

LOL about relative reading the blog haha! These look great! Mine are actually in the fridge right now, I'll be baking them in the morning. I did the whole batch as I DO have kids, four of them, and they are always hungry ;)

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misterrios said...

Wow! Glad to have you back. I think the best thing about this recipe was the whole "Wow! I just made bagels" which to me seemed nearly impossible, especially after my first time.

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

It looks like it needed hunger to get you to appreciate bagels. And now you're (or is it A?) making them at home. Good.
I think you're not being fair on A (don't get upset with me!); he provides you with whatever food you're hungry for.
And if you think having kids will make you eat less, think again. Then you nad the kids will eat together!!! And it will show on you, not on them. Experience speaking :)

Donna-FFW said...

Your bagels look spot on delicious! Love how you topped them differently. They came out perfect!

Chef Jeena said...

These must be the most appetizing bagels I have seen yet REALLY!

Cakelaw said...

You did a great job oin these bagels. I have to say that I am not a huge bagel fan either, but every now and again, a bagel with cream cheese and capers and lox hits the spot.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Those bagels look so good! It is a speciality I really love!

Cheers,

Rosa

s said...

wow! these look delectable

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