Bagels, come’n get ‘um!

Today I made bagels! It was super easy; anybody could do it…as long as you have a bread machine. If you don’t have a bread machine I suggest you hop on over to amazon (after you’re done reading this of course) and get one. Assuming you have the cash to spare and your not on a self imposed spending freeze like I am. I have the Panasonic SD-YD250 and I have enjoyed it. It has a option to make dough (among other bread type things).  That way you can make pizza dough, dough for french bread, rolls, bagels. You name it.

I found this recipe on thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen. It’s a great site that lets you share your favorite recipes. But enough about another site.

Basic Bagel recipe:

1 cup warm water

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. white sugar

3 cups bread flour

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

3 quarts boiling water

3 Tbs. white sugar

1 Tbs. cornmeal

2 Tbs. melted butter

your choice of toppings

1. Place water, salt, sugar, flour and yeast in the bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select DOUGH setting.

2. When cycle is complete, let dough rest on a lightly floured surface.

Something about this looks like a raw chicken. Rest assured it is only dough at rest. There is no raw chicken in this recipe.

3. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces, and roll each piece into a small ball. Flatten balls (of dough). Poke a hole in the middle of each with your thumb. Twirl the dough on your finger or thumb to enlarge the hole and even out the dough around the hole.

It may be hard to tell…that is my thumb flipin’ the dough around.

Cover bagels with a clean cloth, and let rest for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a large pot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Stir in 3 Tbs. of sugar.

4. Sprinkle an ungreased baking sheet with cornmeal. Carefully transfer bagels to boiling water. Boil for 1 minute, turning halfway through. Drain briefly on a clean towel. Arrange boiled bagels on the baking sheet. Brush tops with butter and sprinkle with your choice of toppings.

My toppings of choice were mini-chocolate chips, sliced almonds, sea salt and raw sugar.

5. Bake in at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, until well browned.

Don’t those look awesome?!

If your observant you may notice that there are only seven bagels in this picture. That’s because I wolfed down one of the sugar bagels right as I took it out of the oven. It was really hot and really yummy.

These turned out pretty well considering while I was in the middle of the boiling process two things grabbed my attention.

1) My son came home from school.  He is always pretty excited to be home and wanting to do 10 things at once.  Today he needed to find a tiny wooden spoon so he could catapult a Cherrio (left over from this morning) across the counter into his breakfast bowl. It involved tape, a rubber band, Cherrios, the wooden spoon and me holding the tape down. He also needed to get on seussville.com asap. I have to admit it’s a fun site for kids.

2) I heard a ton of meowing coming from outside and discovered that it was a feral cat across the street who seemed hurt.  I ran back inside to finish the boiling process and later I tried to call animal control but they never answered.  I called the police dept. but they said that animal control has to come out and catch it.  By that time it was late Friday afternoon and animal control was closed.  I’ve checked on the cat several times. I’m pretty sure he’ll be dead in the morning. Sorry to bring you down.

On a light note, the kitchen smelled AMAZING.