Bagel Baking Day

It never dawned on me that I could make our own Bagels. But a dear little dutch lady down the road told me she always made her own when her kids were growing up and that it is simple to do. I don't like the smell of the preservatives in the bought ones, it always puts me off, but the man in our house likes something more substantial than sliced bread for his lunches, and he does enjoy bagels, so I tried it. They really are easy to do and they taste much better!

Bagels have risen and are ready to be boiled.

It just takes a couple of minutes - 1 or 2 on each side.

Once boiled they are brushed with an egg wash and topped with sesame seeds or whatever happenns to be the fancy of the day. Then into the oven they go.

All done and ready to eat!

Bagels

4 1/2 tsp. yeast

2 cups warm water

2 Tbsp. brown sugar (or honey)

5 -5 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

seeds, etc. for topping

Water for boiling

Prepare dough the usual way depending on what type of yeast you are using. After it is kneaded put into oiled bowl, turn to grease top, cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled.

Punch down, divide into 12 pieces and make each piece into a ball. Poke a finger through the centre of each ball and give it a spin to make the hole about 1 to 1 1/2 inches across. Place bagels onto greased baking sheet and let rise about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted (1 tsp.) water to a boil. Reduce the heat a bit and carefully lift bagels from cookie sheet with a pancake flipper and place into boiling water. You can do about 3 or 4 at a time depending on the size of your pot. Boil about half a minute on each side, then lift bagels out of the water with slotted spoon and place on a well greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal (optional). Brush each bagel with egg wash and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, oats, onion or garlic, or whatever else suits you.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from sheet and cool on rack.

Variation:

for cinnamon raisin bagels - replace 1 cup ww flour with 1 cup white, increase sugar to 1/4 cup and stir in 2 or 3 tsp. cinnamon and 1 cup raisins. Top with oats.

Sunflower seeds are nice in whole wheat bagels.

I find homemade bagels spoil quite quickly so I freeze what we won't use in a couple of days.