Bagels

I have always really enjoyed really fresh bagels such as the ones you get in New York City, but its hard to find good bagel places all over the country. While my first attempt doesn't compare to the NYC bagels, they are pretty tasty and not too difficult. 

The night before you want to make the starter. To do this mix together a 1/2 cup of bread flour, 1/4 cup of water and a pinch of yeast. Cover and allow to sit over night.

This is how the starter should look after mixing.

The starter which is now very bubbly and yeasty the next day.

Add all the remaining ingredients and mix.

Half way through mixing where the dough will look very dry, but it will come together nicely.

The finished dough which will be dryer than usual dough, but still smooth. It should not be lumpy.

Place dough in a bowl and allow to rise for an hour.

Press down and allow to rise for an additional half an hour.

After the dough has risen for the second time, split into 12 equal pieces.

Roll each into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.

The dough balls after 30 minutes.

Take each dough ball and use your fingers to pinch a hole in the ball.

Then use a finger from each hand to stretch the hole to around 2" in diameter.

Then place 6 bagels on a baking sheet lined with slightly greased parchment paper. Allow the dough to rest where the dough ball's hole will shrink to around 1".

Bring water to a boil with 3 tablespoons of brown sugar in it. Then set the heat to simmer.

Boil 3-4 bagels at once and boil for 2 minutes on the first side and 1 on the other.

The bagels after being boiled.

Bake the bagels for 25 minutes at 425 F. I topped my bagels with a cinnamon sugar layer. However, the bagels could have been left plain or seeded.

Recipe

Starter

1.5 cups of bread flour

1/4 cups of cool water

pinch of yeast (the rest of the package will be used in the dough)

 

Dough

4 cups of bread flour

1.25 cups of cool water

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

 

Water bath

water to fill a 10"-diameter pan about 3" deep

3 tablespoons of brown sugar