Homemade Bagels - Who Knew?

Yesterday Rebekah and I tried our second attempt at making homemade bagels, and guess what? They turned out! Not only did they turn out,but  I must say that they are the BEST bagels we've had in a long time. They are really easy to make, only a little longer than making buns because of the boiling step.

We made multi grain. I was inspired by Mennonite Girls Can Cook. I mentioned this was my second attempt. The first time, the bagels completely deflated after the boiling step. I cooked them anyway and they tasted very good. I realized what my mistake was while we were making them yesterday.  Again, the same with my bread dough, I let them rise way to much, so that they were not stable enough to keep their shape.

This time, I started boiling them right when they had only doubled in size.  But a cool thing happened as I plunged them into the simmering water, they grew a lot and they even had more oven spring in them while they were baking.

This is how we made them in our mixer;

1 1/2 c warm water
1 egg
3 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp sugar

1 c 7 grain cereal (multi grain) which has been soaking in boiled water for 7 mins and drained.

6 c flour
1 1/2 Tbsp instant yeast (or you can proof regular yeast in 1/2c of the warm water from above with 1 tsp sugar)
1 Tbsp salt

Mix together for 5 mins.  Start with 5 c of flour and add more as needed. This dough should be on the stiff, but workable side. I think we ended up adding 7 cups of flour altogether because the soaked cereal had more water in it than I thought.

Take about 1/3 - 1/2 cup of dough at a time and roll it into a ball. Poke your finger through the middle and form the bagel.  Place on greased cookie sheet and let rise until doubled in size.  This should make about 18-24 bagels.

Close to the end of the rising time, bring 3 inches of water to a boil with 1 Tbsp sugar in it, then keep simmering on medium heat.  Add 3 bagels at a time and cook 30 seconds on each side. I resprayed the cookie sheet with oil while I was boiling them. Then return bagels to cookie sheet.

You can see in this picture how much more then bagels rise in the boiling water.

When you have boiled a whole sheet of bagels, brush with beaten egg white and bake at 375 for 25-35 mins, depending on how big you made them.  We made ours very small and only had to bake them 25 mins. We got 35 bagels out of this recipe.



While that sheet is in baking, get the other bagels ready for the oven.

We have been enjoying this delicious treat and I can tell you, that I hope never to buy another bagel again. Rebekah said that she likes making bagels more than bread, so I think I will hold her to that.

This post is linked up to Raising Homemakers Growing Home Saving 4 Six A Wise Woman Builds Her Home The Charm of Home Our Simple Country Life Above Rubies Hope in Every Season A Mama's Story