The Bagel Chronicles, vol. 2: Whole wheat & honey

Yesterday I decided against all common sense to attempt making my own bagels.  I was thrilled with the results.  They also passed the true test -- my wife loved them.

Today, I decided I'd apply my lessons learned before I forgot.  I also decided to alter my recipe to best appeal to my Sweetie.

I was thrilled with the results!  I also learned that on only my second try, I got a whole lot better at shaping the bagels.  The whole thing took very little effort and time.  I don't think we'll ever buy bagels at the grocery store again.

The results

These came out far plumper, lighter and with more character to their flavor.

Rather than re-create the whole process, I'll recap the changes.  The orignal post outlines step by step how I went about it.  Here is what I did different this time:

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 packets of active yeast

Note that I doubled the yeast because I didn't feel my first batch rose enough.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Take the honey and dissolve it in warm water, stirring.  Add the yeast and set aside.

To the mixing bowl add all the other ingredients.

By now the yeast should be dissolved and bubbling slightly.  If not, give it a gentle stir.

Follow my directions in the original post to make the dough, divide it and form into bagel-shaped loops.

Let rise a full 40 minutes on an oiled baking sheet.

Boil 1 minute 15 seconds, flip, and repeat.  Remove and replace on the sheet.

Bake 13-14 minutes, flip, and repeat.

Enjoy!

Again... a link to the original full recipe including bagel-rolling tutorial.

The great homemade bagel experiment

Is it possible for a mediocre baker to make great bagels at home?  Bagels that not only meet, but exceed store-bought?  In the name of science, I decided to put it to the test.  I resolved that I would try to do it without looking for instructions on the internet.

I had a great source of information to help prepare for this particular experiment:  A New York Jewish friend, who has a New York Jewish mother and grandmother.  Surely they could help.

They were no flippin' help at all.  They did, however offer to teach me to make matzo balls and tell me the best place to buy Hamantaschen.

That's what I get for stereotyping.  I should have realized that I have never, ever seen a Jewish member of my family provide bagels that didn't come straight from Noah's or Bruegger's.

So for assistance, I then turned to my Goy friend who had once worked in a bagel shop for all of about 27 minutes.  The following is based on the vague information given by him, with my modifications.

NOTE:  After this successful trial run, I modified my recipe for even better results.  After reading, be sure to check here to see the changes I made.

First, I started with some simple ingredients:

Bagel ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 packet active yeast

I didn't bother with the pricey oil -- I would have for frying -- but I was particular about the salt (sea salt w/o iodine) and water (filtered, not tap) to avoid introducing odd chemical flavors.

Note -- I kept my hands washed extra-well all the way through the process, because my days home-brewing beer taught me that yeast is easily contaminated, resulting in strange flavors.

So far, pretty easy.  I mixed all of them together at the same time, unlike many bread recipes which call for multiple steps in preparing the dough.  To avoid any real work, I used my mix-master (with dough hook attachment as the whisk would not have worked at all on this highly elastic dough).  It could have been done by mixing the ingredients in a bowl and then kneading by hand for 5-10 minutes.

Dough hook (hanging on lip of bowl)

Once the dough formed an elastic ball that hung on the hook, I figured it had kneaded long enough.

This looks properly kneaded!

I had been told this would form 6-8 bagels, so I separated the dough into eight equally sized balls.

Ready to form

These I formed into rings.  At this point I started pre-heating the oven to 425 degrees.  Here's a short (1:11) video of how I did it, because this was the really dicey part of the process:

If you didn't watch the video, I shaped each ball into a snake long enough to wrap around something about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (I used my fingers bunched together), overlapped the two ends by about 1/2 inch, and pinched them together.  It sounds simple, but I only averaged good looking rings half the time, and the other half they wound up resembling mutant crescent rolls:

I am Lord of the Rings!

After sitting for 20 minutes, they had puffed up a little from the yeast.  I decided to cook four at a time so if I wasn't happy with the first group, I could correct.  The first four went into boiling water (no salt!) for one minute, then I turned them and boiled for one more minute.  This first batch didn't rise to the top of the water as I had expected.  I was a little worried.

