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New York Times
27-03-2025
- General
- New York Times
Our Ultimate Guide to Making Bagels
From proofing and shaping to boiling and baking, let Claire Saffitz show you the ins and outs of this breakfast favorite. David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Published March 27, 2025 Updated March 27, 2025 [This article was originally published on Jan. 13, 2021.] It's immensely satisfying when you realize that a commonly bought item is easily prepared at home. Take bagels, for instance. This guide will explain how to make them, from mixing to forming, boiling to baking. The result is a traditionally chewy, crusty bagel that's far fresher and tastier than those puffy dough rings from your average store. This recipe yields a dozen, and you'll want to reserve an afternoon and the next morning to complete the process, making it an ideal weekend project. Just — please — don't add raisins. 2¼ cups/530 milliliters lukewarm water (105 to 110 degrees) 2 tablespoons barley malt syrup (available in health food stores and some well-stocked supermarkets; an equal volume of molasses is a passable substitute, but won't impart the traditional malty flavor) 1 (¼-ounce) packet active dry yeast (about 2¼ teaspoons) 6½ cups/885 grams bread flour (or use 6 cups bread flour and ½ cup whole-wheat flour), plus more for kneading Tip: For the crustiest, chewiest bagels, use bread flour. However, you can still achieve good results with all-purpose flour. Just try to use a brand with a relatively high protein content. Swapping in ½ cup of whole-wheat flour for ½ cup of the bread flour will make the bagels slightly less chewy but will also give them a boost of flavor. 2 tablespoons/17 grams Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 1 tablespoon/17 grams Morton kosher salt Tip: When measured by volume, Morton salt packs more densely than Diamond, making it about twice as salty. For consistent measurements across brands, either weigh it with a scale, or use half the volume of Morton. Neutral oil , for greasing the baking sheets 1 teaspoon baking soda ¼ cup/60 milliliters barley malt syrup , plus more as needed 2 ounces/30 grams each sesame seeds, poppy seeds, caraway seeds, dried minced garlic, dried minced onion and/or flaky salt (optional) Scale (optional but recommended), a small bowl, a large mixing bowl, flexible spatula or wooden spoon, bench scraper, two large rimmed baking sheets, parchment paper, plastic wrap, a spider or slotted spoon, tea towel, a large Dutch oven, several separate large plates (if topping bagels), wire rack and a serrated knife. David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggiero 1. Pour ½ cup/120 milliliters lukewarm water into a small bowl. Whisk in 2 tablespoons barley malt syrup and the packet of yeast until both dissolve. Let sit until the mixture foams, about 5 minutes. 2. In a large bowl, combine bread flour and salt (and whole-wheat flour, if using), and make a well in the center. Pour in yeast mixture and the remaining 1¾ cups/420 milliliters lukewarm water, and mix, using the flexible spatula or wooden spoon, until the dough is shaggy. 3. Knead the mixture in the bowl several times, continuously folding it over and onto itself and pressing down firmly to bring it together in a solid mass, then turn it out onto a clean work surface. Continue kneading until there are no dry spots, then, adding more flour only if needed to prevent stubborn sticking, until you have a stiff but very smooth dough that is still slightly tacky, 15 to 20 minutes. Tip: This amount of kneading, necessary to develop the gluten for a chewy bagel, is best done by hand, since the motor of the average stand mixer would strain against the very stiff dough. 4. Gather the dough into a ball, dust it lightly with flour, and place it in a large, clean bowl, seam-side down. Cover with a damp towel and let the dough rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size, 1½ to 2 hours. David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggiero 5. Using your fist, lightly punch down the dough to knock out some of the air, and turn it out onto a clean work surface. Using a bench scraper, cut the dough into 12 equal pieces, either eyeballing it or using a scale to weigh out 4⅓-ounce/125-gram pieces. If you prefer a slightly smaller bagel, which is more traditional, you could make a baker's dozen (13) and weigh out 4-ounce portions. Why? This will help all your bagels rise more evenly in the oven and look better overall. 