I suggest you guys trying making savory and sexy sandwich with my sesame bagels.. yummmmyyyy

As some of my subscribers are aware, I am one of the members for YouTube Japan Creator Club founded by the Megwin TV and supported by the YouTube Japan. Before the summer break (we are now in the summer break mode and we do not have the meetings now until fall), we had meetings on bi-weekly basis to educate and help each other on our activities on YouTube, and each meeting has been air-ed on live during the meeting, and Megwin TV has been making the footage of the meeting available as a video in the YJCC channel.

As a part of our first project to introduce each other to our existing subscribers in means to increase subscriptions to the channel, we have decided to create and submit a video on the same theme, and the given theme was a Japanese word called “輪“, which is defined as loop, connection, and it also can be interpreted as a circular object.

Since my channel is known for my goofy cooking/baking videos, I have decided to introduce a recipe that fits this theme, and my video is about how to make Sesame Bagels, not completely Japanese, but using one of the Japanese/Asian ingredients (Sesame Seeds).

The very first time I tried bagels was back in 1994, and my running coach got me a bagel after our training from a bakery named “JT’s Bagel Co.”  located near our school in Huntington Beach, California, USA.

Believe it or not, I still have the pamphlet that my coach handed to me to show what flavour they had. Back then the bagels were sold at 45 cents each. How much do they cost now? Very cheap, indeed!

As a shy/hesitant girl, I felt I should ask for an ordinary flavour and I got a sesame bagel. When I first ate it, I felt the bread was rather hard, and I quite did not understand why my runner friends were craving the bread as it is without butter/cream cheese, but eating a few of them in the blink of an eye. I noticed they had blueberry flavour, and I thought this bread was rather unique, and later on, I took my older sister to the shop so that both of us could try a different flavour. I then tried something like the Cinnamon Raison one, while my sister trying the blueberry one. More and more we ate the bagels, we were accustomed to the bread, and understood what was special about it: hard surface but chewy texture, where more and more you chew the bread, sweeter it spreads in your mouth. LOL

Btw, I also have a journal that I mentions about me eating the bagel back in 1994! I was a competitive runner and I was on a very strict diet after gaining 10kg in the first month living and eating in a typical American diet, so my journal entry sounds like I was having an anorexic disorder, and I probably was anorexic. LOL p.s. I do not record what I eat now and that is probably why I am a little far from being in my best shape in my life. I should try to discipline myself a little cause I love running even to this date

In the following year, I moved to West Vancouver, BC, Canada, and during my home economics class, my teacher introduced how to make California Style bagels. I could not believe how easily we were able to make breads, and this is the reason why I still have the love of home made bakery to this date.

I have tried different techniques to get the right texture, and I hope my recipe (directions) would be helpful making delicious bagels at home!

P.S. the combination of flour/sugar/salt/yeast etc is the same as my sweet buns, but the difference is that I am using vegetable oil instead of melt butter and warm water instead of warm milk. There is a few additional tips to making the dough rather chewy, so please check my directions as below!

Before we get to talk about the recipe! For this video, I was given a special approval to feature music by Mr. Rainer Trueby on Compost Records! Please check this very well known and established label!!!!

★Music

(1) Title: “Livin In The Music feat. Vanessa Freeman”
Album: Compost Black Label #60
Artist: Rainer Trueby
Label: Compost Records
Buy here: http://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/compost-black-label-60/id341590523

(2) Title: “Welcome to Our World”
Album: Compost Black Label#82
Artist: Rainer Trueby
Label: Compost Records
Buy here: http://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/welcome-to-our-world/id470161505?i=470161574

★ Please Check Mr. Rainer Trueby!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rainer.trueby

Mr. Rainer Trueby at SPW48! Oh man, can someone please and PLEASE turn the clock back?? Good times!!!!!!

