New York-Style Bagels

Method

1. 1Knead a stiff, strong dough. Mix the flour, yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir 1 tbsp barley malt syrup into the warm water (30–35°C, barely warm on the wrist) until dissolved. With the dough hook on low speed, pour the water into the flour a little at a time. Raise the speed to medium and knead for 10 to 12 minutes. Bagel dough is meant to be stiff and dry: it should not stick, and it feels much tighter than bread dough. It is ready when it is completely smooth and elastic and a dent made with a finger springs straight back. That well-developed gluten is where the chew comes from. By hand, allow 15 to 20 minutes of hard kneading.
2. 2Rise, then refrigerate overnight. Shape the dough into a ball, put it in a lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly. Leave at room temperature for 1 hour, until slightly puffed. Then refrigerate for at least 8 and up to 24 hours. The cold night matters more for flavour than any other step: the dough slowly builds up acids and aromas that a short warm rise cannot produce. Cold dough is also easier to shape.
3. 3Shape the bagels with the rope method. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and divide it into 8 equal pieces of about 100 g. Roll each piece on an unfloured surface into a rope about 25 cm (10 inches) long. Wrap the rope around your hand so that the two ends overlap by about 4 cm in your palm. Roll the overlap back and forth under your palm on the work surface to seal it; this gives an even ring that keeps its shape. The ring should be 9 to 10 cm across. Alternatively, push your thumb through the centre of a ball of dough and stretch it gently into a ring. Set the bagels well apart on two baking sheets lined with parchment, cover, and leave at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes, until slightly puffed. Switch the oven on to 230°C (450°F) as soon as the bagels are covered, so that it is fully hot when they come out of the pot.
4. 4Boil. Bring about 2.5 litres of water to a boil in a large, wide pot. Add 2 tbsp barley malt syrup and, if you are using it, the bicarbonate of soda, and stir; with the soda the water foams up for a moment. Turn the heat down to a steady, lively simmer. Lower the bagels in gently, 3 or 4 at a time. Boil for 60 seconds, turn them over with a slotted spoon and boil for another 60 seconds. They sink at first and should float within about 10 seconds, then puff up as they cook. Lift them out with the slotted spoon, let them drain for a moment and put them back on the parchment. Do not skip the boil: it is the step that makes a bagel a bagel.
5. 5Top and bake. As each batch comes out of the water, sprinkle the wet bagels generously with the toppings. No egg wash is needed: the seeds stick to the damp, tacky surface. Bake both sheets at once on the two middle racks of the hot oven at 230°C (450°F) for 20 to 25 minutes, swapping the sheets and turning them front to back halfway through, until the crust is a deep golden-brown and a bagel sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. If your oven takes only one sheet, bake them one after the other. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing, because the crumb sets as it cools. Eat them the same day, while the crust is at its best.