Bagels from Heaven!

I made these bagels yesterday and they were heavenly!!!  And so easy!  And cheap...15.5 CENTS each!  Let me tell you more about them...

Bread Machine Bagels:
1C Warm Water (110F)
1 1/2t Salt
2T White Sugar
3C Bread Flour (I used A/P)
2 1/4t Active Dry Yeast (as opposed to the lazy kind)

3 Quarts Boiling Water
3T White Sugar
1T Cornmeal
1 Egg White
1 - 1 1/2T Toppings of your choice

For everything bagels, use the following toppings:
Fresh Ground Pepper
1t Onion Flakes
1t Garlic Granuals
1t Sesame Seeds
1t Poppy Seeds

Mix your warm water, yeast and sugar in the pan of your bread maker.

Give it a stir with a rubber spatula.

Let sit for 5-10 minutes and it will puff up like this.

Add in flour and salt.  Select the dough option on your bread
machine and hit start.  Let go to completion, about 1 1/2 hours.

While your dough is working, you can put together your toppings.

Just mix them together in a small bowl.

Next, prepare your baking sheet by putting some parchment on it

and sprinkling with cornmeal.  I also added some of my toppings

so they would get on the bottom side of the bagel and make

it taste equally yummy.  (Are these called bottomings then?)

Now go file your nails and watch tv for a bit, then wash your hands!

When your dough is done, turn it out onto a floured surface.

Form your dough into a circle, flattening slightly.

With a pizza cutter, cut yourself 8 somewhat equal pieces.

 

Roll each piece between your palms to create a little ball.

Take your thumb and poke it through the center
of the ball until you poke through to the other side.

Transfer the dough ring from your thumb to your index finger.

Twirl it around like you might do with your car keys.

You're just trying to stretch the middle out a little bit.

Place them back on your floured surface.

I had to leave, so I put my dough in the fridge before
the 2nd rise.  I think that's why they look so bad this
time around.  The dough was a little dry by the time
I got back.  Should have used plastic wrap!

Cover with a clean towel and let rise for another 1/2 hour.

And they'll look kinda like this.  These sure puffed up a lot!

  They don't really have holes anymore!

About 20 minutes in to the rise, get your water a-goin'.

Place 2T sugar in the pot at any time.

When the water is boiling, drop your bagels in

gently using a slotted spoon so hot water doesn't splash you. 

I did three at a time.  Boil for 30 seconds on each side.

To flip, use the slotted spoon to push one side of 

the bagel downward.  It will flip automatically.

When 30 seconds is up on each side, transfer to a clean towel.

Leave them just long enough to get the excess water off.

Those little guys stick very quickly.

Transfer to your parch-lined baking sheet with the goodies on it.

Brush each bagel with egg white.

Sprinkle with the goodies of your choice.

Bake in a 375 oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

When they're done, transfer to a cooling rack.  I put mine

 over the baking sheet I just used so the little crumbs on the bottom

wouldn't get all over my counter tops.  They still did, a little.

Here's a close-up of that Sesame Bagel/Everything Bagel goodness! These were soooo good!  I had to stop myself from having a third one yesterday, ah-hem.  Yes, I know why I'm fat.  Thank you.

Notes and Things I learned from this experiment:

Don't get over-zealous with your egg wash!  I had this theory that if I put more on, it would make the seeds stick better.  They stick just fine with a little and if you use a ton, you get a nice little egg white omelette in the bottom of your bagel hole, lol!

My garlic or onion flakes turned pretty brown (I assume it's the garlic) and I thought, oh crud, this is gonna be bitter!  But it wasn't!  They were really tasty.

This dough only took up about 25% of the space of my breadmaker, so I know I could have easily doubled the recipe if needed. I might be able to even do 3 batches at once, but that could be pushing things.

I should mention that these make 8 smaller bagels, probably about 3-4" across, which is closer to an appropriate serving anyway.  According to my calculations, the whole batch of 8 only cost $1.24!!!!  That's only 15 1/2 cents EACH!  Can you imagine?!  If you go to Panera, you pay twice as much for ONE bagel as I paid for this whole batch!  Amazing!  

I was very happy with these overall!  Glossy, chewy outside, soft but dense inside.  So good!  Try them and let me know what you think!

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