Regarding Jazzbel's Bagel disaster:
I moved to the Eastern Sierra's of California from Michigan (Detroit
suburbs) about 4 years ago. Knowing ahead of time that it would be
impossible to get decent, let alone good, bagel here, I started making them
myself, using Peter's recipe. They were perfect, even on the first
try! They were the same as the New York bagel that I am very familiar with
.... wonderful crust and a great, chewy interior. I did notice, however,
that the ones that were on the bottom shelf of my fridge came out slightly
better than the ones higher up, so checking the temperature of your
refrigerator makes sense. Also, your dough should be quite stiff ...
slightly tacky.
Try again, Jazzbel. They're definitely worth the effort, which is really
quite minimal ...
Evie Werthmann