Tag Archives: bagels

Flashbacks to 2020

Posted on March 28, 2023 | 3 comments

My Facebook memories are full of the beginning of pandemic lockdown. Part of it is terrible, and part of it is slightly amusing. Do you remember washing your groceries? Trying to get a grocery pickup time? Trying to find toilet paper and bleach wipes? Hunting for flour and yeast?

I made these bagels 3 years ago today, just before running out of yeast. And now I want to make some again. The recipe is on my blog here. Will I actually get it done today? Maybe. Or I could opt for yogurt bagels, which don’t require yeast or rise time. Apparently that’s what I did for the next batch when I ran out of yeast. There was a lot of cooking and baking 3 years ago!

I’m also reliving those early days of the pandemic while reading Peggy Orenstein’s memoir, Unraveling: What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World’s Ugliest Sweater. It’s about her pandemic sweater project, and also about so much more. Fiber history, etymology, family stories…so much to enjoy here. I’m on chapter 4, and I highly recommend it.

Of course I’m knitting while I read it on my Kindle. My current project is mostly stockinette, with an occasional assigned pooling blip. It’s a perfect multi-tasking project. The hardest part is remembering to stop for a break to stretch because the book is so interesting. I guess I could set timers on my watch; that would be the responsible thing to do.

Knitting can be such a comfort during trying times, and the results can be a comfort, too! I designed and knit my Beanstalk Poncho in 2016, but it lives in my box of samples. I’m sending it on to my Aunt Rose (my favorite aunt, who taught me to knit), who is recovering from pneumonia. It’s a light hug of a wrap, and it’s a cheery sign of spring, too. Please send good thoughts her way!

One last thing: Our hearts are broken at the news of yet another mass shooting at a school. Clearly, we don’t have the political will to solve this problem. I’m sick of it. Children should be safe at school. Or everywhere, really. What would it take to change?

3 Comments

Posted in book review, foodies!

Tagged bagels, unraveling book

Bagels, no yeast, no wait

Posted on April 8, 2020 | 9 comments

I wanted to bake bagels again this past weekend, but I’m short on yeast. An Instagram post by @minibagelmom mentioned something called yogurt bagels. And right down the rabbit hole I went!

Apparently there are 2 ingredient bagel recipes, which use just self-rising flour and greek yogurt. Self rising flour is just flour with baking powder and salt added, so that’s a 4 ingredient bagel at our house. Why buy and store self-rising flour separately? I have a tiny kitchen.

I looked through a lot of yogurt bagel recipes online; most made 4 bagels. That’s not enough bagels to turn on the oven. Doubling it would require 2 cups of greek yogurt, which I didn’t have. But! The recipe on the Fage Yogurt page only needed 1.5 cups of yogurt, and claimed to make 8 bagels.

And it did. There’s no rise time for these bagels, just mix, knead a tiny bit, and shape. No boiling, just bake. They’re not a perfect bagel, but a darn good substitute if you are short on yeast and time. DH liked them, and I’d make them again. Recipe here.

Note: Definitely shape them as directed; my usual way of making a ball and poking my thumb through made a very unattractive sticky ring. Rolling into a rope and making a circle looked much better, so I reshaped my originals.

We’re eating at home a *lot* with an occasional take-out meal to support a favorite restaurant. Other delicious things we’ve had recently:

Quinoa bowl with roasted brussels sprouts, eggplant, and tahini, recipe from NYTimes/Melissa Clark.

Instant Pot lentil and spinach soup from Kitchen Treaty.

What’s your favorite thing you’ve cooked recently? Are you being more adventurous in the kitchen?

9 Comments

Posted in foodies!, Uncategorized

Tagged bagels, cooking

Baking for fun and comfort

Posted on March 31, 2020 | 6 comments

I spent some extra time in the kitchen this weekend. I had a hankering for bagels, and we didn’t have any.

I’ve used this bagel recipe before, adapted to use some whole grain flour, with good results. Here’s my version of the recipe, in a previous blog post. I was a bit worried, because my yeast had a “best by” date of February 2019, but it worked just fine. You know at the beginning of the process, so no problem.

The bagels are delicious! Fabulous straight from the oven, but I actually like the slightly chewier texture the next day.

I’ve seen on the interwebz that lots of people are stress baking during this COVID-19 stay-at-home order. Apparently there’s been a run on flour and yeast at the grocery stores. I don’t think I’m stress baking; I just like to bake! I’m not ready to use more of my dwindling flour supply yet, but that didn’t stop me from making dessert.

I baked some flourless peanut butter cookies, using a mashup of The Nashville Food Project’s 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies from Judy’s Chickens and Smitten Kitchen’s 5 ingredient version. The 2 extra ingredients? A splash of vanilla, and some coarse sea salt sprinkles. Those two extras make my day.

Peanut Butter Cookies (makes about 18 2” cookies)

7/8 cup peanut butter (just a little less than a full cup)
7/8 cup packed light brown sugar, or a mixture of light brown and white sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (no mess to clean up!)

Whisk sugar(s) and egg together in a mixing bowl. Whisk in vanilla, then peanut butter, until smooth. Use a mini ice cream scoop to form balls, and place on cookie sheet. Criss cross slightly flat with a fork. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake 12-15 mins, or until lightly browned at edges. Let them cool slightly, then move to wire rack to finish cooling. Store in airtight container, if you don’t eat them all immediately!

