Jacob Kaplan-Moss

Tag: Recipes

Bagels

It’s impossible to get good bagels further west than about New Jersey, so I make my own. My recipe’s adapted from Baking Illustrated, Alton Brown’s pretzel recipe (yes pretzels, see below), and some techniques I learned at Wheatfields.

There’s a few keys to making everything turn out right:

  • Use the highest protein flour you can find. King Arthur Bread Flour is the best commonly available one you can find (at about 12-13% protein). If you can find something higher, go with it.
  • You probably need a stand mixer. Done correctly, the dough’s incredibly stiff; kneading by hand is unlikely to get the gluten formation that you need. If you do knead by hand, you’ll need to put in a solid, no-cheating 15 minutes or more. Under-developed bagels will be flat and hard as a rock.
  • If you’re looking for good bagels you already know this, but the water bath step is not optional. But you may not realize that it’s not just the boiling water: it’s boiling in a highly basic solution. To be really traditional you should use a lye solution (1 tablespoon lye per quart of water, or a 1.5% solution), but lye scares the crap out of me so I use the baking soda method below instead. The baking soda bath makes the outer crust slightly lighter and less formed than a lye bath will, but the flavor and texture is correct, so I’m OK with the compromise.
  • These are best baked on a pizza stone or stoneware sheet. Metal trays may over-cook the bottoms of your bagels. Unglazed Terra Cotta tiles (from the hardware store) make really solid baking stoneware, and they’re way cheaper than a pizza stone.

This recipe makes 8 bagels. It can be scaled up to 4x simply, but beyond there you’ll need to play with the yeast to deal with the bulk effects of the dough.

December 2nd, 2013 • bagels recipes

How to roast a chicken

Look, people, cooking isn’t hard. Some recipes are hard, but really most of the best, classic dishes are as easy as pie [1].

Take a nice roast chicken. It’s showy – whole birds look fantastic – and just about the easiest thing in the world.

With a tiny bit of attention to detail you can crank out a delicious meal that’ll knock people’s socks off. If you want to really sound impressive, tell people that the recipe is from Thomas Keller – chef-owner of The French Laundry, one of the best restaurants in the country [2].

November 3rd, 2010 • chicken recipes

Fried Chicken

I’ve been trying to make outstanding fried chicken for about four years, and I think I’ve finally got it. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I just made the best damn fried chicken I’ve ever had, and it wasn’t even all that hard. If you like the crispy stuff and aren’t afraid of phrases like “heat a quart of oil to 375°”, read on…

Hardware

You’ll need some gadgets to pull this off:

January 29th, 2007 • recipes

Sera's Pancakes

For three

  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 - 1 1/2 cup milk
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter

For four

  • 4 eggs
  • 2 2/3 cups flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 3/4 - 2 1/4 cup milk
  • 4 tablespoons melted butter

Combine eggs, flour, baking power, salt, sugar and the smaller amount of milk and whisk until smooth. Mix in melted butter then gradually whisk in milk until the batter is about halfway between the consistency of crêpes and traditional American pancakes.

August 21st, 2005 • recipes