Boiling bagels

Then I transfered them to an oiled cooking sheet, baked for 10 minutes, flipped them, and baked for 10 more minutes.

The result:  Far denser than commercial, but also far more flavorful.  All in all, my home-brew bagels beat Sara Lee hands-down.

The second batch had risen for at least 40 minutes now, and were far more puffed up.  I had made the mistake, however, of keeping them on an un-oiled plate.  It took some work peeling them off and some got quite disfigured in the process.

This group rose quickly to the top of the boiling water, so I knew I was in for a different outcome.  I also chose to bake this group for 12 minutes on a side.

The result:  Equally flavorful as the first group, but a far more desirable density.

Conclusions from this rather dangerous, challenging and rigorous experiment:

• Try it, it's easy and worth the wonderful flavor.
• Make sure you don't get distracted during the boiling or baking part.
• Don't get bummed if your rings don't appear perfect.  They'll still taste great.
• Let the rings rise for around 30 to 45 minutes on an oiled surface.  Don't boil them too soon.

The beautiful end result

The F-22 Raptor

Billed as a fifth-generation supermaneuverable fighter, the F-22 Raptor is a beautiful machine on the ground.  It's stunning to see put though its paces in the air.

The F-22 Raptor (Source:  USAF)

We saw one at the Miramar Air show recently.  It appeared to maneuver in ways that defied the laws of physics and aeronautics - especially making sharp turns that look impossible.

It's stealthy, fast (top speed classified), can turn on a dime and has incredible combat systems.

The Air Force claims the Raptor is superior to any other fighter.  This used to be undebatable.  But the Chinese recently had something else to say about the topic.

The F-22 program was canceled last year.  Only 187 were built.  The more versatile, lower cost and less impressive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will largely take its place.  We will be largely outgunned by the Chinese, and soon the Russians.

Discuss:  Was the decision short-sighted?  I think so.

The Ultraman Triathlon

A marathon?  The Ironman?  Pshaw!  The Ultraman... now that's an accomplishment.

I take great pride in having finished four Ironman triathlons... 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run.  All in one day.

The Ultraman however -- that's something in another league.  The original is, of course, in Hawaii.  There is also an Ultraman in Canada (Penticon)

The Ultraman is a three-day event:

• Day one - 6.2 mile (10 km) open water swim followed by a 90 mile (145 km) bike.  In Hawaii, the bike has a total of 6,000 vertical climbs.
• Day two - if day one wasn't enough, another 171.4 miles (276 km) might get your legs wobbly.
• Day three - Two full marathons, 52.4 miles.

There is a mandatory rest at the end of each stage.  The small group of participants have dinner and breakfast together each day.  It's not so much of a competition as it is just a bunch of crazy people doing something equally crazy together.

I dare you to contemplate any one of these three days, let alone all of it put together.

My admiration goes out to anyone that has ever accomplished this feat, regardless of how long it took.

I will do this before I turn 50.

Huntington Beach - Surf City USA

Expect many posts about Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, because, well... we live there.

We love Southern California.  But I think we're the kind of people that no matter what region we lived in, we'd find something to like.

New Year's Day was one of the days that exemplifies why people choose to live in Orange County.  It was sunny, windless, crystal clear and a perfect temperature.

Rather than endure hours of Al Roker making inane comments about Tournament of Roses floats, we stepped outdoors.  A short drive got us to the Huntington Beach Pier.

Beach Volleyball on January 1st

Only a few hundred yards south of the busy pier area, the beach was nearly empty.  We enjoyed walking along the flat, smooth area exposed at low tide.  The seagulls certainly enjoyed all the food that low tide exposes.

Seagull at low tide in Huntington Beach

There was plenty of driftwood from the recent storms.

