Bagels

Today my kitchen is filled with the smell of fresh baked bread an bagels! I love the smell of bread fresh from the oven. The only thing better then the smell of fresh baked bread is the taste of it! I love to have a slice (or 2 or 3) when it is still warm. That way the butter melts nicely as you spread it on. Mmmmmm...heaven! But today, we are not talking about the bread we are talking about the bagels. 

I have used this recipe by John D Lee a few times and I really like it. It is a very simple bagel recipe to make. I have never tried an other recipes, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I guess I haven't found the need to look else where. Go over and check out the recipe! He has some great descriptions on how to make bagels if you are new to making bagels! Just make sure you come back to hear my tips on how I made them.

My Tips

-I doubled the recipe. The single recipe only makes 8 bagels. By the time my family finished sampling them, there would not be any left. Next time I will quadruple the recipe and put half of them in the freezer for later.

-I softened the yeast in water first. The recipe doesn't say to do this but I always do. If I try it without doing this I will let you know how it turns out.

-I used 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour (out of the total 8 cups in the doubled recipe), next time I will put more.

-After the bagels cooled, I sliced them using my electric knife and stored them in a plastic freezer bag.

-Freeze any bagels that you won't be able to eat within a few days. To thaw bagels, leave them at room temperature in the closed bag or container. They should be ready to eat after about 15 to 20 minutes. 

Here is my slightly altered, quadrupled list of ingredients for bagels. 

(this recipe will make about 32-34 regular sized bagels)

12 Cups of All Purpose Flour

4 Cups of Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 Teaspoon of Salt

1 Tablespoon of Canola Oil

3 Tablespoons of Active Dry Yeast

5 1/2 Cups of warm Water 

Head on over to this post on hubpages to find the directions on how to make bagel. If you have a recipe for bagels that you love, please share! I would love to try some different ones.