bagels

Another item off the short list.  I can't believe that it took me this long to do it.  I guess I thought homemade bagels were somehow harder than homemade pretzels or bread or cinnamon rolls or yeast waffles.  They are not. Think of all that time wasted not enjoying homemade bagels. 

Homemade bagel recipe (from Hub Pages)

4 cups bread flour  (I used 3 cups spelt and the rest regular unbleached white)

1 Tbls sugar

1 1/2 tsps salt

1 Tbls vegetable oil

2 tsps yeast

1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.

Dissolve yeast in bowl.  Add other ingredients (add flour slowly so you don't over stiffen).  Knead well.   The directions say 10 minutes but I like to under knead a bit.  Let rest for 20-30 minutes. Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls.

Here is the rolling method from Hubpages:

Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be!

I tried another way and preferred it:  I took the ball and flattened it a touch, then I poked a hole in the middle and stretched and worked it from there. 

Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil.  I use baking stones, but the directions say a greased pan.  To each his own I guess.

I tried some blueberry and some cinnamon raisins.  The cinnamon raisins were the best!  Blueberries not so much.

After the 20 minutes your bagels will rise more and look puffy.  Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. 

Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on the baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Bake 425 for 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another 10 minutes.

The blueberry ones did not turn out well.  The berries made the dough around them soggy.  They were mushy and a little gooey.  The cinnamon raisins were really very yummy.  The plain were pretty much plain. We will make them again and will make lots of cinnamon raisins and some with dried cranberries or other dried fruit. 

I'm going to have to see what's next on my list to do. Raising chickens?