I made bagels!
I know it seems crazy to make your own tortillas, pizza dough, or even bagels, but homemade taste so good! And for a cook and life long learner, trying out new recipes is super fun and interesting.
These really weren’t very labor intensive. It consisted mostly of moving dough around and letting it rise.
Here are the bagels before they had risen. I should have let them rise longer, mine were not very thick.
Here they are boiling.
Yum! We’ve been eating on the bagels all week.
The main change to the recipe was reducing the amount of salt. I thought they were way too salty. The first two times I enjoyed the bagels, but it seemed like the more I thought about it the more salt I could taste. I adjusted the recipe below…it may need to be reduced more…
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1¾ cups water, warm
- 4-5 cups bread flour
- ½ tbsp salt
- 1 egg, for egg wash
- Poppy Seeds
- Onion Powder
- Sesame Seeds
- Kosher Salt
- Garlic Powder
- Cheese
- In a large bowl of a stand mixer combine sugar and water. Sprinkle yeast on top. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Stir in flour and salt. Mix dough thoroughly until it comes together in a large ball, pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Add an additional tablespoon of flour or water, if needed.
- Using a stand mixer, knead dough with the dough hook until elastic, about 8 minutes on a low speed. (If kneading by hand, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until very smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.)
- Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- Once dough has risen, turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces.
- Shape each piece into a tight ball, pinching the corners together at the bottom of the dough. When all the balls are shaped, let the dough rest for 30 minutes covered with a clean dish towel.
- Once dough balls have rested, the bagel shape can be formed. Using your fingers, poke a hole through the center of each dough ball. Stretch out the dough into a ring with your fingers and be sure to make the hole a little larger than you want the finished bagel to have, as it will shrink slightly while the bagel is expanding during the baking process. Let bagels rest for about 20 minutes. They should puff up similar to the finished bagel.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil (medium heat) and preheat the oven to 400F. (I wide pot helps fit more bagels in at a time.) Lay out a few paper towels or a clean dish towel and line a baking sheet with parchment paper/silicon baking mat sprinkled with cornmeal.
- Working with three to four at a time, drop the bagels carefully into the boiling water. Boil for 2 minutes on each side.
- Using a slotted spoon or strainer, transfer bagels to the paper towels to drain for a moment, then place on the lined baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining bagels.
- Brush boiled bagels with lightly beaten egg (a pastry brush is a good tool for this) and sprinkle with seasonings.
- Bake for 24 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack (bagel will soften slightly as it cools). Slice and toast to serve.
Adapted from: Homemade Bagels by Baking Bites
