Lazy woman's bread part 5: bagels.

This recipe is slightly different but the nice thing about making this recipe is that is is good for bagels but you can also use it for any of the other recipes I have posted so far.  So if you ask me, make these couple changes and use this as your stand by.

So for this everything is the same as to how you make the dough except a couple ingredients and amounts.  So you can look back here for the "how to" and use these amounts and ingredient changes.

Ingredients for dough

3 cups luke warm water
1 1/2 T granulated yeast (2 packets)
1 1/2 T kosher salt
1 1/2 T sugar
6 1/4 flour

Prepare dough as I showed you in the first post in this series.  After your dough is done and refridgerated this dough can be used for any of the previous breads along with bagels, soft prezels, bilays.

Depending on how "dense" you want your bagels  you can give them the 20 minute rise time or  form them then immediately boil them.

Boiling-pot
8 quarts boiling water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
I have halved all this before and it has turned out fine.

Poppy  or sesame seeds optional
extra flour for dusting towel
whole wheat flour for pizza peel (not 100% neccessary)

My first suggestion is to start your water boiling before starting to form your bagels.  That is usally the longest part of the process it waiting for the water to boil.  20 min before baking preheat oven to 450 degrees.  If you have a pizza peel you can put your stone in the oven before preheating.

Dust your dough with a little flour and pull off a piece of dough about 3 oz or the size of a small peach.  Form the same as all the other recipes.  Rolling your hands down and under to make the top to the "ball" smooth rotating as you go, blah blah, you know the drill.  Repeat and form the rest of your bagels.  Cover them loosely with plastic wrap or dont' and let rest for 20 minutes.  Honestly this isn't rocket science and there is nothing to be intimidated about. It is hard to mess up and even if it isn't salvagable it costs so little it is not like much is lost.   Go for it!

Here are my bagel balls!  How you like em?  I'd have to say though that these were a bit bigger than a small peach and they made, well, large bagels.

Once your water is boiling punch your thumb through the center of the ball and stretch the center of the bagel hole is about triple width of the bagel wall.

There are alot of different ways you can get the desired shape. You can do a little spin on the finger.

Or pull it apart and try to fit your head through it.

But the idea is to have fun in your kitchen act like a complete fool and get about this kind of result.

Drop the bagels into the boiling water one at a time making sure not to crowd them.  They need enough room to float.  Simmer for 2 minutes, flip and boil one more minute.

Dust a towel with flour, sound weird?  It kinda is, just do it :)

 and place the them on the towel.

  At this point you can sprinkle them with seeds if you like or not if you don't have them. 

I got me a pizza peel!  Do you need one?  NO.  I have been doing this for over a year without one but it was a little indulgent on my part.  I wanted one!

 There they are ready to bake for 20 minutes.

Put the bagels in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until brown.  You will love these!  They store great so you can make them for now or later or both!

For breakfast egg and sausage bagel!

Or with chicken salad for lunch!

Remember how I said these were big?  That is why you see them halved in these pics.  Unless you are a lumberjack half was plenty!

Or you can go simple with these yummy bagels and just a little cream cheese.  I dare yo to just eat one bite!  It ain't gonna happen!