This is a variation on New York Bagels in which about half of the high gluten flour is replaced by King Arthur Keto Wheat Baking Flour plus Vital Wheat Gluten, since the keto flour has less gluten. The changes in flour also required a change to the amount of water, and it took a few iterations before I seemed to get that about right. At first, I noticed the dough seemed too dry. I added water and then thought it was too wet. Finally I added some more high gluten flour, and that seemed to produce a dough which was about right, although it was a little more hydrated than New York Bagels. In the end, I think the increased hydration was a good thing since the bagels were a bit lighter while still holding together well during shaping and boiling, and having a nice crust and a chewy crumb.
Again, I made a batch of 6 doughs, 4 bagels and 2 bagel dogs. This recipe fit easily into my schedule – about an hour of preparation before dinner on the night before and less than an hour of execution on the next morning and fresh bagels were ready for breakfast.
3 Tbs. cornmeal
230 g. high gluten flour (I used King Arthur)
200 g. keto wheat baking flour (King Arthur)
10 g. Vital wheat gluten (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
21 g. (1 Tbs.) barley malt syrup, maple syrup, or honey (I used barley malt syrup)
1 tsp. yeast
290 g. water
1-1/2 tsp. (4.2 g) Diamond Crysal Kosher Salt (or equivalent weight in Morton’s Kosher Salt)
Line a quarter sheet pan with baking parchment and sprinkle it with the cornmeal.
Put in the bowl of a strong stand mixer (like the 6 quarter Kitchen Aid), the ingredients in the following order: flour, vital wheat gluten, barley malt syrup and yeast. (They can be weighed as they are put in, with the scale tared between ingredient.) Add the water so that it wets the yeast. (This is helpful if using active dry instead of instant yeast.) Last add the salt.
Using the dough hook, mix the ingredients on low speed for about 2 minutes until the ingredients are mostly mixed. Lower the bowl and use a spatula to scrape the sides to incorporate all the flour. Resume mixing at low speed for 2-3 minutes until the sides of the bowl are nearly clean. Lower the bowl and remove the dough hook. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and rest (autolyze) for 20 minutes.
Uncover the bowl, and with the dough hook mix the dough on medium speed for 7 minutes, monitoring the mixer to make sure it does not work itself off the countertop. The mixer may make a lot of noise as it beats the dough into submission, and into a smooth and stiff dough.
On a clean unfloored work surface, divide the dough into 6 equal pieces about 125 g. each. Shape each piece into a ring, using one of two methods. The first method is forming each piece into a rope, forming the rope into a ring, and pressing the two ends of the rope together. The second method (which I used) is forming each piece into a ball, flattening it into a disk, pressing the center with thumbs to form a hole, and then working with the dough to expand the hole and even out the ring of dough. The hole in an unbaked bagel dough needs to be large since it will tend to fill in as it rises, is boiled, and is baked.
Put the bagel rings on the quarter sheet and cover with a piece of plastic wrap which has been greased with cooking spray so that the bagel doughs cannot stick to the plastic. Put in the refrigerator to rise for 8-14 hours. I put them into the refrigerator about 5:30 p.m.
When ready to bake either later in the day or the next morning, preheat the oven with a baking steel or stone to 475 degrees for at least 30 minutes. Put a wide pot of water on the stove to boil. Remove the bagel doughs from the refrigerator to warm up. Put a peel on the counter and cover it with a sheet of baking parchment.
When the pot of water is boiling, carefully pick up the bagel doughs and boil them in batches (as necessary) for about 60 seconds, flipping them from time to time. Remove them with a spider and put them on the baking parchment so that they do not touch. Bake for 12-16 minutes until golden. Allow to cool before cutting.