TwD: Bagels

I attempted this month's Tuesdays with Dorie challenge with much trepidation. I have always wanted to make homemade bagels, but something about the number of steps intimidated me away from it. It's funny, I read the 3-page recipe in Baking With Julia, and every time I read about boiling the dough I just sort of shut down. I even pulled out all the ingredients to get myself ready, then they sat on the counter for the entire weekend. Finally, Sunday afternoon, I decided to get over myself and make the durned things. And you know what? It wasn't that bad.

To make bagels from scratch, at least according to the recipe I followed, you:

- knead the dough
- let it rise
- chill the dough
- shape your bagels into ring-toss rings
- boil your rings in a water bath with sugar and baking soda
- brush them with an egg wash
- top with whatever you choose
- place them in a blazing hot oven and dump some ice water into the oven to create steam

The shaping, boiling, brushing, and dumping steps were much less daunting than I anticipated. My bagels were a bit dense but pretty good overall. They were much bumpier than I hoped - I think they didn't rise as much as they were supposed to, which would have gotten rid of the bumps. At any rate, it was fun to bring bagels to the office that weren't from Panera (although the next few bagel deliveries will most likely be from Panera).

For toppings, I used sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, sea salt, and cinnamon sugar. Next time, if there is a next time, I won't add sea salt till the last few minutes, because it browned in the oven and looked unappetizing. I though the cinnamon sugar might burn, but it actually melted pleasantly into the bagel - next time I might add another sprinkle after baking is complete.

For anyone interested in making your own bagels at home, you can find the recipe in Baking With Julia or here at the blog of this month's host. And to see others' bagels, check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blog.

Oh, and yes, of course I'm late in posting again.