Homemade Bagels!

Thanks to Delicious Discoveries, I have made homemade bagels TWICE! I made a couple changes to their recipe to suit my liking!

My husband LOVES LOVES LOVES a good cheese bagel with cream cheese, but the store bought kind never seem to have enough cheese for him.  They also don't make their bagels with Mozzarella and Parmesan at the store.  Did I mention that they don't make them with LOVE either? :)

Well, I do. 

1 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp oil

2 tsp instant yeast

1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water
3 1/2 cups bread flour

Mix all the ingredients except flour in a bowl. No need to worry about soaking your yeast. Add flour slowly. Once all flour is incorporated, the dough should feel really stiff (almost like you added too much flour to a roll recipe), but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour mixed in. Knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth. Cut the dough into 8 equal balls, and let rest for 20 minutes. 

Now, take a dough ball and poke a hole all the way through the middle with one of your fingers.  Work the ball of dough into the shape of a bagel. Repeat until all balls have been formed in to bagels. It takes practice to get them to look perfect.

Preheat your oven to 425F.

Let your bagels rest again for 20 minutes on the counter. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of oil and rub it around (or you can use parchment paper...whatever you wish!).

After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!

Let them cool for at least 20 minutes. 

You can add any toppings you like to these. I added cheese by dumping some cheese on them right before baking and sprinkling the Parmesan.

Or, just have a dry plate ready with the seed or spice topping spread out on it. After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the seeds, and then place the seed side up onto the baking tray. Bake and flip as for plain bagels.