The smiley face of my cinnamon raisin bagel rolled in brown sugar
When I accepted the Workaway gig in Cambodia’s Otres Beach, the last thing I thought I’d be learning how to bake was a New York bagels. I’ve lived on both US coasts, and the doughy bagels on sale in California can’t hold a candle to the classic chewy NY bagel that are boiled before they’re baked.
I have vivid memories of my first New York egg bagel on 23rd Street and 8th Avenue. It was overly toasted and dripping with butter—and just what the doctor ordered after a night out on the town. The bagel shop wrapped the bagels in grease proof paper before cutting the bagel in half, and I loved the feel of the hot bagels in my brown paper bag, and preyed the butter didn’t seep onto my clothes before I completed the short walk to our brownstone walk-up on 22nd Street.
Our Otres Kitchen
A few decades later, and here I am, learning how to create the classic NY bagel in our Otres Beach test kitchen.
An outdoor kitchen may seem like a great idea, but when it’s 100 degrees and 100% humidity it doesn’t matter that your kitchen has 360 degrees of ventilation, it’s still as hot as hell in there.
I’ve worked in professional kitchens before, but it had been a while since I’d used a industrial mixer and oven. Having the right equipment and lots of space sure make baking enjoyable—despite the heat.
We tried a couple of different techniques for forming the bagels. One way was to create a dough circle and punch a hole in the middle with your thumb and prize the dough apart. The other was to create a sausage shape and join the two ends to make a circle. I preferred the look of the first method, but the other method is more traditional.
We were able to buy cream cheese in Otres, but no sign of smoked salmon, so I had to make do with a couple of slices of tomato.
This sesame bagel above was the one I was most proud of! Perfectly round, and bronzed to perfection. It looked too good to eat—but eat it I did.
It isn’t a speedy process to make bagels. You have to let the dough rise, beat it down, and then let it rise again. But it was so worth the effort. I lost count of the number of batches I made. And when we sold them on Saturdays at the Otres Market, they flew off the shelves.
Recipe for how to make the perfect NY style bagel
Now, no matter where I am living in the world, I know I can just get my baking head on and whip up a few bagels to get that New York feeling, and trigger Cambodian memories.
Read about my pastry challenges while making quiche in Cambodia.
Volunteering through @Workaway helped me to build my cooking skills. I can now make bagels. Share on XFind out more about volunteering through Workaway
Flashpacking through Cambodia
Flashpacking through Cambodia: For Baby Boomers on a Budget is my latest Roving Jay travel guide full of travel tips, advice, and sample itineraries for flash packers who want the back packing experience without foregoing some of life’s creature comforts – like a comfortable bed, a hot shower, free wi-fi, and somewhere to plug your electric toothbrush in.
I spent almost three months backpacking around Cambodia in 2017/2018 to research this travel guide, and I share insights and first hand knowledge of tourist traps and off-the-beaten-path discoveries. We ate street food, drank 50c beers, and travelled by train, bus, minivan and tuktuk to identify the best ways to get from A to B.
If you’d like to receive a free Review Copy ahead of the general public release, please click here.
Here’s my Cambodia posts on this blog:
- Cambodia Visa and Arrival at Siem Reap Airport
- Cambodia: How to Avoid the Crowds at Angkor Wat
- Filling up your scooter in Cambodia
- The Best Tasting Street Food in Siem Reap
- Angkor Wat at Dawn: Is it worth it?
- Come face to face with Angkor Thom’s Bayon
- Good vs. Evil at Angkor Thom’s Impressive Southern Gate
- The Baphuon Temple and the Terrace of the Elephants at Angkor Thom
- Visiting Siem Reap’s War Museum
- Where to Stay in Siem Reap
- Visiting Siem Reap’s Markets
- Give your taste buds a disco at Siem Reap Night Market
- Responsible Tourism at Joe to Go in Siem Reap
- What to See and Do in Siem Reap
- Which Siem Reap Floating Village should you visit?
- Memorable Boat Trip from Siem Reap to Battambang
- Libations and Bric-a-Brac tempt our purse strings in Battambang
- Vegetable Amok at About the World Restaurant in Battambang
- Cooking Classes at Nary’s Kitchen Battambang
- Pomme Bar, Restaurant and Hostel, at the Core of the new Battambang
- An educational trip around Battambang’s Central Market
- Sightseeing and things to do in Battambang Cambodia
- Bayon VIP Bus from Battambang to Phnom Penh Cambodia
- Exploring Phnom Penh’s 172nd Street in the dark
- The challenge of wandering Phnom Penh’s streets
- A visit to Phnom Penh’s Central Market
- Exploring Phnom Penh’s Markets
- Phnom Penh Photo Diary
- Tops sights to see in Phnom Penh
- Touring S-21 Security Prison (Tuol Sleng Museum Phnom Penh)
- A reflective visit to The Killing Fields
- Taking a train from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville
- The majesty of Otres Beach sunsets
- Our Workaway Gig at Otres Beach Market Cambodia
- Working Away to make Cambodian Bagels
- Cambodia Pastry Wars: The Battle of the Quiche
- Our Cambodia workaway gig renovating a market stall
- Unwind on Cambodia’s Koh Ta Kiev Island
- Cambodian Beach Massage and Grilled Seafood
- Building Community during our Cambodian Workaway
- Gecko Village in Kampot Cambodia – a Photo Essay
- Christmas Eve in Kampot
- more coming
What an amazing adventure you experienced. Those bagels look delicious and that kitchen is stellar.
Yes it was an amazing adventure … last thing I expected to be learning how to cook in Cambodia. But glad I’ve got bagels licked!
Love New York bagels and would have loved to have got hold of some when I was living in SEASia. Smoked salmon was always a bit tricky to find in Cambodia, you need to cross over to Thailand for that! That sesame bagel looks amazing – very impressed!
Yes I was very proud of that sesame bagel … it was a picture of perfection. Almost too good to eat…almost!
I simply love the idea of an outdoor kitchen, even though Im from Sweden 😉 But we actually use our grill to barbacue all year around 😀
Love the whole concept of making bagels in Cambodia. When you mentioned the heat in the kitchen I felt for you! I know what that Cambodian heat and humidity is like.
The last thing you want to be doing is cooking in that heat, especially when it’s a big industrial size oven. But any weight I might have put on with eating too many bagels was lost in blood sweat and tears!
Yes, when you really love baking, the heat and humidity don’t matter. What a wonderful experience you had! Those sesame bagels look delicious! Cambodia is in my bucket list. 🙂
We got used to cooking in that heat eventually. The humidity ruined my pastry making skills, but didn’t seem to have an adverse affect on the bagel dough.
I haven’t tried new york bagels but those bagels really looked delicious! I hope I can visit Cambodia someday
New York Bagels are the best … they’re more chewy and less doughy than regular bagel. Definitely a winner in bagel terms.
What an amazing adventure! Sesame bagels are one of my favourite and these look amazingly delicious.
They’ve always been my favourite … although I was really pleased with how the cinnamon and raisin ones turned out.
This looks like such an amazing adventure and I cannot get over the bagles and that open air kitchen – what a treat to cook in there!
These look so yummy! I have never tried to bake bagels. If you can manage in a makeshift outdoor kitchen, maybe I should try to bake some in my regular kitchen 🙂 Cooking outside looks like a lot of fun 🙂
There is really something incredible about cooking in an outside kitchen. Except for the rats and snakes and dogs… but other than that, all good!!