These deserve a few !s because they're bagels! & they were easy! & they turned out great!
There are a ton of bagel recipes out there, but this one by John D. Lee is dead on. Check out the short video clip at the end of his post that shows you how to roll them. And you really do get better as you go along. Here's the tray pre-rise. First attempt lower left, second attempt upper left--
Here they are after a 20-minute rise. A little puffy & ready to go in a kettle of boiling water
Boil 1 minute per side
Drain 1 minute
Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, flip them over and bake for another 10 minutes.
Bagels!
Notes
- I subbed in 1/2 cup whole wheat flour for 1/2 cup bread flour in John's recipe
- Prepping for the rise - place rolled bagels on parchment, not silpat. After they rise you have to transfer them to your kettle of boiling water and they come off the parchment a lot easier than the silpat. I covered with plastic wrap & you can spray it with some cooking spray or not. Either way, the plastic wrap came off very easily without taking any of the bagel dough with it.
- Have a rack/sheet pan & slotted spoon ready to drain your bagels after you boil them.
- When moving them from parchment to boiling water, just flip them over into the kettle. They'll be upside down for the 1st minute of boiling & right side up for the last minute of boiling.
- When you remove them from kettle to drain on the rack, use a slotted spoon & place them right side up on the rack (you will get rack marks on the underside).
- Drain for 1 minute & move to sheet pan. Instead of oiling a sheet pan, I just baked them on a silpat.
- Bake 10 minutes per side at 425.
That's it!