6. Before you form the bagels, preshape the pieces into tight balls. Working one ball at a time, gather all the irregular edges and pinch them together firmly to make a teardrop shape (above). Place the dough seam-side down on the surface and cup your hand down and over top of the dough in a loose grip (like a claw, or like you're playing the piano). Move your hand in a rapid circular motion, dragging the dough across the surface until it has a high, tight dome. Repeat with all the pieces, then cover them with the damp towel and let rest for 5 minutes. David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggiero 7. Line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, brush lightly with oil, and set aside. Working one piece at a time, roll out a ball on the surface beneath your palms into a 9-inch-long rope. Apply extra pressure at the ends of the rope to thin them slightly, then wrap the rope around one hand where your palm and fingers meet, overlapping the ends by an inch or two along the inside of your hand (above). Tip: Don't add flour to your work surface. The friction with the surface will help stretch the dough. 8. Roll the dough under your hand back and forth several times to seal together the ends, then slip the ring of dough off your hand and stretch it to even out the thickness all the way around until you have a ring that measures about 4 inches across (above). As you form each ring, place it on a parchment-lined sheet, arranging six to a sheet and spacing evenly. Tip: You can also poke a thumb through the ball of dough to make the hole and then widen and stretch with your hands into a ring, but the wrapping and rolling method tends to give more of a classic bagel look. 9. When you've formed all the bagels, cover each baking sheet with a piece of plastic, followed by a damp towel to create a sealed, moist environment for the bagels to proof slowly. Transfer the baking sheets to the refrigerator and chill at least 4 hours and up to 24. David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggiero 10. About 2 hours before you'd like to serve the bagels, arrange an oven rack in the center position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Fill a large, wide Dutch oven halfway with water and place it on the stove. (Heat should be off at this point.) Set a wire rack next to the Dutch oven. If topping the bagels, spread several tablespoons each of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, caraway seeds, dried minced garlic, dried minced onion and flaky salt on separate large plates in generous, even layers. Set the plates of toppings next to the wire rack. Tip: Mix together all the toppings to make an 'everything' blend. 11. Remove one baking sheet from the refrigerator. Fill a small bowl with room temperature water, then carefully peel one ring of dough off the parchment paper and transfer it to the bowl. It should float, indicating that the bagels are ready to boil and bake. Remove the ring from the water, pat it dry on a towel and place back on the baking sheet. Remove the other baking sheet from the refrigerator. Tip: The dough sank? That's OK! Let both sheets sit at room temperature, covered, to finish rising, and test if the dough floats every 10 minutes after the first 30 minutes or so. 12. Set the Dutch oven over high heat and bring to a boil. Whisk in the baking soda and ¼ cup barley malt syrup. You want the water to look like strong black tea, so add more barley malt syrup by the tablespoon until it does. Bring everything back to a boil, reduce the heat if necessary to maintain a gentle boil, and skim any foam from the surface. Uncover one baking sheet and carefully transfer as many bagels as will comfortably fit in one layer to the Dutch oven, leaving some room for them to bob around. Boil for 1 minute, turning halfway through. Tip: If the ¼ cup barley malt syrup made the liquid very dark, more like black coffee, add a little water to dilute. 13. Use a spider or slotted spoon to transfer the bagels to the wire rack and repeat with the remaining bagels on the first sheet. The bagels will swell in the water, then deflate when removed, but they will puff up again in the oven. Discard the piece of parchment that was underneath the bagels but reserve the baking sheet. David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggiero 14. Add the optional topping: Working with one at a time, place a boiled bagel on one of the plates with the toppings and turn to coat so the topping adheres to the wet surface of the dough on both sides. Place the coated bagels on the empty baking sheet, flat-side down, and repeat with the remaining boiled bagels, spacing evenly. 15. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake until the bagels are deeply brown, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheet 180 degrees after 12 minutes. 16. While the first sheet of bagels is in the oven, repeat the boiling and coating process with the second sheet, adding more toppings to the plates as needed. Transfer the second sheet to the oven when the first is finished. Let the bagels cool completely on a wire rack before slicing with a serrated knife. Tip: Bagels are best eaten the day they're baked, but they also freeze well. Place the bagels in a resealable plastic freezer bag and freeze up to one month.