Looking north toward Huntington Beach Pier

We had wanted to go for a hike, but with the recent storms feared the trails would be muddy.  This was a terrific alternative!  At the turn point in Newport Beach there are beach cafes, restaurants and more.  On return, we were back at the Huntington Beach Pier for coffee at people watching.

Simple but amazing oven roasted top sirloin

I grabbed a large top sirloin at the market the other day -- it was dirt cheap and a good looking cut:

I roasted this sucker up -- it was easy and produced a great roast beef that we served for guests this weekend -- it served five very hungry people and we still have enough for days of sandwiches.

There were several tricks to making this roast come out beautifully.

1.  The Au Jus.

I started the Au Jus a day ahead of time.  It's not much work but requires a long slow boil.  I used leftover New York Strip from the other day (mostly bones and trimmings).  I placed a strainer inside a very large pot, filled with water, the steak trimmings, onions, bay leaves and some old parsley.  I then boiled it for about 24 hours, constantly adding water to keep it covered.  I also added a touch of beef bouillon (not much, because it adds salt and possibly MSG).

Several hours before beginning the roast, I removed the strainer so that all that was left is a rich but watery brown liquid.  (You could omit the strainer and just strain into another pot at this point).  At this point the mixture was about 1/2 gallon.

Now -- Under careful monitoring the heat was turned up until the liquid reduced by 50% (to about a quart) to concentrate the flavor.

Later on, I did a little bit of back-and-forth -- Some of the Au Jus was used to baste the roast and to make my "mop" but the liquid in the roasting pan made its way back into the Au Jus for extra flavor.

2.  Searing & preparation for oven roasting

This makes the roast!  Heat a large skillet or heavy roasting pan on medium heat.  Lightly rub oil over the surface of your roast.  Get your hands dirty!  Now drop that sucker into the hot skillet or pan and brown each side so it looks like this:

Remove, let cool and then make small slits into which you should insert slivered garlic.  Slice an onion or two and place in the bottom of the pan, setting the roast on top, fatty side up.

3.  Roast at 200 to 300 degrees until the temperature (get a meat thermometer!) inside is at least 125 degrees.  I cooked to 135 for a medium-rare to medium roast.  Remember that the internal temperature will continue to increase for a few minutes after you stop cooking.  For truly savory juiciness, baste every 15 minutes.  It's best to start with some of the Au Jus.

4.  When done, transfer the drippings back to the Au Jus.

5.  Slice and enjoy!

More detailed cooking instructions here.

ADHD... it's not just for kids any more!

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is widely (some think too much so) diagnosed in school-aged children.  Far more boys are diagnosed with ADHD than girls.  Increasingly, adults are diagnosed with this complex disorder.

As with many psychological conditions, symptoms present themselves in a fashion that varies from person to person.  The key behaviors are short attention span, impulsiveness and hyperactivity.

Most children are treated with pharmaceuticals.  Adults tend to avoid seeking professional help for what they see as simply being a part of their personality.

There appears to be some connection or correlation between ADHD and other personality "traits" such as autism, substance abuse and bipolar disorder.

I'm one of those adults.  I definitely exhibit mild  symptoms, especially impulsiveness and short attention span.  And they can be negatives, especially when I need to be focused on one important thing.  On the other hand, I've learned to embrace certain traits.  For example, I aggressively seek out  new experiences, new knowledge and new ways of doing things.

There are pros and cons to my mild ADHD:

Pro:  Open to new ideas
Con:  Never satisfied with the established way of doing things

Pro:  Can handle wide variety of challenges
Con:  Jack of all trades, master of none

Pro:  Interested in huge range of topics
Con:  Never learn enough to become an expert in any one area - always moving on to next interesting thing ("Oooh!  Shiny!")

Pro:  Can juggle multiple tasks
Con:  Constantly switching from one thing to another mid-job.

While I've been writing this, I've also checked my e-mail, made coffee, put on warm socks, read the news and brushed my teeth.  The number one thing I mutter to myself is "Focus, damnit!"

But... I love my ADHD.  I wouldn't be me without it.