Homemade Bagels
It’s insane how the more you get into baking the more your world opens to the world of flour and water. When I moved in with my roommates I realized how much they love bagels. I saw them buying them and seeing them going to waste or going stale, so while trying to go for the Perfect Roommate Award, like I always am, I decided to try and make them homemade bagels!
After finding out the ingredients, I was wondering what the difference was between ending up with yummy bagels, versus just regular bread?
It’s the boiling.
Boiling your dough may seem against your good instincts but trust me that it is essential to do so to get that desirable, chewy texture that you crave in a bagel.
Once you get your bagel recipe down, the world is your oyster and you can add as many crazy ingredients as you’d want!
I love using everyday bagel seasoning right before I pop them in the oven!
Or some good ol’ garlic and onion powder for a more savory taste.
I even added blueberries and cinnamon to the dough and topped them off with brown sugar!
Yum! Now lets get to bagelin’!
You’ll need two mixing bowls, one for wet and one for dry. Take a large mixing bowl and sift 1 ½ cups of flour and your yeast. Yeast is one tricky bug and if I can I try to use instant yeast where applicable, and I am using it here! Mix well with your hands so they’re thoroughly incorporated. In another bowl combine your sugar, salt and warm water and stir. Slowly add this water mixture to your dry ingredients and start stirring with your hands. (You can use a stand in mixer indefinitely, but I am poor and do not have one, so I am stuck here with you laboriously hoping that this becomes something great). When you mix the ingredients separately it ensures that the yeast doesn’t clump up together onto one side! Here, depending on humidity, look at your dough, if it is way too wet, add flour, if it is way too dry, add some warm water.
When you have something you can work with, plop it onto a flour dusted flat surface and start kneading! I measured how long kneading would take with how many times I listened to Cardi B and Meg the Stallion’s song WAP on repeat (because my hands were not free to change the song), and it replayed about five times. Looking back, that is 15 minutes. So have fun and don’t get carpal tunnel! After you are done you’re going to let the dough rest for 15 minutes as well!
About 5 minutes before your timer, begin boiling a large pot of water and some sugar. After you’re done letting it rest, take your dough and cut it into equal parts and make bagel shapes. There are a number of ways you can make this happen. You can roll balls and punch a hole through with your finger and expand it that way. (The real WAP way). You can also roll your parts into long logs and then connect them into a circle. After you figure out how you want to do this, you’re going to add your bagels to boiling water (about three at a time), and boil them on medium high heat for 3 minutes, then flip them and boil them for an additional 4 minutes. Set aside on a cooling rack to dry, and when you’re done, add them to your baking sheet.
This is when you would add your toppings if you wanted to do so! Then pop them in the oven and bake them for 30-35 minutes! Take them out and let them rest and VOILA. YOU GOT SOME BAGELS BAYBEEEE.
4 cups of flour (or more)
1 package of instant yeast (About 2 1/2 tablespoons)
1 ½ cup of warm water
3 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of salt
Directions:
Sift 1 ½ cup of flour into a mixing bowl
And 1 package of instant yeast
Stir with your hands until mixed well
In a separate bowl combine 1 tbsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of salt to 1 ½ cup of warm water
Add water mixture slowly to mixing bowl
Slowly add 2 ½ cups of flour to your mixture
Until it becomes a pliable dough then dust a surface with flour (add more flour if needed) and begin kneading
Knead for about 15 minutes
Let dough rest for 15 minutes
Boil a large pot with water half way with 1 tbsp of sugar
Cut dough into equal parts and create bagel shapes and set aside on greased baking sheet or parchment paper
Drop two to three bagels at at time in boiling water on medium high heat for 3 minutes, then turn for four minutes and set aside on cooling rack to dry
While waiting preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit
Take bagels and add onto your greased baking sheet/parchment paper again
Add bagels to oven and bake for 30 - 35 minutes
Enjoy!