Atlantic
08-03-2025
- General
- Atlantic
Kosher Salt Is Actually Just Big Salt
When I was a child, in the 1990s, there was only one kind of salt; we called it 'salt.' It came in a blue cylindrical container—you probably know the one—and we dumped it into pasta water and decanted it into shakers. I didn't know that any other kind existed, and the women who taught me to cook didn't seem to, either: Joy of Cooking, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and Moosewood Cookbook all call, simply, for 'salt' in their recipes. But about a decade ago, I started buying coarse kosher salt instead of the fine, uniform, iodized table salt I'd grown up with. I do not remember why. As my friends grew up and started building their own pantries, many of them also made kosher salt their default. These days, The New York Times calls explicitly for kosher salt in nearly all of its recipes, as does Bon Appétit. Two of the most influential cookbooks of the past decade, The Food Lab, by J. Kenji López-Alt, and Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, by Samin Nosrat, both devote paragraphs to the benefits of kosher over table salt. It is now 'the lingua franca of restaurant kitchens'—as Mark Bitterman, who has written four books about cooking with salt, put it—and a cheffy shibboleth in home kitchens, too. You can find Diamond Crystal, the coolest brand, in the background of the famously verisimilitudinous restaurant show The Bear, and on cooking influencers' beautiful countertops; in 2023, when Trader Joe's started carrying it, chef Reddit exploded in enthusiastic all caps. Pretty much everyone eats salt, every day, and it's different now. Yet even kosher salt's most fervent converts may not entirely understand how it's different. Kosher salt, like all salt, is NaCl—sodium ions electrostatically bound with chloride ions and arranged in a crystal formation. Unlike certain specialty salts, it doesn't have unique properties by virtue of its provenance; it's not collected from the coast of France or mined from a mountain in Pakistan. Kosher salt is just big salt. It's also more expensive than table salt. You might assume that this is because it has been manufactured according to a stringent set of religious rules. But much iodized table salt is kosher—that is, prepared in adherence with Jewish dietary law—and what we call 'kosher salt' isn't categorically kosher: If you're feeling pedantic, the right term would be 'koshering salt,' because its oversize, craggy crystals are best for drawing the blood out of animals during kosher slaughter. America's great salt swap began in the 1980s, when farmers'-market culture and the health-food movement helped American chefs acquaint themselves with specialty ingredients, Bitterman told me: Himalayan pink salt; 'bad-ass, real good' fleur de sel from France. But by and large, chefs settled on kosher as their go-to. They did this for a reason so unbelievably basic that I laughed out loud when I first heard it: Kosher salt is easier to pick up. 'Table salt is too hard to pinch,' Adam Ragusea, a food YouTuber, told me. 'I mean, just try it. Anyone who's reading, just try it. Just pick it up … It's a pain in the ass, and it's messy.' Kosher salt is simply better for the way chefs tend to season their food, which is frequently, and without measuring, by eye and by feel. No one wants to be fiddling with a teaspoon on the line at a busy restaurant during the dinner rush. 'You can really feel it sort of touching your fingers, and leaving your fingers,' Chris Morocco, the food director at Bon Appétit and Epicurious, told me, whereas finer salt 'has a tendency to want to slip away.' Kosher salt's migration to home kitchens started in the late '90s, when the Food Network became a cultural force. Its big crystals suddenly had an added benefit: They look great being pinched out of a saltcellar and flung around on television, or at least better than table salt does being juddered out of a shaker. (Ina Garten, one of the network's early celebrities, has described Diamond Crystal kosher salt as 'always perfect.') As television turned chefs into celebrities, their fans began trying to emulate them at home. At the same time, recipes, like the rest of media, were moving online, and their tone was changing. Older cookbooks, Morocco told me, assumed a lot of knowledge on the part of their readers: 'Recipe language was very terse. They were not really holding your hand too much.' Online, recipe writers had unlimited space, a broader potential audience, and a business imperative to build a relationship with their readers. So their guidance became chattier and more descriptive, designed for a home cook who was eager to learn—and who could hold recipe developers more immediately accountable, yelling about bland soup or bad bakes in the comments section. 