★ Please Check Compost Records!
HP: http://www.compost-rec.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/compostrecords
Twitter: https://twitter.com/compostrecords
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/compost
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/compostrecords
Google+: https://plus.google.com/102510329260812569492/posts

★ Recipes

Ingredients/材料

• 160ml of Warm Water @35C=95F お湯 35度くらい
• 1.5 TPS of Instant Yeast ドライイースト　小さじ1.5
• 1TBS of Sugar 砂糖 大さじ1
• 250g = 8.8oz. of Bread Flour 強力粉 ~40g=1.4oz. of Bread Flour for kneading 強力粉(打ち粉）
• 1TBS of Sugar 砂糖 大さじ1
• a Pinch of Salt 塩 少々
• 1 TBS of Vegetable Oil サラダ油 大さじ1
• 1 Egg Yolk 卵黄1つ
• 1TBS of Water 水大さじ1
• 2TBS of Black & White Sesame Seeds 黒と白ごま 大さじ1ずつ
• a Pinch of Salt 塩 少々 a little bit of Vegetable Oil サラダ油 少々

Directions

1. Mix warm water, instant yeast and sugar and leave until the yeast gets active (about 5-10 min). Generally, it is not quite required to do this with the instant yeasts, but I somehow want to take the traditional approach and make sure we have the right environment secured for Mr. Yeast (Yeast needs warm home with some sweets. If the temp of the warm water is too high or too low, the yeast will not grow, and we will end up finding it out later after spending much effort of making the bread, and I do not like disappointments, so I just want to get it right first by doing this and once we see the active yeast, we know we have passed the first hurdle making yummy home bakery bread).
2. Mix flour, sugar and salt together. Then sift it altogether in a large bowl.
3. Add vegetable oil and 1 into 2. Mix using a spatula, and gather the dough into a ball. Turn the dough onto a clean surface a sprinkle of flour, and start kneading. Use the heel of your hands to compress and push the dough away from you, then fold it back over itself. Give the dough a little turn and repeat. At first, the dough may get moist and stick to your hands, and you may want to add about 1TBS of additional flour. Even the dough feels moist to your hands, as long as it is not sticky, you may want to continue kneading without adding extra flour. Put the weight of your body into the motion and get into a rhythm. Knead the dough for at least 15 minutes until it becomes elastic and strong.
4. Put the dough back into the bowl, and let the dough raise for 30 minutes by giving them a bath (prepare hot water approx. 65C=149F in a bowl, and place the bowl with a dough inside on top of it with a saran-wrap covering the surface. With our modern micro-ovens, most likely we can use the dough-raising function that comes with them, but I just want to introduce the ghetto way of making the bread, so that we can even do this with an old fashioned oven).
5. Once the dough has been rested for 30 minutes, insert a finger in the middle of the dough to see the dough leaks any air, and the hole made by the finger stays as it is. If the hole shrinks, it means Mr. dough needs more resting and growing to do, so rest for another 10 min or so. Then cut the dough a few times by giving Mr. Dough your inner Japanese karate chops. Usually, we can then cut the dough into pieces and form into an ideal shape, but with bagels, we would want the dough to be chewy rather than fluffy, and in my experience, using a rolling stick to further get rid of gas in the dough helps.
6. Cut the dough into 8 pieces and form a little flat round bagel shape. Place them on a baking pan or a deep frying pan, cover the dough with wet cloth (or paper towel) and saran-wrap on top. Give them the hot bath again for 10 min.
7. Insert a finger in the middle of each dough and as if you are dancing in a hula-hoop, flip the dough to make a hole. Give the dough another raising period on top of bath this time for 20 min.
8. Now, we are going to boil your dough. The temperature of the water should be about 90C = 194F and boil each side for 1 min at low heat. If hot water is too hot or the heat is too strong, there should be some big bubbles in the pot, and this could damage the surface of your dough. We really do not want this, so please be careful. It is being told that more you boil, more chewy the texture becomes. I am not so sure about it based on my experience. Btw, the Montreal bagels require you to have some honey/sugar in the boling water to add some sweet flavour in your bagels. This time, we want to make savory  (salty and sexy) bread, so I chose NYC style.
9. Coat the surface with egg wash. In a tray blend sesame seeds and salt, and dip the egg washed-side of the dough in sesames.
10. Bake the dough in a pre-heated oven at 220C = 428F for 16 min. You could bake for a few more minutes, but I know that many of you may want to toast your bagels before serving, so I think 16 min is fine.
11. For a savory bagel sandwich idea, I suggest you cut the bagel into half, toast the bagels, spread cream cheese,  and add a few slices of prosciutto, sliced dried figs, sliced cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper and cover it with lettuce. This is an unbelievably tasty sandwich! FYI, eating bagels can often push the toppings to the side and it can get a little messy right? because of that I prefer slices of dried figs than fresh figs (which can be too watery). Let me know what you think!

