Having experimented with bagel recipes for a couple weeks, I’ve brought together the best suggestions, along with some hard learned lessons for making bagels. Separate from the recipe, I have also decided that the traditional shape is a legacy and not one I feel compelled to observe. Hence, I make "Bagel Flats".

My recipe and the directions below are more detailed than most I have authored. This is in part because I have found I need every step. After a few near misses, the keys are

1. the slow rise created by the small amount of yeast and high amount of flour
2. the generous use of oil on both the pan, brushed on the dough, and the parchment
3. applying the toppings and then flipping the dough "bottom side up" for the first 5 minutes of baking

So, without further ramblings, here is my recipe for Bagel Flats …

Base Ingredients

• 4 c bread flour (scoop and scrape measure method, not sifted)
• 10 oz water (warm)
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 Tbs honey
• 1 egg

Additional Ingredients

• 1/2 c wheat germ
• 1/4 c flax meal
• 1 c spent grain (completely optional)

Prep & Cooking Ingredients

• 1/2 c oil (prefer peanut but canola will work)
• 12 c boiling water
• 2 Tbs sugar

Finishing Ingredients

• sunflower seeds (dry roasted will add a savory flavor vs. plain)
  other options include poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried onion flakes, etc.
• 4 Tbs corn meal

Directions

• in a large mixer with a dough hook, combine 8 ounces of the warm water, with the honey and yeast. Briefly stir with a spoon or spatula to dissolve the honey and mix in the yeast
• let sit for approximately 5 minutes
• add the egg, salt and the "additional ingredients" and start the dough hook on low (first or second setting)
• start to add the flour (it will take longer and longer to incorporate each subsequent cup) – from time to time, it may help to briefly change the mixer speed to release the dough from the hook and/or scrape the bowl
• as needed, drizzle in the remaining 2 ounces of water, a teaspoon at a time
• once all of the flour is added, continue to mix for 5 more minutes, varying the speed to fling the dough off the hook – this period is to kneed the dough and develop the gluten
• place the dough in a lightly oiled a bowl and cover with plastic wrap; place in a warm area until dough doubles in size
• turn the dough out on a large lightly floured board; punch down and start to form a rectangle 3/4 inch thick
• cut dough into 12 equal parts; 6 to 7 inches long – this should yield bars between 2-1/2 and 3 inches wide
• oil two cooking sheets and place bars with at least 1 inch space between
• brush the tops with oil
• cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm area for 20 minutes
• prepare two baking sheets with parchment and brush oil on the parchment; preheat oven to 400 degrees
• in a large pot, bring 12 cups of water with 2 tablespoons of sugar to a boil
• boil the dough pieces, 3 at a time, for 2 minutes then turn them over and cook an addition 1 minute
• using a large slotted spatula or scoop, remove the dough and place on the oiled parchment
• sprinkle any "finishing ingredient" on one side, pat gently to seat, then flip the dough over and dust with corn meal
• place cooking sheets in oven for 5 minutes
• remove; flip dough over to reveal the topping; return to the over; bake and additional 20 minutes until golden in color
• when done baking, remove from pan and place on cooling racks and let sit until room temperature

This bread used the basic strait dough method I previously described. The recipe diverges from the herb bread by first omitting the 2 tablespoons of herbs and adding about 4-6 table spoons of sun dried tomatoes diced very fine with about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil (or in my case, I just threw those together in a food processor and pulsed until they were chopped enough). The baking time was very close to 40 minutes at 375 on a cast iron griddle pan.

Thanks to Nicole for the suggestion of drying all the extra grape tomatoes that were left over this season!

In my original discussion of making tomato pesto, I explained how little effort there was. Now I will show you.

This video is not edited in so far as i have not cut out segments. However, the duration was 60 minutes and no one likes to watch a pot boil so I sped it up a bit … 60 times is more accurate. Thus, the hour long process takes about a minute!

For those more interested in how I produced the video than the making of the pesto, here is the trick …

Using ffmpeg, grab every 60th frame. Store these in a temporary directory. Then, use ffmpeg again to take those frames and make them back into a movie. You could use the second step to make a time lapse movie of almost anything – in place of the video frames, you’d just use photos from your digital camera.

ffmpeg -i orignial-video.avi -r 1/60 -f image2 temporary-dir/%05d.png
ffmpeg -i temporary-dir/%05d.png final-video.avi

If you like coffee ice cream but are finding it increasingly difficult to find or wished there was some creativity involved, you might like to try this alternative …

Take 1oz of warm water and add 8-10 tablespoons of instant coffee. Let it chill in the refrigerator. When ready, get yourself a bowl of good ice cream and drizzle a little of the coffee syrup on top. Warning – if you don’t plan to mix it in, be sparing. If you’re inclined to swirl it all together, you can add considerably more syrup with out it being bitter!

A few years ago I practiced the art of grilling steak outdoors. Now, with the new kitchen, I am revisiting steak but as an indoor sport. Here is what I have thus far …

Ruth’s Chris, the restaurant chain, is renowned for their steaks and more than one home cook has taken to reproducing the cooking results. Here is the simplest description I have found:

Broiling steak in a Wolf stove

We use NY strips from Costco. I rub on Costco’s steak seasoning mix and let the steaks sit for at least an hour beforehand in the fridge. Heat butter in a cast-iron skillet on the Wolf’s range top (medium high), add the steak(s), searing around 3 minutes per side. Flip once more and finish under the infrared broiler (I think I do use the second rack, actually) for about 4 minutes and then let the steak “sit” unheated in the skillet for a couple more minutes before serving. Perfect medium rare steak with crust! No need to leave the door ajar while broiling in the Wolf range’s oven.

source: chowhound board

This is pretty accurate and the process can work with any stove. If you don’t have an infrared broiler, one commenter suggests setting the oven to 350 degrees.

I took a #8 cast iron pan and heated it to medium high and quickly melted about 1TBS of butter. I used cheap cut of meat* about 11oz and 1-1/4″ thick. I seared it in the pan for about 2-3 minutes a side and as instructed above, flipped it back to the first side before popping the entire pan in the oven. The (infrared) broiler was already hot and the pan was on the middle rack. I left it in for about 4-5 minutes. I then removed it and left it in the pan for another 4 minutes and onto the plate. It was medium rare in the middle and medium at the edges. The next time I do it I will leave it in the oven for 7-10 minutes and will also try using a 350 degree oven at some point so I have a method that will work in other kitchens.

* cheap cut of meat = I took a 3-1/2 lb boneless chuck roast that was about 2-1/2″ thick. I cut it in half and the cut each half butterfly style to I had 4 steaks, each a little over an inch thick. I then liberally salted all sides with kosher salt, stacked them up and wrapped them in some butcher’s paper and put them back into the refrigerator. I then froze all but one which I used after 12 hours. You don’t need much more than a couple of hours in contact with the salt but I wanted to experiment with time to see if it would work to prep the meat at breakfast and cook it at dinner.