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Like seismic pressure built up over decades, my urge to bake has grown for days… and when I finally erupted, out came a large loaf of Gravenstein sourdough and 12 lbs of bagels.

The apple-sourdough recipe is truly weird. To begin, chop up a Gravenstein apple and let it ferment in sugared water for 10 days, then add some flour and elaborate it into a bread dough. My previous experiences with this recipe have all been disappointing — yielding slow-to-rise loaves of unremarkable character. This time, the resulting levain was surprisingly fast and strong, easily leavening my doughs in less time than is predicted by the recipe (which is from Joe Ortiz’ The Village Baker). The finished loaf lacked the irregular sourdough-style crumb I was hoping for, because I manhandled it during shaping. But the crust was excellent, and the bread had a mild and unusual apple-cider flavor.

My main sourdough bagel recipe is from Peter Reinhart’s Crust & Crumb, and it is great. I usually make extra for friends and neighbors, but sometimes I make extra and keep them all for myself. Heh.

Today I also invented my own bagel recipe, using a whole-wheat variation on the apple-sourdough starter. In baker’s percentages, I used 100% levain (that’s a lot), about 60% water, 2% salt (not quite enough), and a dash of dark malt. The resulting bagels are classic: dense and chewy, with a moist crumb and a hint of apple cider as in the loaf bread.