作り方

1. 35度くらいのお湯にドライイーストと砂糖を混ぜイーストが元気になるまで５分くらい待つ。本来のドライイーストではこの作業をする必要はなく、粉類にガンガン混ぜていいのですが、正しいお湯の温度で無いとイーストが元気にならないので、私は昔のやり方で一度、イーストが元気になっている事を確認してから作業に入るようにしています。時にはイーストが古かったり、イーストが元気にならなくて、せっかくのパン作りが台無しになるのは嫌なので。ww　5-10分したら、イーストがモコモコとガスを発酵し始めます。もし、ここで元気にならなかったら、お湯の温度が低すぎるのかもしれません。もう一度やってみてください。
2. 粉類（強力粉、砂糖と塩）をふるいにかけます。
3. 2にサラダ油と1を入れゴムベラで混ぜます。一通り混ざったら、きれいな手でひとまとまりになるまで混ぜます。ひとまとまりになったら、きれいな作業台かまな板の上に打ち粉をふり、生地を捏ね始めます。最初捏ね始めると、生地がベトつくので、打ち粉を混ぜ入れながら、ちょっとしっとりした感じになるまで捏ねてみます。捏ねれば、捏ねる程、しっとり感がますので、もっと粉を入れた方がいいのかも？と思うかもしれませんが、手にくっつかない程度になれば、それ以上、粉を加える必要は無いと思います。しっかり15分くらい捏ねて、生地を引き延ばしても破れないタフな状態にしてください。生地にモチモチ感がないとベーグルとは言えなくて、ただの菓子パンになってしまうので、しっかりうどんを捏ねるかのように捏ねてください。（捏ねれば捏ねる程、モチモチします。）
4. 生地をボウルの中に戻し、サランラップで覆い、前回の菓子パンのレシピのように、一次発酵させます。この時、オーブンに発酵機能がある場合はそれを使ってもいいですが、ボウルに65度くらいのお湯をいれ、その上に生地の入ったボウルを置く事で、ボウル内が30度くらいの環境を作る事ができるので、このやり方でも大丈夫です。30分寝かせる事で、生地は２倍に膨らむと思います。
5. 生地を30分寝かしたら、指を生地の真ん中に入れて、空気を抜きます。この時、穴がふさがったり、空気が抜けないようであれば、もう少し発酵させたほうが良いのかもしれません。空気を抜いたら、空手をしているように生地を手でたたいて空気を抜きます。空気（ガス）がありすぎると、フワフワ感のある生地になってしまうので、この時に綿棒で生地を平らにして空気を抜くと良いと思います。私の経験上、この作業をしないと普通のフワフワパンになってしまいます。
6. 生地を８等分して、穴の無いベーグルの形に整えます。生地を天板に移し、30度の環境で10分寝かし発酵させます。
7. 生地の真ん中に指を入れて、フラフープで遊ぶかのように生地を回しながら穴をあけ、30度の環境で2o分寝かし発酵させます。
8. 次に生地を茹でます。この時、お湯の温度は90度くらいで火の強さは弱火が最適なんじゃないか？と思います。お湯の温度が強すぎたり、強火だと大きな泡が生地の表面をぼこぼこにしてしまうからです。両面、1分ずつ茹でます。
9. 生地の表面に卵と水を混ぜたものを塗り、黒胡麻、白ごま、そして塩をブレンドした物を表面にトッピングします。
10. 220度に予熱したオーブンで16分焼きます。あと数分焼いた方がいいのかも？と思うかもしれませんが、ベーグルは食べる前にトーストするのがベストなので、あえて16分くらいがベストなのではないかな？と思います。
11. では、パンができました。このまま食べたり、クリームチーズをつけて食べるのも美味しいですが、時間がある時は、クリームチーズを塗ったベーグルに生ハム、ドライフィグ（イチジク）、スライスしたプチトマトをのせ、塩こしょうして、レタスをのせたサンドイッチにするとマジ美味しいです。ベーグルは固めなので、サンドイッチにすると中身がブニョって出てくる事があるから、あえて、水気のある材料はよした方がいいかもです。（大きめのトマトや新鮮なイチジクは水分が沢山あるので）。是非ご自宅で作ってみてください★

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