Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Homemade Bagels!!

After buying bagels here and having them taste nothing like a real bagel, I set out to make my own. And it turns out they are very easy. If you aren't used to making bread, then you might have a different opinion, but if you are--this takes less time than bread--and tastes soooooooooo good!!

I made this recipe 3 times and all times it came out great. Today I doubled the recipe so the bagels would be bigger. So this "doubled" recipe makes 12 normal size bagels that you would buy at the store. 

Start with 2 cups of warm water--close to 110 degrees, add 2 T. of yeast. You need 1/3 cup of sugar for the recipe and from that I add just a little sugar to the yeast to proof it. 

Once the yeast starts to bubble up then you can add the rest of the ingredients.


Start with 5.5 cups of flour and 2 teaspoons of salt. Add your yeast, water, sugar mixture and mix with your hand until it starts to come together. Once you don't have a lake of water in the middle any more. Dump 1/4 cup of flour on the counter and spread out then dump your dough and all ingredients on the floured counter.


Knead for about 10 minutes. (If you use up all of the flour that's on the counter then add more. I used 6 cups total for my bagels.)

About halfway through kneading it will seem kind of like it's done--as far as getting smoother, but to me it felt gritty a little.


When it is finished it will have picked up almost all of the flour you have dumped on the counter, the dough will be slightly sticky or tacky, but won't stick to the counter or your hand any more and will be very smooth. When you push slightly on the side it will bounce back slowly.
Put this back in the bowl and cover with a towel and put in a warm place for about 35 minutes. It should about double in size. 


Next put a tiny bit of flour on the counter and then put dough on top. I just used my hands to spread it out flat. It was about 1 inch thick. I used a cup to cut out the bagels and got 12. I put them on my cutting board covered them with a towel and let them rise for about 20 minutes. They are supposed to double in size again, but mine did not.


Now get a largish pot and put some water in it--about 2 -3 inches deep and put a Tablespoon or 2 of oil in the water and bring it to a rolling boil. Then drop in the bagels. I could fit 4 at a time. I boiled on each side for about 45 seconds each. 

Then I pulled them out and laid them on a towel to dry slightly. One time I just stuck them on the pan and baked them but they stuck to the pan. So now I butter my pan and dry the bagels slightly and I haven't had problems. (Boiling them is what gives the outside the shiny appearance and the chewy texture!)

I baked them for about 15 minutes at about 375-I say about because my oven doesn't have temps on it and I just guess. It's a little hotter than I bake cookies at. When they are finished they will be slightly golden on the top and the bottom.

Bagels
2 cups of warm water
2 T. yeast
1/3 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
5-6 cups of flour

Warm water to close to 110 degrees, add yeast and tiny bit of sugar to proof yeast. When yeast starts to bubble, add all the sugar, salt, and 5 1/2 cups of flour. Mix together. I added another 1/2 cup of flour to get my dough so it wasn't sticky any more. Knead for about 10 minutes.

Let rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes.

Flatten to about 1 inch thick and cut out bagels. (I don't do a hole in mine, why waste something that tastes so delicious!)

Let rise for 20 more minutes--mine didn't double again in size, but the original recipe says it should.

Boil water about 2-3 inches deep with about 2 Tablespoons of oil in it. Drop bagels in and boil on each side 45 seconds.

Bake on greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

*Recipe adapted from the Wycliffe Cookbook.