I didn’t think bagels would be so easy, but they REALLY are. You can start the dough early in the morning and have bagels by lunch. Or if I were more motivated… get up at 3 am, have them ready for breakfast!
And motivation aside, since my KitchenAid mixer sounds like a jet engine taking off, I don’t know if my family would appreciate the 3 am wake up… even for bagels. But damn, I’d love to figure out how to quiet that machine down!
The bagels pictured above were a little overboard with the toppings and I had a few complaints this time that the ‘everything’ topping was too much of everything and even the sesame seeds was overboard as well, so that’s what happens when you ‘face down’ the dough into the toppings. Maybe next time I’ll sprinkle them instead (but personally, there is no such thing as too many sesame seeds).
But since this was the first time I’ve had complaints, I’m thinking that it is because of the ‘everything’ bagel mix that I purchased had a lot of pepper, I saw it when I was cleaning up… a lot of pepper dust. I don’t personally like the ‘everything’ topping because, well, everything is touching, lol.
So… without further ado…
Bagels
Ingredients
- 3 cups water at approx. 109 degrees
- 3 tablespoons active dry yeast
- 8 cups King Arthur flour unbleached regular or bread flour
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
Rising
- 3 tablespoons olive oil for the rising bowl (cover the dough with oil)
- 1 very large bowl should be double the size of the dough ball
Boiling and Baking
- 4 quarts boiling water
- 1 cup honey
Toppings
- 1 cup sesame seeds
- 1 cup onion flakes, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, coarse sea salt, tiny bit of pepper combined for 'everything' bagel topping
Instructions
- Combine the yeast and water. If you are using active dry yeast, it needs to sit in the water and 'activate'. I usually let it sit and be stirred for about 5 minutes and then add the oil and sugar. Stir to combine.
- In the mixer, combine the wet ingredients with 4 cups of the flour and mix for 5 minutes. Add in two more cups slowly (over another 3-5 minutes) and then add the salt.
- Add the remaining flour slowly and turn the dough out onto a flat surface and work it for about 5-10 minutes. The dough should be pliable and if you pull off a piece, it should not easily tear off, but stretch.
- In a very large bowl, put the olive oil. Work the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl. Turn the dough around to be completely covered and then cover the bowl in Saran Wrap and place in a warm but not hot place for 2-3 hours or until it doubles in size.
Forming the bagels
- Roll out the dough and cut into 6 oz. pieces. Roll each piece into a tight ball. Poke one finger through the middle and stretch the center to form the bagel.
- Set the bagels to rise by covering them and placing them in a warm place (approximately 30-40 minutes).
- Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. If you have baking stones, place them in the oven on racks. The oven should be pre-heated before you start boiling the bagels.
- In a 6 quart pot, bring the water to a boil and add the honey. Boil the bagels two at a time for 1 minute on each side and then place on a wire rack for a few minutes.
- There are two ways to add the toppings, either place the bagel face down on the toppings or sprinkle them on while they are still wet. Either way, use a pastry brush and brush an egg white/water wash over them. It will enhance the color on plain ones and help the seeds stick better.
- Place parchment paper to cover the pizza stones and lay the bagels on the paper. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Be careful of toppings with onion in them, the onion burns easily.
- Remove bagels from the oven and let them sit for 20 minutes before cutting/eating.
