Bagels

I've been wanting to make bagels for ages, and this weekend I finally did! It was surprisingly easy. There are a lot of good looking recipes out there that require sponges and two days of effort, but the recipe I found (New York-Style Bagels) was really straightforward and low fuss. Most importantly, the bagels turned out really well (if I do say so myself!), although I need to work on my dough ball making skills - shape and size consistency was fairly low :)

New York Style Bagels

 Makes 8 medium bagels

2 tsp active dried yeast

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 1/4 cups warm water (you may need another 1/4 cup)

3 1/2 cups very strong white bread flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

Optional Toppings: sesame seeds, coarse sea salt, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, cinnamon, raisins

1. In a small bowl, add sugar and yeast to 1/2 cup warm water but don't stir. Let sit for 5 minutes until frothy, then stir until yeast and sugar are completely dissolved.

2. In a large bowl, mix together flour and salt. (If you're making cinnamon bagels and you want the cinnamon mixed throughout, as opposed to marbled swirls, add 3 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 cup raisins now.)

3. Make a well in the centre of the flour. Add the yeast and the remaining 3/4 cups of warm water. Stir until just combined, then tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes.

4. If you're making cinnamon bagels and want cinnamon swirls throughout the dough, sprinkle the cinnamon and raisins onto the dough now. Knead briefly to combine.

5. Set the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, then cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for at least 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

  

6. Once the dough has risen, separate into 8 equal pieces. 

7. Roll each piece into a smooth, round ball. **This is where I had trouble. A skin had formed along the top because I'd forgotten to turn the dough. The skin made the dough tough to roll. If this happens to you, I found oiling your hands a little bit and working that into the dough helped, but probably the best is just to prevent the skin from forming in the first place :)

8. Poke your thumb through the centre of each dough ball, then widen the hole slightly by wiggling your thumb. Cover the bagels with damp paper towel and let rest for 10 minutes.

9. Put a large pot of water to boil and preheat the oven to 220C / 425F. Cover a baking sheet in parchment paper, and spray the paper with non-stick spray. If you have cornmeal or semolina flour, you can sprinkle a bit of that around the paper as well.

  

10. Once the water is boiling, use a slotted spoon to lower each bagel into the water. Let the bagels boil for 1-2 minutes (2 minutes for extra chewiness), then turn over and boil for another 1-2 minutes, depending on the desired chewiness.

11. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bagels from the water and place them on the prepared baking tray.

  

12. If you're adding any toppings, use an egg wash to coat the tops of the bagels and apply the toppings. 

13. Bake for 20 minutes, or until evenly browned. The bottoms should sound hollow when tapped. 

You can eat them right away (mmm...so good!), but set whichever ones you don't eat on racks to cool.