Makes 8 bagels. Total time about 2 hours.
Dough ingredients:
- 1.5 cups water
- 1 tablespoon dry active yeast
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon regular olive oil (pref. not extra virgin)
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 4.5+ cups unbleached flour (all-purpose or bread flour)
Dough directions:
- Heat 1.5 cups water to 110 - 115 deg F (about 77 seconds in a microwave).
- In a large mixing bowl, mix water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes. Make sure the yeast bubbles on the surface.
- Mix in oil, molasses, salt, and 1 cup of flour until uniform.
- Gradually mix in the remaining 3.5 cups of flour, kneading and folding the dough in upon itself by hand. Use a little extra flour as needed to ensure that there are no significant moist spots. This whole process of kneading should take about 10 minutes.
- Form the dough into a ball in the bowl, cover the bowl with a towel, and let stand for 15 minutes.
- Move the dough onto a cutting board and use a large knife to divide it into 8 even parts, one for each bagel.
- Roll each section in your hand into a uniform tube about 10 inches long. Fold the ends over upon each other with an overlap of 1.5 - 2 inches and smush the ends together to form a bagel shape.
- Cover the formed bagels with a floured towel and let sit for at least 20 minutes. While this is happening, prepare the boiling water.
Boiling ingredients:
- 5-6 quarts water
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Boiling directions:
- Boil about 5-6 quarts of water in an 8-10 quart stock pot. This should take about the same amount of time (20 minutes) as is needed for the bagels to rise.
- Add molasses and salt to boiling water and stir it in.
- Drop bagels into the boiling water, 2 or 3 at a time. Cook 45 seconds on each side - 90 seconds total - using a slotted or skimmer spoon to flip the bagels halfway through.
- Transfer boiled bagels to dish towels to dry off.
- Prepare a couple cookie sheets by sprinkling them lightly with corn meal (optional).
- Move bagels to cookie sheets.
Topping ingredients for everything bagels:
- 1 medium shallot or small onion, minced
- 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons regular olive oil
- Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, whatever you like :)
Topping directions:
- Mince shallot / onion and garlic.
- Add shallot / onion and garlic to measuring cup with enough olive oil to coat.
- Heat for approximately 60 seconds in the microwave. This should just soften and warm the toppings.
- Use a small spoon to add toppings evenly to bagels on cookie sheets.
- Sprinkle on any extra toppings, such as sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and kosher salt.
Cooking directions:
- Preheat oven to 450 deg F.
- Place both cookie sheets into the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 425 deg F.
- After 10 minutes, rotate cookie sheets between racks to ensure even cooking.
- After another 10 minutes (20 minutes total cooking), bagels should be done.
- Remove and place on cooling racks or cool wooden cutting board.
- Let cool for > 5 minutes. Cut in half and toast in toaster or oven broiler for a couple minutes.
Serve with cream cheese and lox or whatever you like. Enjoy!