Bagels aka The Only Way to Make Any Morning A Good Morning

Bagel: [bay-guhl] noun. a leavened, doughnut-shaped, firm-textured roll, with a brownish glazed surface, made of dough first poached and then baked.
see also: delicious


The fruits of my first attempt at making bagels. (It was actually kind of fun!  I made jumbo sized ones and sprinkled most of them with garlic, some of them with a cinnamon-sugar mixture.)

Garlic Bagel

They actually turned out pretty good; I didn't cook the first batch quite long enough, but that's what I get for trying a very vague recipe.


Boiled Bagels:

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar

Directions:
In large bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour and yeast. Mix water, 3 tablespoons sugar and salt together, and add to the dry ingredients. Beat with a mixer for half a minute at a low speed, scraping the sides of the bowl clean. Beat at a higher speed for 3 minutes. Then, by hand, mix in enough flour to make a moderately stiff dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes). Cover, let rest for 15 minutes.
Cut into 12 portions, shape into smooth balls. Poke a hole in the center with your finger, and gently enlarge the hole while working the bagel into a uniform shape. Cover, let rise 20 minutes.

Instead of making 12, I made 8 jumbo bagels in two batches (4 each)

Meanwhile, start a gallon of water boiling. Put 1 tablespoon of sugar in it, mix it around a bit. Reduce to simmering.
When the bagels are ready, put 4 or 5 bagels into the water, and cook 7 minutes, turning once.

They smelled way good in the water! :]

Drain them. Place on a greased baking sheet, and bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 to 35 minutes.

Remove from oven and eat hot or cold.

The two with the brown stuff on top are cinnamon-sugar; the one in the very back is just plain; and the one on the left is garlic (that one tasted yummilicious).

Broiling option: For a glossier surface, place raised bagels on an un-greased baking sheet prior to boiling them. Broil them five inches from heat for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes on each side. Then put them into the hot water to be boiled as above. Note: do not bake broiled bagels as long as non-broiled ones, 25 minutes should be long enough. (I didn't do that this time, but I plan on doing it next time.)