Homemade Bagels

No need to spend your money on expensive store bought bagels, just make your own at home! These home-baked bagels are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and great with cream cheese or butter! As you'll see, they are very simple to make!

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
4 1/4 cups bread flour
8 cups of water, for boiling
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water

Additionally, you can add one of the following:
cinnamon and/or raisins
poppy seeds
onions or garlic
sesame seeds

The bagels in this tutorial were made with whole wheat graham flour (substituted one cup of the white for wheat) and a few tablespoons of wheat germ.

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, mix yeast, sugar and warm water together and let stand 10 minutes until foamy. If using instant yeast, you may skip this step.

2. Mix 2 cups of flour with the salt in a large bowl; then add the yeast mixture. Stir until combined and slowly mix in the rest of the flour.

3. Knead dough on a floured surface for 5-8 minutes, adding additional flour if necessary. Dough should be fairly smooth and somewhat firm. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double. I find that putting the bowl in your oven with the oven light on is the perfect environment to let yeast breads rise!

4. Punch dough down (if making cinnamon raisin bagels, add the cinnamon and raisins now -- knead just enough to swirl the cinnamon through the dough). Divide and shape into 12 balls. (For larger bagels, make only 8 balls.) Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

5. Bring 2 quarts of water to boil. Make a hole in each ball of dough and pull open about 2 inches, making a bagel shape. Place the shaped dough onto a cookie sheet and cover for 10 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop 2 or 3 bagels at a time into the boiling water for about a minute, turn and cook for another minute.

7. Drain cooked bagels on a wire rack. Mix egg white and water; brush tops with egg white mixture and top with optional toppings, if using. Place bagels on greased baking sheets,
brushing the bagels with egg, after they've drained.


8. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, turning once half-way through baking. (If making plain bagels, you can flip the bagels; otherwise, just rotate.) Bagels will be lightly browned and shiny.

You've GOT to try this recipe! We just love these bagels...and the house smells sooo good right now!