Best Bagels in Town

I have many warm memories of eating bagels growing up. Most Sunday mornings greeted me with a poppy seed bagel topped with a creamy schemer and, on special occasions, an amber layer of lox. About a year ago I moved to Texas and was sad to discover a serious lack of good bagels. Well, DIYers, this problem is easy enough to solve. Here is my recipe for great homemade bagels.

Bagels are a unique kind of bread because they are boiled first, then baked. This creates a shiny chewy exterior with a wonderful doughy interior. Making bagels may be intimidating at first, but in fact they only require a few simple ingredients and some patience. This recipe makes a dozen bagels and, if you can make it through the week without eating them all, the rest will keep easily in the freezer.

Step 1 Ingredients and Supplies

First, lets gather our ingredients and supplies.

Day 1: Dough Preparation
Ingredients
    4 c. Bread Flour
    2 c. Wheat Flour
    2.5 c. Water - Lukewarm
    4 tsp. Kosher Salt
    2 tbs. Honey
    2 tsp. Instant Yeast
    2 tbs. Olive Oil
Equipment
    2 Baking Sheets
    2 Medium Sized Bowls
    1 Mixer
    Parchment Paper

Day 2: Baking
Ingredients
Water
    1 tbs. Honey
    1.5 tsp. Kosher Salt
    1 tbs. Baking Soda
Optional Toppings
    1 tbs. Sesame Seeds
    1 tbs. Poppy Seeds
    1 tbs. Black Salt
Equipment
    1 Large-Mouthed Pot
    1 Slotted Spatula

Comments

[triumphman]

What is Black Salt, is it from the Dead Sea (joke)? I have never heard of it! Where do they sell it?

[gorshnoggler]

Black salt is sea salt that has been blended and colored with activated charcoal. Tastes just like...salt, but it is a fun twist. :)

[GeekFilter]

Yum, I think I've found my next bread baking project! I have lots of poppy seeds to use up (going to make some poppy seed pasta as well) so this looks like a tasty delivery system.

I may try and do an 'everything' bagle as well with some garlic, onion, etc. Can't wait to try this!

[gorshnoggler]

I have never heard of poppy seed pasta, that sounds delish! Everything bagels are a favorite too and just take a second more to prepare. Quick tip - if you are going to use dried onion/garlic you should hydrate the bits for about 40 minutes before you garnish the bagels. This helps keep them from shriveling up in the oven. Good luck and let me know how they turn out!

[GeekFilter]

Maybe I'll do an Instructable on the pasta...but I want to make it once first! Thanks for the hydration tip. I don't have all the ingredients together yet so I probably won't be making them till next week sometime, but I'll let you know when I do!

[RebelWithoutASauce]

Great instructable!

I moved from New Jersey to New Hampshire and the lack of bagels was killing me for a bit. Your recipe is very straightforward. I have heard that malt powder really gets that classic flavor, but that honey is a close second. Have you ever tried malt powder? I've been using honey in my own bagels at they come out alright.

[gorshnoggler]

Thanks! I haven't tried using malt yet, but I would be interested in seeing the difference. Great flavor isn't lacking with the honey approach and I like that I don't need to go out of my way to get more exotic ingredients. Besides, there is nothing quite as nice as a spoonful of local honey! :) For those curious, you can substitute an equal amount of malt for the honey to get more malty-flavored bagels. Let me know how they turn out if you do!