It does sound like they were a little overproofed, or your dough was a bit too soft. (Bagel dough shouldn't be sticky or even tacky and it should be very smooth, Peter has described it as satiny.)

As soon as they pass the float test, they're ready to go in the water.

When I made mine yesterday, I forgot to grease the parchment paper and they stuck down a bit, hopefully that didn't happen to you.

They should taste just fine, though. The great thing about freshly baked bagels is even if they aren't perfect, they're tasty!

I don't think it was too soft, it was not tacky and was rather stiff after mixing,although it was very easy to work with during shaping. I'm guessing that I misunderstood when to do the float test and that you are correct in saying they overproofed.
I used a Silpat, which I lightly oiled just to be safe, so no sticking. They taste really good, so I'm mostly happy. And it is such an easy recipe I don't mind making more attempts to get it right. Once I've perfected it I want to try converting them to blueberry bagels, so if anyone has suggestions on that, chime in.
It was really fun trying it, especially having fellow bakers using the same recipe here on the forum.

Okay, tarragonmh, can mumpy and I swing by for QC? We still have some butter left from the QC at Hazel's house, so we are primed and ready to taste test.

~Cindy

I've never made blueberry bagels, though I've made raisin and cinnamon bagels using the variant given in BBA. (They were tasty but rich, the three of us have trouble finishing even a half batch of them.)

You will probably need to hand fold in the blueberries towards the end of the kneading to keep them from getting torn up too much.

It would be interesting to try it with the 'just blueberries' freeze dried blueberries.

Congrats! Mine were out for about 15 minutes and then I decided I'd better check.

Mine were satiny. Didn't have problems lifting them off the parchment since I sprayed the dickens out of that parchment and again before I put the freshly poached ones back on the sheet.

Would you believe I just had one today? I put them in the freezer - do the same with the ones I buy at the bakery so they stay fresh. Did a quick defrost in the microwave and then toasted - yummy!

I have no doubts yours are going to taste good too.

I'm with you - my next batch will have seeds on them. The first batch was for my boyfriend who likes his plain.

Here's to another newbie bagel maker!
: ) Hazel

Hmm, hadn't thought of freeze dried berries, but I was going to use dried rather than fresh.
Door is always open for QC team, so long as they bring Kerrygold butter!

My wife likes hers with LOTS of poppy seeds on them. (I often put them on both sides, the ones on the bottom get nicely toasted as the bagels bake.) Sometimes I do a mixture of poppy seeds and sesame seeds.

I like mine with asiago cheese. (Actually, these days I mostly use a 4 cheese blend I get at Sams: Asiago, Provolone, Parmesan and Romano.)

I'm sure they will taste great.
I like Ciril Hitz's (similar)recipe because it makes a dozen bagels:

https://mainewoodheat.com/blog/2008/11/ciril-hitzs-bagel-dough/

And here is his bagel video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwl2Ix939D0

Ron

Tarragonmh, I ALWAYS bring the KerryGold for QC. There is no sense in QC if you don't use the very best in butter. I always go for Irish butter, if possible. I've used Plugra, but find the KerryGold is just a bit smoother tasting.

Still waiting for mumpy, but as soon as she gets here we will pop right over!

~Cindy

Ron, Ciril makes it look so flipping' easy! Thanks for posting the links.

And, once again, where did you get your animated icons?

~Cindy

OK Cindy - write this down...

http://www.emoticonsfree.org/free-emoticons-characters.html

I don't know why it looks so easy when these people who bake all day every day do demos...

The baker above is the only baking emoticon I could find anywhere.

Ron

So, talking about bagels deflating post boil/pre bake......

I use the BBA bagel recipe and with great success. I can only boil 3 at a time so when half the batch (6) are boiled, in the oven they go. I boil the remaining 6 as the first batch comes out of the oven. The first 3 boiled will deflate a little bit but respond to oven spring and come out just fine. The second 3 boiled suffer no deflation at all.

Once I boiled all 12 before baking and the first 6 deflated but never filly recovered, resulting in somewhat flat bagels. I went back the 6 at a time method after that.

In the photo in the BBA book, it may be my imagination but PR's bagels look a tad flat to me. Maybe he doesn't see a slightly flat bagel as a big deal??

Jock

Ok RonB, where in the world did he get the food-safe/grade large clear plastic? It is always mentioned, but not a clue where to purchase. I even checked when I went to GFS.

: ) Hazel

I can get Best Choice 2 gallon food storage bags that are 13 x 15 1/4 at the local stores year round.

Ziploc makes a bag that is 10 gallon capacity and about 24 x 20, big enough to brine a turkey in. Reynolds makes one, too. I only see either of them around Thanksgiving.

Okay all you bagel bakers,

I am far away from KAF flour (bread flour only 12.5%) so my first attempt with a bagel recipe from KAF, cuz I can get it online wasn't a great success. I have sent a looooong email to the Bakers. I do not have Peter Reinhart's books and would have to buy them, so I just google Peter Reinhart to see what was on line. His last post on the regular blog was in September and had this link to Epicurious
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/howtocook/primers/bagels-ingred...

Thought you might all enjoy it. I haven't read it yet, but I will when I finish this post.

Peter Reinhart was also featured at the TED talks (Technology, Education, Design) in 2009.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/peter_reinhart_on_bread.html

If you don't know about the TED talks, check out the website - no talk is longer than 20 minutes (this one is 15). It's a great resource.

The 2 gal Ziplocs will hold a 9X13 pan, or a 10X14 sheet. They make 2 very large bags too, but they are not labeled for food. However, if you placed some plastic wrap directly on top of the dough, and then slipped it into one of these bags, that should work. Personally, I wouldn't worry bout the bags not being food grade as I would try to keep the plastic from touching the dough anyway ~ Ron

I'm coming with Mumpy and Cindy! I love fresh bagels. You have inspired me to try my hand at baking my very own bagels!

Sandy

Okay, Sandy, omaria has a van so there's room for one or two more. Don't forget, I have to take the wheelchair, so we have to allow room for that, but we still have room. The more the merrier.

If you decide to try bagels, we can come do a QC at your house.

~Cindy