'Salt to taste,' which had for decades been a standard instruction in most savory recipes, gave way to specific measurements. But different salts have different densities, meaning a teaspoon of one brand can be recipe-ruiningly saltier than that of another. So recipe developers needed to be able to recommend a standard salt. Being chefs, they already liked kosher. In 2011, Bon Appétit, which was then becoming a major resource for Millennials teaching themselves how to cook, adopted Diamond Crystal as its house salt. This is all a little funny. Restaurant chefs started using kosher precisely because it was easy to use without measuring—now home cooks are measuring it out by the teaspoon. And a movement that espoused seeking the ideal ingredients for every dish resulted in widespread adoption of a one-size-fits-all salt. In doing so, modern cooking has inadvertently all but abandoned one of the most significant public-health advances in history. A few years ago, a 6-year-old girl showed up at a medical clinic in Providence, Rhode Island, her neck so swollen that it looked like she'd swallowed a grapefruit whole. After a series of tests, doctors figured it out: She was iodine-deficient. Her thyroid—the butterfly-shaped gland that is responsible for just about everything the body does, and which requires iodine to function—had swelled in an attempt to capture any microgram of iodine it could from her bloodstream. For centuries, thyroid dysfunction was endemic; millions of people around the world suffered from slow heartbeats, weakness, muscle fatigue, sluggish metabolism, and brain fog. When, in 1924, American manufacturers introduced artificially iodized salts, it was a miracle, right there on the shelf in the grocery store. Within a few years, the thyroids of the developed world were working again. Recently, however, doctors have started reporting more cases of iodine-deficient hypothyroidism—and our salt preferences may be at least partially to blame. Kosher salt, as you have probably guessed, does not contain iodine. Neither do most ultraprocessed foods, the main vehicle by which most people in this not-exactly-sodium-deficient country take in salt. Iodine deficiency can be serious, but is eminently treatable. (Pregnant women should be particularly attentive to their iodine levels, the UCLA endocrinologist Angela Leung told me, because deficiency can result in birth defects.) The 21st-century rise in hypothyroidism might therefore be less a cause for alarm than a chance to rethink our contemporary salt orthodoxy. Kosher's dominance, to hear Bitterman tell it, 'doesn't come out of magic or merit—it's cookbook writers and chef culture, a weird confluence of circumstances brainwashing everyone at the same time.' What's great for chefs may not be great for home cooks. Kosher salt isn't inherently better, and in some cases may be worse. I've now spent hours on the phone with salt connoisseurs—at one point, Bitterman earnestly described a certain type as 'luscious' and 'warm'—and have come around to the view that we should all be more open to using different salts for different purposes, in the same way that well-outfitted cooks might keep different types of olive oil on hand. Flaky fleur de sel is great for finishing dishes; flavored salt is perfect on popcorn. And for everyday cooking, iodized table salt is just as good as kosher—preferable, even, if you're worried about your iodine levels. Sure, all the recipes now call for kosher salt, but a solution exists: Ignore the instructions and season intuitively. Like a real chef would.
