Kosher Food and Drink

JUMP TO RECIPE

I’m an inquisitive person by nature and like to make everything at least once to get a feel for the process. Learning to make a bagel seems intimidating but really is quite easy and it’s hard to match the deliciousness of your homemade recipe. If you are still buying bagels at the grocery store, well, then, I don’t even know what to say. It’s just embarrassing.

But setting out to make a Black Russian bagel proved daunting. Very few recipes exist online. So I took the bagel knowledge I had, and played with the recipe to get the right color and texture.

My love for bagels stems from my days traveling around NYC in the late 90s and early 2000s. Often I’d stop in H&H Bagels on the Upper West Side at Broadway & 80th or at 46th Street & 12th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen on my trek back to Bridgeport, CT. That NY bagel with the chewy inside and crispy outside was exceptional.

I had my first Black Russian bagel locally, at the Baltimore landmark, Goldberg’s New York Bagels & Coffee (1500 Reisterstown Rd #211, Pikesville, MD 21208). I prefer darker breads and bagels, and opt for whole wheat or pumpernickel. Black Russians are basically the best of everything, utilizing both whole wheat flour and rye flour (which is used to make pumpernickel) in addition to some white flour to lighten up the blend.

I bet you’d never guess what puts the “black” in Black Russians. It’s the cocoa powder and molasses which give it sweetness, depth, and its mysterious darkness.

I’m normally not one for measuring when I cook, but baking is a totally different animal, where slight changes can alter the final recipe. So a quality kitchen scale is a necessity. Here’s a cheap one, very highly recommended on Amazon.

We start by measuring out the yeast, warm distilled or filtered water and our three flours.

• Dry active yeast 8 g (0.28 oz.)
• Warm filtered water 330 g (11.65 oz.)
• White flour (bread or all-purpose) 200 g (7.05 oz.)
• Whole wheat flour 150 g (5.3 oz.)
• Whole grain rye flour 150 g (5.3 oz.)
• Kosher salt 8 g (2 tsp.)

Mix ingredients and then knead for 1 minute by hand. You will develop a coarse mixture.

I then transferred to my MixMaster as the next items are quite dark and sticky. Next add molasses and cocoa powder.

• Molasses 100 g (3.5 oz.)
• Dark cocoa powder 30 g (1/3 cup)

Turn on the MixMaster at the lowest setting and let it work the dough for about 4-5 minutes or until the molasses and cocoa are fully blended into the dough.

At this point, the dough will be very dense and dark. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in warm area (I like to nestle it above my hot water urn) for about 2 hours or until it has doubled in size.

This recipe will make about 12 small bagels or 8 nice-sized ones. I chose to make 12 with this batch. So divide into your predetermined pieces (12 for me) and roll them lightly into a ball shape.

Allow to rest on your mat/counter for about 15 minutes. Then form into bagel shape and press a hole in the middle. Don’t stress yourself out by worrying about a perfect shape. That will come with practice. You can see mine aren’t so pretty.

Allow them to rest another 15 minutes. At this time, you have two immediate jobs:

1) Preheat your over to 425 degrees and

2) Start a large pot of water boiling.

Add dark brown sugar to the water once it’s boiling.

• Dark brown sugar 60 g (1/2 cup)

Take a baking tray and line with parchment paper. Coat the paper with olive oil.

At the end of 15 minutes, and with your water boiling, drop each bagel into the boiling water, about 4 at a time, so that they have room to float around. Boil the bagels for about 1 minute on each side, turning them over midway.

Transfer the bagels to your baking tray.

Brush the bagels with egg white wash around the top and sides and coat with “Everything Bagel” mix or your favorite topping. (I feel strongly that Everything Bagel is the proper topping for a Black Russian.)

Bake the bagels in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes. Remove and allow them to cool on a wire rack. For fun, I did one of the bagels in my outdoor pizza oven since I was already making pizza also.

Slice and serve with your favorite goodies. For me, there’s nothing like a Black Russian with a shmear and some gravlax or Nova.

This recipe could still use a bit of tinkering, I’m sure, but it captured the essence of what makes the Black Russian great. Depth of flavor, savory, and satisfying. I hope you enjoy.

RECIPE

---