Bagels

I really had a craving for bagels today, but when I went to the store they weren't on sale :( --you can see my true asian-ness, everything I buy must be on sale or really cheap hehehehe... Anyways, the price did not crush my craving for the sweet baked good so I went home determined to bake some real homemade bagels. I pulled out this recipe from "The Creative Cook" which seemed easy enough to make and used ingredients that I had just hanging around the house.

Bagels
Makes 16
Preparation: 30 minutes
Rising: 1 1/4 hrs
Cooking: about 55 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons dried yeast
8 fl oz (200ml) hand hot water
1 lb (450 g) strong white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 oz (25 g) margarine/butter
1 egg yolk
beaten egg for glazing

To finish: poppy seeds, sesame seeds, chopped onion

Method
1. Dissolve sugar water and yeast in bowl and let stand for 10 minutes, or until a decent head of foam is produced.

2. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Rub in the margarine. Add the egg yolk. Stir to mix and add in the yeast mixture; kneading to make a smooth dough.

3. Place in an oiled polythene bag and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.

4. Knock back and knead the dough. Divide into 16 pieaces. Roll into 5 in (13 cm) lengths. Shape into rings and place on floured trays.

5. Place trays in greased polythene bag and leave again for 10 minutes.

6. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop two or three bagels in at a time. Cook for 5 minutes.

7. Remove bagels with a draining spoon and blot dry with paper toweling. Place on grased baking tray. Brush with beaten egg and top with seeds or chopped onion.

8. Bake for 20 minutes until brown.

Note: I used half white and half whole-wheat flour, and it turned out well. Yet my younger sister did not really enjoy the extra wheatiness of the bagel but... meh.

Variation: I divided my recipe into thirds and experimented with different variations of this recipe. For cinnamon raisin bagels I decreased the amount of salt to 1/2 teaspoon, increased sugar to 2 1/2 tablespoons, added 1 teaspoon cinnamon to the dry mixture and 1/4 cup raisins to the dough (remember this is for a third of the recipe!). For cheese bagles I left the ingredients the same, but added 1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese to the dry ingredients; and then sprinkled some on the top before placing them in the oven. And for a crunchier bottom to the bagels I decided to sprinkle on some cornmeal.