New York Times
27-01-2025
- General
- New York Times
Chile Oil Wontons Recipe
Rating 5 (20) Notes Read community notes This classic recipe shows you how easy — and satisfying — it is to make your own chile oil wontons at home. Here, they're shaped to resemble gold ingots, a Chinese symbol of good fortune and wealth, but feel free to wrap them however you like. A crucial step here is making the sauce for the wontons, which can be done in advance and starts with mixing your own chile oil. (Save any extra sauce to use with fried eggs, tofu, potatoes, rice, chicken or anything, really.) 1 pound ground pork or ground chicken ¼ pound large peeled and deveined shrimp, chopped into ¼-inch pieces 1 tablespoon sesame oil 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine or sherry (optional) 1 teaspoon ground white pepper Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) Cornstarch, for dusting About 50 homemade or store-bought wonton wrappers (from one 12- to 14-ounce package), thawed if frozen 6 garlic cloves, smashed and coarsely chopped into ¼-inch pieces 2 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces 3 tablespoons crushed red pepper 2 tablespoons white sesame seeds 1 bay leaf (dried or fresh) 1 whole star anise ⅔ cup vegetable oil 1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce 1 tablespoon rice vinegar 3 tablespoons roasted, unsalted peanuts, finely ground or chopped 1 tablespoon finely ground Sichuan peppercorns (optional) 4 scallions, thinly sliced Add ingredients to Grocery List Ingredient Substitution Guide Make the recipe with us Make the wontons: Combine the pork, shrimp, sesame oil, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine (if using), white pepper and 1 teaspoon kosher salt in a large bowl. Mix with a spatula until the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Prepare your tools for wrapping the wontons: Dust a large rimmed baking sheet or large platter with cornstarch and fill a small bowl with water. Assemble the wontons: Hold a wonton wrapper in your hand and rotate it so it sits like a diamond, with a tip at the top. Spoon about 1 scant tablespoon of the filling in the middle of the wrapper. Dip a finger into the water and dab the top triangle of the diamond and fold in half, lifting the bottom corner to meet the top corner and aligning the wrapper edges so you get a triangular shape, then press firmly to seal. Dab some more water on one corner of the triangle and then press the opposite dry corner on top to seal. Set the wonton on the cornstarch-dusted tray or platter and proceed with the rest of the filling and wrappers, making about 50 wontons. Cover the wontons with plastic wrap and place in the fridge while you prepare the sauce. (See Tip for freezing instructions.) Make the sauce: Combine the garlic, scallions, crushed red pepper, sesame seeds, bay leaf and star anise in a medium heat-proof bowl. Heat the vegetable oil in a small pot over medium-high until it is very hot and almost smoking, 4 to 5 minutes. Carefully pour the hot oil into the bowl over the garlic mixture. Allow the sizzling to subside and then add the sweet soy sauce, dark soy sauce and rice vinegar. (You can make the sauce up to 3 days in advance; keep it covered and refrigerated.) Make the garnish: Combine the ground peanuts, Sichuan peppercorns and ½ teaspoon kosher salt in a small bowl. Boil and serve the wontons: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the wontons in batches, depending on the size of your pot. Gently drop the wontons in the boiling water and cook over medium heat until they float to the top, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the wontons with a slotted spoon or a spider, making sure to shake out the water with each removal and transfer them to a serving bowl right away. Spoon the sauce over the hot wontons and sprinkle with the ground peanut mixture and scallions. Tip If you are not ready to boil the wontons right away, tightly wrap the wontons in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. To boil from frozen: Follow the cooking instructions in Step 7, cooking the dumplings until they float to the top, 6 to 7 minutes. Private Notes Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here. Wait. 15 min prep time for 50 wonton? More like 15 min cook time, 1 hour prep time. Aloha Sue Li! I'm planning to make this delicious dish you shared. Quick question. What brand of sweet soy sauce do you use? I see ABC Kecap Manis but I'm thinking you use something else. Hope to know which brand you use. Also dark soy sauce, can I use Kikkoman regular soy sauce? I'm allergic to shellfish so will have to leave out the shrimp. if you watch the video, you will want to make these dumplings. I can't wait! If you're allergic to shellfish, do you have a suggestion for a shrimp replacement that would complement the recipe? Add ground water chestnuts to the mixture it makes it so chunchy and good SJ Kurtz - 'Prep time' just means getting the ingredients ready to be used. The 'total time' is prep time plus making the dumplings plus boiling. Private notes are only visible to you. Easy Sue Li Sue Li Sue Li Sue Li Easy Sue Li Easy Sue Li Sue Li Easy Sue Li Easy Sue Li Easy Sue Li Sue Li Sue Li Easy Sue Li Easy Sue Li Sue Li Sue Li
