Bagels

A couple of days ago I was doing my usual online shop and decided to go for some bagels. I realise some people think they are the enemy as 1 bagel = 4 slices of bread, but for me they are perfect! When the order arrived I noticed that bagel pack size has been decreased to 4! Outrageous!
As a result I decided to try my hand at making bagels, thinking how hard can it really be? To be fair the last time I tried making them (many years ago) they didn't turn out that well, but now that I've mastered bread I figured it would be ok.

After much searching I found there were 2 types of recipe, a 1 day recipe and a 2 day one involving a poolish type starter. I figure if you're going to try something you might as well do it properly so I went ahead with the 2 day bagel. I did cheat somewhat as I used the dough hooks instead of hand kneading but the first day of bagel making still took longer than expected!

After nearly 4 hours of mixing, waiting, kneading, dividing, resting and testing the bagels were finally ready for bed and so was I! In the morning there was actually very little to do, which was reassuring!

In the end the bagels turned out chewy, with a good crust and so tasty, if a little bit hard to slice well. Next time I will start these much earlier in the day so they don't mess with my sleeping patterns quite as much...

Bagel selection: onion, mixed seed, plain, sea salt and cinnamon and raisin

One just happened to disappear before I managed to get a photo...

If you want to have a go and have far too much spare time, like me, then I can highly recommend this recipe, from the Smitten Kitchen blog.