Baking bread like a true Parisian
At our home, weekends used to be a celebration. It all started when waking up on Saturday morning. No alarm clock or mother calling from the bottom of the stairs, but the smell of freshly baked bread. We had breakfast at a perfectly set table and the highlight was the warm slice with good butter (real butter, of course) and pure chocolate sprinkles. Well, I can tell you: that was like a box of Smarties for me. The oven kept running, because we spent the rest of the day with the rolling pin, baking trays, and other kitchen utensils. My mother was (and still is) the queen of the kitchen, so I didn't get it from a stranger. When I received a new copy from my friends at the publishing house last week, I knew it would become my mother's new bible. The author of this book ‘Cooking School, Bread and Pastry’ previously worked in famous French houses like Ladurée and Paul Bocuse in Lyon. He now has several bakeries in Paris. So if you need to learn the tricks of the trade, it should be from Rodolphe Landemaine.
The book is not only filled with French classics like baguette, financières, and brioche; if you, like almost the entire editorial team, are addicted to the American bagel, then I have good news for you. The absolute best ones are made by yourself, and I have the recipe for you. Let’s bake…
For 8 bagels
- 700 grams of strong flour
- 300 ml of water
- 50 ml of milk
- 25 grams of fresh baker's yeast
- 15 grams of sugar
- 15 grams of salt
- 50 ml of canola oil
- 30 grams of poppy seeds/sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- Knead the flour, water, crumbled yeast, milk, sugar, and salt in a food processor on a low setting until you get a homogeneous mixture.
- Then knead for six minutes on the highest setting.
- Add the canola oil and knead for a few more seconds on setting 1 until the oil is well absorbed.
- Let it rest for 15 minutes under a tea towel at room temperature.
- Cut the dough with a pizza cutter into 8 pieces of 150 grams. Shape them into balls and let them relax for 30 minutes under a tea towel.
- Press your thumb in the center of the dough to make a hole. Then dip your fingers in the flour.
- Shape the pieces of dough into a ring with a diameter of 15 centimeters on the outside.
- Place them 4 by 4 on a sheet of baking paper, under a tea towel, and let them rise in a warm place until the dough has almost doubled in volume.
- Preheat the oven to 240 degrees. Bring the water with the vinegar to a boil in a large pot. Poach the donuts for 30 seconds on each side. Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on a rack.
- Dip the tops of the bagels in poppy seeds/sesame seeds and place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
- Bake the bagels for 12-13 minutes until done.
Top toppings:
– Cream cheese, smoked salmon, and fresh dill
– Cottage cheese, smoked chicken, and cress
– Nut butter, pieces of date, and coarse sea salt
– Smashed avocado, thin slices of radish, and black sesame seeds
– Goat cheese, Parma ham, fresh fig, and balsamic cream
