Bagels

I am, truthfully, not much of a breakfast person. I would be fine with skipping breakfast most days. 

Except when I have bagels. I could eat bagels every day, for multiple meals. (And sometimes I do! It's so easy to take bagels to work for lunch!) The problem is, those Lender's egg bagels that I can get addicted to are NOT cheap. So, of course, I have to make them myself! 

It's even more important to do it from scratch when there are 3 other people in this house that like bagels... Gabriel can eat 1 1/2 when he's really hungry in the mornings. (Which means that 1 package of the store bought bagels doesn't even last 2 days here.) 

I've tried a few different bagels recipes, but this is my favorite so far! These seem to last pretty well, without drying out. The flavor is great, and they are easy to do. (Don't let the number of steps discourage you! It's a longer process, but the steps are easy and it's worth the time!) 

This is a basic bagel recipe. In step 7, if you want toppings, just dip the wet bagels right in a bowl of toppings. Or, if you wanted to, you could add some things right to the dough. (Onion, etc.) 

Printable Recipe

Bagels

Ingredients

Sponge

1 teaspoon instant yeast
4 cups bread flour
2 1/2 cups water, room temperature
Dough
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast3 3/4 cups bread flour2 3/4 teaspoons salt2 teaspoons malt powder

To Finish

1 tablespoon baking soda

Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, salt, rehydrated dried minced garlic or onions, chopped onions that have been tossed in oil, or any other desired topping (optional)

Directions

1. To make the sponge for the bagels: stir yeast into the flour, then stir in the water until it forms a sticky, thick batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place for about 1-2 hours or until the mixture is foamy, bubbly and almost double in size. *Tip: I turn my oven on for just a minute or to, til it just starts to heat up, then place my dough in there to rise. It's just slightly above room temp, and rises a little faster. Be careful to not let your oven get too warm, if you try this!
2. To make the dough, stir in the rest of the yeast to the sponge using the dough hook of a stand mixer. Stir in 3 cups of flour, salt and malt powder. Slowly add the remaining 3/4 cup flour, while kneading for 6 minutes. At this point, the dough should be soft, smooth and firm.
3. Divide dough into 12-24 pieces, depending on desired size of bagels. Roll dough into smooth balls and place on lightly greased parchment paper. Cover rolls with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rest for 20 minutes or so.
4. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly spray with non stick cooking spray. Take each roll and carefully form a hole into the center, forming a bagel.
5. Place each bagel 1-2” apart on the prepared pans, and cover loosely with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Let the pans sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.
6. When ready to bake the bagels, preheat the oven to 500° with the two racks set in the middle of the oven. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and add the baking soda.
7. Gently drop the bagels into the water, boiling only as many as comfortably fit. After 1 minutes flip them over and boil for another minute. For chewier bagels, extend the boiling to 2 minutes per side. If toppings are desired, do so as soon as they come out of the water.
8. When all the bagels have been boiled, place the pans on the 2 middle shelves in the oven. Bake for approximately 5 minutes, then rotate the pans, switching shelves and giving the pans a 180° rotation. After the rotation, lower the oven setting to 450° and continue baking for about 10-15 minutes, or until the bagels turn light golden brown. Continue to alternate pans every 5 minutes.
9. Remove the pans from the oven and cool the bagels 5-10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Yield/Time

12-24 bagels, depending on size *I like to do 24, that's a good size bagel for our family. 12 would make very large bagels!

3 hours

Nutrition Facts

286 (12 ct), 191 (18 ct), 143 (24 ct) *I calculate nutrition facts for reference only, this is not done scientifically

Source (for original): Lauren’s Latest

Remember, comments are loved! What's your go-to breakfast?