Bagels

homemade of course!

 I saw these bagels in my bread book, and I thought to myself - I can tackle this!  And, so I did. 

kneading the dough

 Your stand mixer with the dough attachment will work for this process, but I preferred to do it the old fashion way.

Cover with a towel to keep the air out

After rising.

 It wasn't as bump free as I would have liked, but it still came out pretty good.  Kneading takes practice.

Cut into individual rounds

The bagels just came out of a stove-top water-bath, done in a large skillet/frying pan.  I placed them on this baking tray before going in the oven.  Sorry!  Water-bath not shown.

Sprinkles of caraway seeds on top

All done!

Transferred to a cooling rack

 

Ready to go into the freezer-

after eating some first.  Lol

Ingredients:

* 3 cups white bread flour, plus extra for dusting

* 2 tsp salt

* 1envelope active dry yeast

* 1 Tbsp lightly beaten egg

scant 1 cup lukewarm water

vegetable oil, for brushing

* 1 egg white 

* 2 Tbsp water

* 2 Tbsp caraway seeds

Directions:

1) Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl and stir in the yeast.  Make a well in the center, pour in the egg and lukewarm water, and mix to a dough.  Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead well for about 10 minutes, until smooth.

2) Brush a bowl with oil.  Shape the dough into a ball, place it in the bowl, and put the bowl into a plastic bag or cover with a damp dish towel.  Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.

3) Brush 2 cookie sheets with oil and dust a baking sheet with flour.  Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured counter and punch down with your fist.  Knead for 2 minutes, then divide into 10 pieces.  Shape each piece into a ball and let rest for 5 minutes.  Gently flatten each ball with a lightly floured hand and make a hole in the center with the handle of a wooden spoon.  Put the bagels on the floured sheet, put it into a plastic bag or cover with a damp dish towel, and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.

4) Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 F/220 C and bring a large pan of water to a boil.  Reduce the heat until the water is barely simmering, then add 2 bagels.  Poach for 1 minute, then turn over, and poach for 30 seconds more.  remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a dish towel.  Poach the remaining bagels in the same way.

5) Transfer the bagels to the oiled cookie sheets.  Beat the egg white with 2 teaspoons of the water in a bowl and brush it over the bagels.  sprinkle with the caraway seeds and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 10 bagels