[Sca-cooks] Pretzels & bagels

[Terry Decker]

IIRC, malted water appears in Bernard Clayton's book of French breads, so it
may be a French thing.  Having tried it, dropping the bagels into malted
water improves the flavor without being overpowering.  BTW, not all bagel
recipes call for the bagel to be dropped in boiling water.

Traditionally, the bagel was created by Austrian bakers to celebrate John
III Sobieski's raising of the Siege of Vienna (the same one that saw the
start of coffeehouses in Vienna) in 1683.  Unfortunately for tradition,
there are apparently regulations from Krakow in 1610 covering the bagel.
That there are no particular religious regulations attached to the bagel
suggest that it was a bread made by all manner of bakers and that the
"Jewish affinity" to the bagel is a latter phenomenon.

I'm still trying to locate a source for the baking regulations in Krakow.
They get mentioned in passing in various sources,  but copies of the actual
regulations seem to be elusive.

Bear

> This whole "malted water" thing has me fascinated.  I had many bagel
making discussions with a Hebrew chef.  He didn't add anything to the water,
nor have any of the recipes I have seen added stuff to the water.  He did
insist of refrigerating them for an hour before baking....
>
> Samrah (who used to make a good batch of bagels and still makes a good
bread)