Homemade Bagels

Homemade bagels topped with Italian cheeses.

In the planning for a young men campout tonight, Mark was assigned to bring breakfast. It had to be something quick to put together, that didn't require any cooking, created minimal mess, and would be fast to eat. Bagels sounded like the plan until I priced them at the local grocery store - 75 cents EACH. And when feeding boys and men, you know that 1 bagel per person is just not going to be enough.

Recently I read a post on the Sisters Cafe blog (sisterscafe.blogspot.com) that referred to an older post (January 24, 2009 if you want to find it for yourself) for homemade bagels. I will never purchase bagels again! These were easy to make and taste phenomenal. And you should smell the house while they're baking. Oh, and the cost for 12 bagels. . . less than a dollar.

Following is the recipe for bagels adapted from Sisters Cafe - try it, you'll like it.

Homemade Bagels
2 c. very warm water
1 1/2 TB instant dry yeast
3 Tbs granulated sugar, plus 1 Tb
5-6 c. high gluten or all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt

In the bowl of an upright mixer (KitchenAid or Bosch), combine water and 3 TB sugar. Add 4 cups flour, yeast, and salt. Mix with dough hook until combined and makes a soft dough. Add 1 to 1 1/2 cups additional flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to make a stiff dough. Knead in the mixer for at least 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. This dough should be stiffer than regular yeast bread dough. (If the dough is too heavy for your mixer, you will need to finish stirring in the flour and kneading the dough by hand.)

Spray a large bowl with Pam. Place the dough in the bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until almost doubled, about an hour.

Remove from the bowl and punch down the dough. Divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a log about 6 inches long. Fold the ends over each other and pinch together. Spray a baking sheet with Pam, place the bagels on the sheet, cover with a towel, and let rest about 20-30 minutes. The dough will raise, but won't be doubled.

Bagels have "rested" for 30 minutes and are ready to boil.

While dough is resting, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 TB sugar. (This takes a while. I just let the water boil until I was ready to use it.)

Spray a baking sheet with Pam and sprinkle with cornmeal.

Working in batches (I was able to boil 3 bagels at a time), add the bagel to the water and boil, turning, for 30 seconds to 1 minute. I used a large flat pancake spatula with holes in it to turn the bagels and to lift them out of the water. I turned each bagel completely twice, with each turn lasting about 10 seconds. Then lift out of the water and place on the prepared sheet. The bagels will look lumpy. At this point, top with kosher salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or leave plain.

Bagels boiling in water. Turn every 10-15 seconds.

These have been boiled and are ready to be baked.

Bake 20-25 minutes. If adding cheese (I used an Italian blend of mozzarella, provolone, asiago, and parmesan), remove from the oven, top with cheese, then return to oven until cheese is melted and bubbly - about 4 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Just out of the oven - warm bagels with a dusting of kosher salt.

We served these with Bacon-Onion Cream Cheese Spread.

Bacon-Onion Cream Cheese Spread

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup half-n-half or cream
1 bunch green onions, sliced (use all of the white and about 2 inches of the green stems)
1 TB finely minced onion (use more or less to taste, depending on how strong the onions are)
1/2 cup diced, cooked, crisp bacon

Combine cream cheese and cream with mixer until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix. Add salt or onion salt to taste. Chill several hours or overnight before serving.

A few notes about the bagels:

1. Yeast: I use instant yeast for almost all my baking. I love SAF Instant yeast when I can find it, otherwise I use Fleischman's Instant yeast. The yeast comes in a brick-like package until it's opened. Once I open the package, I put the yeast in a plastic container in the fridge and it seems to last a long time. I've never had a problem with the yeast. The instant yeast can be mixed in with the flour, which saves the step of "proofing" the yeast before adding the flour. It's also less sensitive to heat, so I don't need to be too careful with the temperature of the water. If you are using regular yeast, go to the Sisters Cafe blog and follow their instructions.

2. Flour: High gluten flour adds a chewiness to bagels, pizza crust, and french bread that is hard to get with all-purpose flour. Sam's Club sells huge bags of high gluten flour for the best price I've found. The high gluten flour seems to absorb more water than all-purpose flour, which means I usually end up using a little less flour than when using all-purpose flour.

3. Mixer: The Bosch handled a double batch of dough without any problems - including kneading the dough for about 7 minutes. Based on experience, I wouldn't try a double recipe in the KitchenAid.

4. Baking: I baked 2 trays at a time and switched racks after about 15 minutes. Then cooked each pan about 10 minutes longer. (If adding cheese, remove bagels 5 minutes before cooking time has ended, add cheese, and return to oven to finish baking.) I have a gas oven that I'm still trying to get used to, so your time may be more or less than mine. Bagels are done when brown on the bottom and golden brown on the top. If you are concerned whether they are done, remove one bagel from the pan and cut into it.