Bagel Fest

I have been making bread from scratch since I was in high school. Not saying how old I am, but it's been a while since I was in high school. I enjoy making bread from scratch, but mostly I enjoy the bread. I relish the difference between homemade bread and store-bought. I like knowing what's in my bread.

That said, I have never really been good at bagels. I've tried them at least half a dozen times, but they always end up too bready; too much like a roll. I saw this post at Tammy's Recipes and decided to try my hand at them again. It was timely since bagels were on the menu for Thursday's lunch. And while mine didn't look quite as good as Tammy's (especially her poppy seed bagels), they were the best I've ever made. I started them in the morning and they were ready at lunch. And talk about a budget-friendly lunch! I'm reprinting Tammy's recipe here and posting my pictures of the process, lest you think it complicated. The directions seem lengthy, but these are really easy to make. Try them (you'll like them!).

Bagels

Yield: 12 bagels

1 1/2 cups warm water (112-115 degrees F)
2 tablespoons dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
4 1/4 cups bread flour
8 cups of water, for boiling
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water

Additionally, you can add one of the following (or be creative and come up with your own delicious addition to the recipe!):

cinnamon and/or raisins
poppy seeds
onions or garlic
sesame seeds

1. In a small bowl, mix yeast, sugar and warm water together and let stand 3 minutes.

2. Mix 2 cups of flour with the salt in a large bowl; then add the yeast mixture. Stir until combined and slowly mix in the rest of the flour.

3. Knead dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes, adding additional flour if necessary. Dough should be fairly smooth and somewhat firm. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double.

4. Punch dough down (if making cinnamon raisin bagels, add the cinnamon and raisins now -- knead just enough to swirl the cinnamon through the dough). Divide and shape into 12 balls. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

5. Bring 2 quarts of water to boil. Make a hole in each ball of dough and pull open about 2 inches, making a bagel shape. Place the shaped dough onto a cookie sheet and cover for 10 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop 2 or 3 bagels at a time into the boiling water for about 45 seconds, turning each once.

7. Drain cooked bagels on a wire rack. Mix egg white and water; brush tops with egg white mixture and top with optional toppings, if using. Place bagels on greased baking sheets.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, turning once half-way through baking. (If making plain bagels, you can flip the bagels; otherwise, just rotate.) Bagels will be lightly browned and shiny.

NOTE: They are really good toasted the next day, so don't eat them all (or double the batch)!