Homemade Bagels
Posted by Rachel Crawford on May 15, 2009 | 4 Comments
I don’t know what got into me this weekend, but I baked not one, not two, but THREE things on Sunday. I guess I just got into a rhythm, and frankly, I don’t know how much longer this pleasantly cool weather will last. I don’t know about you, but I do not have central A/C, and my kitchen is not a nice place to be in the summer. In any case, I finally made bagels! I have been meaning to for ages, and I’m so glad I did. Have you ever really had a hot-from-the-oven bagel? It puts those sad grocery store bagels (and most deli bagels) to shame. Chewy on the outside, tender on the inside… This is one food that I think may well be worth the effort to make instead of buy. And when the ingredients are flour (albeit the elusive bread flour), yeast, water, salt, oil, and sugar, they couldn’t be cheaper.
As a yeast-phobe, I am amazed these turned out well, and I think I may be ready to tackle more breads. Thanks to The Internet Food Association’s Ben Miller for providing the reassurance that not having a stand mixer doesn’t mean you can’t make bagels. The 10 minutes of kneading are the hardest part, and let’s be honest, that’s not so hard! And what is the best thing to make with a bagel? Bacon, egg and cheese sandwich, of course!
Ingredients:
(Makes 8 bagels, takes 1 1/2 – 2 hours total)
4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1.25 – 1.5 cups warm water
poppy seeds, sesame seeds or any other toppings.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. You want to incorporate all the flour, but your dough will be stiff. Only add the water as needed until the flour is incorporated.
Knead the dough for ten minutes until it is smooth. Cut the dough into 8 balls and let it sit for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to boil. Take each dough ball and roll it into a foot long snake using your hands. The professionals tell you you have to do this fancy move where you wrap the dough snake around your hand and press the ends together using your palm. I just made the dough into a circle on the cutting board and kind of squished the ends together. It worked just fine.
You should now have eight balls of dough with a circle in them. Let them rest for about 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425 while you wait, and grease a cookie sheet with vegetable oil so that the bagels don’t stick to it.
Once your water is at a persistent boil, place a few bagels in the water (you don’t want them crowded). Boil on each side for about 1 minute. Take the bagels out of the water with a spatula or a spider. If you are adding toppings, sprinkle some onto the bagel on each side now.
Once all the bagels have been boiled, place them on the cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes on each side. If your bagels are too puffy after the first side cooks, flip them over so that the cooked side is pointing up, and flatten them using the head of a spatula.
Let the bagels cool, and then try not to eat them all! I froze my extras, and next time I will probably make a double recipe so I have even more on hand.
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Kim
May 14th, 2009 @ 3:22 AM
You make it sounds so easy, now I want to try.
Would this work with whole wheat flour or only bread flour? What makes it bread flour?
Raissa Nebie
May 14th, 2009 @ 8:21 AM
Yes she does! I can’t wait to try the recipe either.
Bread flour has a higher gluten and protein content than all-purpose flour, and is specially formulated for making yeast breads.
Diane Erwin
May 14th, 2009 @ 2:21 PM
I had no idea that bagels were that easy to make! I’ve always been too intimidated to try.
Latoyia
January 9th, 2010 @ 9:08 PM
Love, love, love this recipe. It was easy for even a first-timer like me. Why buy bagels, when they can come fresh, warm and yummy from your own kitchen!