New York Times
03-12-2024
- General
- New York Times
Orange Ricotta Crepes Recipe
Rating (0) Notes Read community notes Knowing how to make crepes is a great back-pocket trick, letting you whip together a lovely dessert (or breakfast, or even afternoon snack) in not very long at all. This orange-ricotta version is best prepared in advance, even the day before. (If you do, stack crepes, wrap and refrigerate.) Count on one or two crepes per person. Spread each with filling and fold into quarters well in advance of serving. Featured in: Almost Every Part of This Warming Winter Feast Can Be Made Ahead 2 large eggs 1¼ cups/280 milliliters whole milk, more if needed 1 cup/140 grams all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more softened for cooking ½ teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) 2 cups/16 ounces ricotta, well drained Zest of 1 large orange 3 tablespoons granulated sugar Pinch of salt ½ cup/113 grams unsalted butter ¼ cup/50 grams granulated sugar 1 cup/236 milliliters orange juice 2 teaspoons grated orange zest 2 tablespoons orange liqueur or brandy Add ingredients to Grocery List Ingredient Substitution Guide Make the batter: Beat eggs in a medium bowl, then whisk in milk, flour, butter and salt. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into another bowl. The consistency should be that of heavy cream; thin with milk as necessary. Let rest 30 minutes before using or cover and refrigerate overnight. (If the batter isn't thin enough, crepes will be too thick and won't spread properly in the pan.) Make the filling: Put ricotta in a bowl. Stir in zest, sugar and salt with a wooden spoon and mix well until smooth and spreadable. Make the crepes: Set an 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. (Alternatively, use a steel crepe pan or cast-iron skillet.) With a paper towel, rub the pan with softened butter. When hot, pour in ¼ cup batter, then lift the pan and quickly swirl with one hand to distribute a thin layer all the way to the edges. Leave pan on the heat for 30 seconds or so, until the crepe starts releasing at the edges. With a spatula (or quickly grabbing edge with fingertips), flip crepe and cook for 15 seconds. Remove crepe to a plate and repeat until all batter is used, stacking crêpes on the plate as you go. With the browned side down, spread the bottom of each crepe with about 2 tablespoons ricotta filling. Fold crepe over to make a half-moon, then fold once more to form a triangle, and place on a buttered baking sheet. Repeat with remaining crepes. Set aside at cool room temperature or refrigerate until ready to serve. Make the sauce: In a small saucepan, place butter, sugar, zest, orange juice over medium-high heat. Bring to a brisk simmer and cook, stirring, for 5 to 10 minutes, until slightly thickened. Turn off heat and stir in liqueur. To serve, heat oven to 350 degrees, and warm the crepes for a few minutes until warm. Put 1 or 2 warm crepes on dessert plates. Spoon about 3 tablespoons sauce over each. Serve hot. Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here. Why is the oven on? There seems to be a step missing? Any instructions for reheating room temperature or cold crepes? About that preheated oven in step 2, which never seems to get used ... there's a hint in an article that links to the recipe: "These are filled with an orange-scented ricotta. It's best to make the crepes at least a day ahead and, if time permits, the filling and the orange caramel sauce, too. You can even have them filled, folded into triangles and ready to pop in the oven. While they are heating, warm the sauce." why heat the oven? Step 5 has the folded, filled crepes set aside to cool room temp or put in refrigerator until ready to serve. Step 7 has to warm crepes put on a dessert plate. Seems like we've missed the step where the cooled or chilled crepes get warm... About that preheated oven in step 2, which never seems to get used ... there's a hint in an article that links to the recipe: "These are filled with an orange-scented ricotta. It's best to make the crepes at least a day ahead and, if time permits, the filling and the orange caramel sauce, too. You can even have them filled, folded into triangles and ready to pop in the oven. While they are heating, warm the sauce." How to serve crepes hot if already filled? Any instructions for reheating room temperature or cold crepes? why heat the oven? Something looks like it's missing. Turn over to 350 degrees, but when do you use the oven? Why is the oven on? There seems to be a step missing? Private notes are only visible to you. David Tanis Easy David Tanis Easy David Tanis David Tanis David Tanis Easy David Tanis Easy David Tanis David Tanis Easy David Tanis Easy David Tanis David Tanis David Tanis David Tanis Easy David Tanis Easy David Tanis Easy David Tanis