If you used a full cup of sugar, and a whole cup of peanut butter, it would still be fine. I used all brown sugar this time, but I’ve used half brown and half white before. This is not the time to stress over your baking! Feeling fancy? Add 1/2 C mini chocolate chips to the dough. Yum!

How are you managing? Are you staying at home? Baking? Knitting? Cleaning house? OK, that last one isn’t high on my to-do list!

6 Comments

Posted in foodies!, recipe

Tagged #stayhomesavelives, bagels, peanut butter cookies

Bagel bliss, high tea, and yarn!

Posted on May 30, 2017 | 5 comments

There is something wonderful about mastering a skill and getting repeatable results. I’ve been on a bagel quest for the last couple of months, turning out batch after batch in search of the perfect multi-grain boiled bagel texture.

I did a lot of reading, experimented with a couple recipes, and ended up with a heavily modified version of this Easy New York-Style Bagel recipe from the Oregonian. Here’s my take.

Bagels

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups warm water, divided into 1/2 cup and 3/4 cup
(you may need up to 1/4 cup more)
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups whole grain flour; I’ve tried spelt, and now kamut
Extra bread flour for kneading
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
Optional toppings: coarse salt, poppy seeds, or sesame seeds

Instructions
In an 8 ounce measuring cup, add 1/2 cup warm water. Pour in the sugar and yeast, stir to combine. Let it sit for 5 minutes to get the yeast going.

In a large bowl, mix the flours and salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast-sugar mixture. Add an additional 3/4 cup warm water into the well. Mix and stir in the rest of the water as needed to form a moist, firm dough. You may need to add more water to get this texture.

On a well-floured countertop, knead the dough for 5 minutes, working in additional flour as needed. Your finished dough should be firm and stiff. (Other recipes have you knead for 10 minutes, but this is too much time for whole grain flours.)

Brush a large bowl with olive oil. Add dough and turn it so that it is coated with the oil. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. A perfect warm place is your microwave! Before putting the bowl of dough in, heat a large mug of water for 3 minutes. Move the mug to the back corner, add your covered bowl. When the dough has doubled in size (about an hour), punch the dough down and let it rest, covered with the towel, for another 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Form your bagels by gently rolling each piece into a ball, flatten a bit and poke your thumb through the middle and make a good sized hole. (The hole will shrink.) Place bagels on a lightly oiled baking sheet, or an unoiled Silpat. Cover the bagels with the damp towel and let them rest for 10 minutes.

While the bagels are resting, bring a large pot of water to a boil and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Reduce the heat to a low boil. Working in batches of 4 bagels, use a slotted spoon to lower the bagels into the water. Simmer for 2 minutes, flip, simmer for 2 more minutes. Remove the bagels to a wire rack to drain.

Add toppings while bagels are damp, just out of the pot, if desired.

Return drained bagels to baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 8 lovely bagels

It’s been a food heavy weekend. Carole and I put on a tea for a lovely group of graduates.

Besides scones, we had savories

and sweets.

The moms served the scone and savory courses, and then we had them sit so we could serve the sweet course, and serve the moms the whole tea menu plus mimosas.

Here’s to moms, grads, friends.

The knitting continues, too!

Biscuit and I are testing out ideas for this lovely yarn from Bumblebirch. I think I know what it’s going to be. Biscuit is still dreaming.

And I’m narrowing down my blue/yellow choices, too. Hazel Knits Splish Splash with Midas? Or Hoppy Blond?

Knit on!

5 Comments

Posted in foodies!, recipe

Tagged bagels, Bumblebirch, Hazel Knits, tea

Catching up with May

Posted on May 18, 2017 | 4 comments

How did half of May fly by so quickly? I see that I last posted here on May 1, but I’ve been having fun over on Instagram. It’s so easy to post a quick photo with a short caption. I’m pdxknitterati over there, too; here’s a link to my profile if you’d like to follow me there.

So to catch up here:

I’ve been madly knitting gorgeous gradients from Fierce Fibers, designing a crescent shawl in two sizes. More about that in the next post.

I picked the winner of the linen mini-skeins for the Linden Leaf scarf. Congratulations Sharon Brown! I’m sending you an email to get your addy.

And I love it when you send FO pictures! I had the pleasure of teaching at the Sheeper than Therapy retreat in central California last fall. One of the classes was for my Tilt Shift Wrap. Ann Berg sent me this picture of several successful finishers. Thanks, Ann!

On the non-knit side, I’ve been obsessed with baking bagels. I’ve been experimenting with whole grain and different amounts of yeast/kneading/boiling times, and now I’m getting the size and texture I want. Yay!

And I had the opportunity to sing with my fellow Pie Birds in church, and will be singing with them in a wedding soon, too. Here’s a recording of us singing Bird Song, written by Heather Masse.

Cheers!

4 Comments

Posted in foodies!, Knit, music, Pie Birds

Tagged bagels, Linden Leaf, pie birds, tilt shift wrap

Even more gradient yarn, and pretty food

Posted on September 6, 2015 | 5 comments

Knitcircus Greatest of Ease, Come What May

The pink is shading ever so gently, getting paler and paler. Heading into cream (why does this look like dessert?); the gray will come later. Pink and white roses, gray rain clouds? Whatever, it’s gorgeous.

This is waiting in the wings. Black Trillium Fibres Lilt, in Periwinkle.

In the meantime, there’s been a lot of pretty food! I hosted my annual Pinot & Piano fun-raiser a couple weeks ago. I provide piano and dessert. My co-hosts provide wine and music. It all comes together in a lovely evening for 16 guests. This year’s desserts:

Flourless Chocolate Torte