Since tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, I thought I’d feature bagels as this week’s bread! I bet you didn’t know you could make bagels on your own, but oh…you can! It’s a great weekend activity; let them rise while you are wrapping gifts and spinning your dreidel, or, if you aren’t Jewish, while you appreciate Jewish culture by YouTubing some Sarah Silverman videos. (She’s f*cking Matt Damon!)
This recipe (from How to Be a Domestic Goddess
Ingredients
(Makes 6 bagels)
3 and 1/2 cups white bread flour plus more as necessary for kneading
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 package rapid-rise yeast
1 tbsp sugar, plus 1.5 tbsp for poaching
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus more for greasing
1 and 1/4 cups warm water, plus more as needed
This is How We Do It
Combine flour, salt, and yeast together in a large bowl. Add the sugar and oil to the water. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the liquid.
Mix to a dough, and then knead, adding more flour if you need to. Though this is not usually the case, dry dough is OK here. The dough will be stiff and hard (OMG) but knead until it’s smooth and elastic. Even with an electric mixer, it takes about 10 minutes.
Form the dough into a ball, and then put it into an oiled bowl and turn it to coat all around. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise somewhere warm for about an hour. (Side note: I hate plastic wrap. Is it just me or is it the most useless, frustrating, ineffective product ever?!)
Punch the dough down (HARD!) and knead it a bit more. Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll each piece into a rope, and cut each rope into thirds. Roll each piece between the palms of your hands into a ball, and then roll into another rope, curling it around to form a ring.
Seal the ends by overlapping them a little and pinching them together. Do this well! I didn’t do a good enough job, which is why a few of my bagels resembled croissants. At about this time, put on a large pot of water to boil; once it boils, add the additional sugar.
Set the bagels on greased baking sheets cover with towels and leave for about 20 minutes; they will get puffy.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. (HOT.) When the water is boiling and your bagels are puffy, it’s time to poach them! Drop a couple bagels at a time into the boiling water, and boil for one minute, turning once with a slotted spoon.
Once they are poached, put them back on the baking sheets, well-spaced.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until they are shiny and golden brown.
At this point, I would like to introduce you to….THE CARBGASM!
I really, really love bagels, and this did not disappoint. You think they are going to taste like regular bread, but no — they have that chewy, saltiness that is just so quintessential for a good bagel. You can definitely get creative with this basic recipe and top them with spices or add mix-ins. I need to experiment with making my favorite, the Everything bagel!
This recipe is perfect for bringing to a brunch, where people will be inclined to gasp and say, “You made your own bagels?!” However, if no brunches are on the agenda, and you want an excuse, here’s one: it’s cold outside, and bagels are warm and toasty.
Go to it!
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
yum!! i love bread and bagels!! in fact, i stopped at the bagel place and had a mini blueberry one before my boot camp cardio class this morning!! I know you are not a calorie counter…but what would you guess is the nutritional info for a little bagel, or one of your fab homemade ones?
p.s.-i LOVED your shed theater yesterday. it was perf.
I guesstimated these bagels at 300-400 calories, because that’s the amount in most deli bagels of that size! Mini bagels are usually 150-200 cals (I loove the minis too).
omgg sooo cooooooool!!!!!!!!!!