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. 

Basic Bread

This is the basic bread recipe that I use 90% of the time. It is very simple and fun to make. In fact I often have my kids make it along with me. I just divide the recipe by 4 to get the correct amounts for an individual loaf. The kids are always so proud that they made their own loaf of bread! I've included the portions for an individual loaf if you would like to have your kids make their own bread along with you.

Basic Wheat Bread

8 cups all purpose flour

4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

4 1/2 cups very warm water

3 Tablespoons active dry yeast

6 Tablespoons granulated sugar

4 Tablespoons canola oil

1 Teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon of Vinegar

Start by putting the water in a large measuring cup or bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar to the water. Give it a stir. Next, add the yeast and stir again. Set the mixture aside. Now in a large bowl, add flours and remaining sugar. Stir it a few times to blend the ingredients. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture. Pour the oil and vinegar into the well you made. Now if your yeast mixture has a thick layer of foam on top it is ready to add. Add the yeast mixture to the well. Now stir everything together starting with the liquid and gradually incorporate the dry ingredients. Sprinkle a light coating of flour onto the counter and dump the dough mixture onto it. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Now it will need to rise. You can leave it on the counter and cover it with a clean kitchen towel. You could also return it to the bowl to rise. Let the dough rise for about 45 minutes. It should be about double in size. Grease 4 9"x5" bread (loaf) pans. With the dough on a lightly floured counter, flatten the dough with your hands. Now divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a loaf and place one into each pan. Cover your loaves and let rise for about 40 minutes (they should double in size). Preheat oven to 425° and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the bread from the pans immediately after you take them out of the oven. Allow the loaves to cool on a cooling rack.

My Tips

-You can use any variation and varieties of flours. The higher the fiber content of the flour used the more higher the ratio of liquids to flour will need to be, so you will need to experiment with this when you use different flour combinations.

-If you use all "white" flour, you can eliminate the vinegar. The vinegar is used to help soften the wheat flour.

-I like to slice all of the loaves and once using my electric knife. I keep two loaves out, and I store two of them in the freezer. I like to have the bread sliced before freezing.

1 Loaf of Bread

3 cups of all purpose flour

1 1/8 cup of  very warm water

2 1/4 Teaspoons of active dry yeast

4 1/2 Teaspoons of granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon of Canola Oil

1/4 Teaspoon of Salt

Follow the same directions as above.