Bagels

Is there really anything better than a delicious chewy bagel? I think not. I used to think I had to buy them from the bakery section. I used to think they were ”too hard to make”. Boy was I wrong. These blow the store bought out of the water. All you need is a little waiting time and a simple technique and you can impress everyone with your amazing bagel skills.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour

• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 1 1/2 cup warm water

• 2 quarts water

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

• (Optional) everything bagel topping, cheese, sesame seeds, cinnamon sugar

Instructions:

In a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, add the flour, yeast, salt, honey, and 1 1/2 cups warm water.

Once the ingredients are combined, knead the dough in the mixer on low speed for 10 minutes. Transfer dough to a greased glass bowl and cover with a dish towel. Allow dough to rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll into balls. Using your thumb, create a hole in the center of each ball and place on greased baking sheets. Allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes. This is how they should look after 30 minutes.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a wide shallow pan, heat 2 quarts of water and add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar.

Once the water comes to a simmer, add bagels in batches, making sure not to crowd them.

Cook each batch for 2 minutes for the first side, then flip them over and cook for one more minute on the other side.

Transfer the bagels to the greased cookie sheets and add desired toppings.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Servings: 12