assistant to the bagel manager
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I didn't have malt either, and just boiled them in maple syrup water, to get some sugar on the outer layer.
Also baked in the oven with a water bath on lower rack.
I mean, if you apply for a bakery job I would use this on the cv. Hell if I was interviewing you and asked about you as a person I would value the effort and skill of this baking.
You can create smoother crust by boiling the bagel for 40 seconds and then egg wash. They will deflate and prune but after they rise and then bake they will return to fluffy.
Sometimes a crust that isn't soft or chewy can be made so by placing a wet cloth over after finished baking for about 15 minutes.
These were boiled. But I did not use an egg wash. I will try the wet cloth on the next batch. Hopefully my malt powder will be here before these are gone.
Next time i am going to use my wok to boil them. The pot i was using, which was my largest, was not big enough to do too many at a time.
If eggs are an issue: it won't be the same but you could try brushing with oil or the thickened juice from garbanzo beans or soaked chia seeds. The idea is that it holds in moisture but loses volume dramatically while cooking, leaving a thin crust behind.
Are you leaving them to rise again after boiling? If so, that would explain what I've been doing wrong all this time!

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