A friend of mine recently posted some pictures of a batch of homemade bagels she made. Me being the bagel lover I am knew that I had to try to replicate her success. I asked her to send over the recipe found here ( https://thecookstreat.com/the-best-bagel-recipe/ ) and I began this beautiful Saturday morning. Luckily I had all of the ingredients (mostly) I needed in the house so I was able to get started right after work. The one thing I didn’t have was sesame seeds to garnish the tops with but I decided melted cheese would do nicely instead. Since I have never been a fan of overly complicated and longwinded baking recipes here is my quick summary:

My summary of the process is:

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups of water
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 5 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of instant yeast

Steps:

Mix water, salt and brown sugar, then add half the flour. Mix until consistency is gooey and even. Mix in the remaining flour.

Knead until gluten begins to form (about 15-20 mins of hand kneading)

Let dough rise for 5 mins before poking holes and stretching

Let rise for 20-30 mins

Oven 400 degrees

Get a boiling bath of water with 4 tablespoons of brown sugar boiling 

Reduce water to simmering and add a bagel in ugly side up then bring the water to a boil

Cook the boil for 30s – 1 min on this side

Flip and boil for 30 – 1 min on the other side

Place back on baking sheet

Put ingredients on top if desired and cook for 20 – 25 mins in oven at 400 degrees

 

Final thoughts

I was surprised that there was so much brown sugar in the recipe and even in the water for the bath. The kneading of the dough was also quite the workout! I was definitely sweating by the end of it, trying to get the “window” (thin stretched dough without ripping) was quite the challenge. Letting the dough rise gave me time to start writing this blog post and unwind, I actually found the whole process quite fun and stress relieving! I am glad I chose baking as my project. I chose to garnish with cheese, cilantro, green onion, and rosemary. They turned out amazing and were chewy and warm, I am actually over the moon.