Comments on: cinnamon raisin bagels

By: Natalie

Natalie — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:24:53 +0000

I pulled these out of the oven 15 minutes ago and just devoured my first one. Deb, you are a goddess. I was converted to the church of Smitten Kitchen a long time ago but this, THIS is amazing. Even after I messed up the recipe (when I see the word yeast I naively assume it is active dry yeast) somehow, miraculously, with a little extra patience, everything came together. And these are absolutely delicious.

Thanks for writing one of the few blogs out there that consistently offers fantastic recipes that aren’t too complicated for a novice like me.

By: deb

deb — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:52:57 +0000

High-gluten flour is available through King Arthur and other baking supply shops. Vital wheat gluten isn't a flour, but an additive to regular flour that will raise its gluten content. If you used it as flour, it would definitely explain the chewiness -- it would be like using straight gluten instead of flour.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:16:14 +0000

Hey Deb–first time commenter, long time reader! I love your recipes!

I made these and they turned out pretty great–I maybe boiled them too long though, they are pretty chewy! I do have a question about your flour though–did you use vital wheat gluten, or is there actually a high-gluten flour? The interwebs turned up mixed results (some say they are the same thing, others say add some of the former to AP flour). I ended up using, I think, vital wheat gluten for the sponge and then AP flour for the rest, since the sponge turned out REALLY gummy.

All in all this was one of my more ambitious baking adventures–and it turned out a success! Thanks for posting it!

By: Peggy

Peggy — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:38:57 +0000

I have these resting right now anticipating transformation from rolls to bagels. Ten more minutes! I’ll be putting them in the fridge overnight as there’s no time left in the day to boil and bake them. I used approx. half whole wheat flour and half white and added gluten. I’m not sure if I’ve killed the recipe already or not though because my sponge sat for about five hours instead of just two. It also didn’t really start off like pancake batter but more like a cross between cake and muffin batter. We’ll see! I’m also hoping to freeze some unbaked as I have too many for two pans, which is all my oven will hold. I guess I could do a second batch after the first two pans come out but it might be nice to have some ready to defrost and bake fresh in the freezer. I weighed my kneaded dough and found it to be 72 ounces, which, on dividing by 24, should have given me 3-ounce pieces. I ended up with 20 3-ounce pieces. Obviously baker error as I used a non-digital kitchen scale.

Long and wordy comment interrupted by the oven timer! Time to form the bagels!! Thanks for posting this recipe!

By: Bria

Bria — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:05:02 +0000

Love your blog, read it everyday!

I made these bagels this weekend (i jumped straight from never making even a loaf of bread before to bagels…crazy i know)

They were a lot of work, but your steps and pictures made it simple and easy to follow! They were absolutely delicious.

By: deeba

deeba — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:25:28 +0000

I’d love to try this.The bagels look SO GOOD!!

By: Sweetie

Sweetie — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:57:27 +0000

Thanks for pointing to this great recipe!

I’m a new baker and made them this weekend with success- and I’m also spoiled by NYC bagel standards. I will say that the recipe tried my patience during steps 4-8 where there are 2 x 20-minute waiting periods followed by more working of the dough.

The only change I made was to follow your note, SK, in the original Reinhardt bagel recipe where you suggested adding the malt syrup to the boiling water in order to intensify the color. I also used a yolk wash before putting them in the oven and AP flour. ( I’ll definitely switch to bread recipe to see this recipe at its best!)

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:56:32 +0000

Great recipe! I made these today in my tiny student kitchen and they came out great, despite my forgetting to let them rise one more time before retarding (for the 20 minutes before the float test). Thankfully, I reread the recipe one more time before going to sleep and pulled them out of the fridge. It ended up taking about 30 minutes for them to pass the float test, but they eventually did and came out great, so everything worked out fine in the end. Thanks for such great, clear instructions! I’m just now getting the courage to try more difficult recipes, and this was an awesome one to test the waters with.

By: Emelia

Emelia — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:57:06 +0000

Oh, how I miss the culinary delights of the East Village – Mamoons really is the best! People would laught at me in London if I told them you could get falafel for $2.50!
In my opinion I would try Bagel Zone on Avenue A between 3rd and 4th Street, might be a bit of a walk for you but its great, lovely atmosphere! Also Russ and Daughters on Houston, pretty much opposite 1st Ave and just down from Katz does the best Lox and Cream cheese.
Now I am in London and away bagel central in NY I will def be trying these!

By: Kris

Kris — Sat, 23 May 2009 11:32:34 +0000

I have achieved Bagel Nirvana(tm). Thank you for this recipe and the great step-by-step instructions.

It was touch-and-go for a while. Last night, while I was kneading the daylights out of the dough, I was skeptical. It was sticky, so I kept adding flour. I was afraid I’d have dense, hard-as-a-rock bagels. As the minutes ticked away til I could do the float test, I was sure it would be a disaster. But my little bagel floated right to the top! Victory in my time! And I just baked them up this morning. Amazing. I have lived in an essentially bagel-free country for about 4 years now, and I just called all my American friends here to tell them about the glory of these bagels!