Bagels (hand-made)
about 3 cups of flour, preferably whole wheat bread flour
1 tablespoon of yeast
1 1/4 cup water
salt
Mix yeast and 1 1/3 cups of flour in a bowl. Heat water (with maybe 1 teaspoon of salt) until warm to touch. Combine water with flour/yeast and mix. Once it is even, start kneading with your hands, combining with the other 1/2 cup of flour. continue kneading for about 10 minutes. The dough should be a tiny bit sticky.
Roll into a cylinder and cut into 8 equal pieces. Take one piece at a time and roll into into a ball, then, pushing with your fingers in the center, into the O shape of a bagel (if it is not an O shape, it will collapse when baked).
Place on a floured baking sheet. Let rise for 20-30 minutes, then flip them over and let rise for another 20-30 minutes. Bring a large pot of water to a boil (add about a tablespoon of salt) and boil each bagel for 2 minutes, flip and boil for another 2 minutes, then place back on the floured pan. Once all are boiled, bake for 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees F.
Whole Wheat Bread Flour works the best, for me. I have also used regular Bread Flour with good results, and a mix of regular Bread Flour with Whole Wheat Flour. All have turned out nicely (except the time I didn't make them into an O!)
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I have made these bagels three times now, as I like them better than the other recipe for the bread machine bagels. I use whole wheat flour and quick-rise yeast, which means I don't let the yeast sit in the water for several minutes (which this recipe doesn't call for anyway). I just mix the water/yeast and the flour right away and then stick the bagels in the oven (after shaping them into balls and poking holes in the middles), let rise 5 minutes on one side then 5 minutes on the other side. I boil them for one minute on each side and put them in the oven to cook. They turn out large (larger than the palm of my hand) and very tender inside. I'll never buy bagels again!
This recipe neglects to mention that the bagels need to be placed in a warm place to rise. I thought it was odd that this wasn't included in the directions, but I assumed that it wasn't mentioned for a reason so I didn't do it. Everything turned out fine, except for the fact that they are rinky-dinky small! They're a little more than 2/3 the size of my palm. They taste great, though. The only time they got any bigger was when I placed them in the boiling water. I will make them again and put them in a warm place to rise and that should make them bigger.
Awesome awesome delicious bagels!
This is a wonderful bagel recipe! It's so simple and easy to make! Plus, it's a great base recipe for if you want to make cinnamon and raisin, or blueberry bagels! I've made cinnamon and raisin bagels and they were delish! Thanks for the recipe!
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