This is super exciting. I made homemade bagels today. I am super proud of myself. It didn't go perfectly the whole time, but it wouldn't be cooking/baking if it had!
The finished product!
I got this recipe from a blog called The Galley Gourmet after searching online a while ago for a blueberry bagel recipe. I need to make a few tweaks next time I make this, but I will for sure be doing this again. Not that hard, doesn't take too long (other than the hour of rising). why buy bagels?
So of course first I put together all of the dry ingredients. The only thing mentioned in the recipe that I did not use was lemon zest. Didn't have it, didn't want to go out and buy it, so I didn't put it in the recipe. Maybe next time! I also put in a little less yeast than it said to. This is because I used a packet of yeast which turns out to be slightly less than the recipe calls for. And by a little I literally mean like 0.05 oz less than needed.
Using my biggest bowl to leave room for kneading.
This recipe also assumes you have a stand up mixer with a dough hook. I am not so lucky, thus I used my hands! Which really isn't that bad. So after the dry ingredients I added the water a little at a time, mixing with a spoon until the dough really started to come together. After a little more water than the recipe stated the dough was formed enough to take it out of the bowl and onto a flour-covered counter with flour-covered hands.
Doesn't look like a lot of dough, thank goodness for rising!
Then I kneaded, kneaded, kneaded. About 8 minutes (the recipe says 8-10). And then it was time for the blueberries. This was the hardest part of the recipe for me. First off the recipe calls for freeze dried blueberries. I did not have those. Plus at the only store close to me, dried blueberries were $15 a container. That was not happening. So I used frozen berries. This proved to be difficult. Every time I worked some of the berries into the dough they either melted or popped and thus the liquid content of the dough went up. So it got real messy real fast and I used a whole lot of flour to try and make up for it. Super frustrating. Next time I will plan ahead and go to a cheaper market to buy dried berries that's for sure.
The dough after blueberries, before rising.
Then I turned the oven on to 200, put the bowl covered with a towel on the stove top, and let it sit for an hour. I took a run during this time (go me!).
Look how much bigger it is!
After the hour I punched the dough down gently to get the air out and then let it sit for 10 more minutes while the oven was preheating for baking and water was boiling on the stove. Then I formed the dough into eight bagel shapes. They didn't turn out super even, but no one is eating them but me so who cares!
On the baking sheet after forming!
They get to hang out for another 10 minutes and then it is time for boiling. This is a super cool part. The bagels get super big and fluffy after being boiled for a minute on each side.
Boiling away!
Look at the size difference! (top - preboil, bottom - postboil)
So after boiling each bagel on both sides, I drained them using a slotted spatula, and lined them back up on the baking sheet. They were so big at this point that I had to split them onto two different sheets and just rotate them on different shelves in the oven throughout baking.
Ready to bake!
All done and looking delicious!
And that was that! I took them off the pan and onto a wire rack to cool and they were done.
Of course after letting them cool for a few minutes I had to do a taste test with a little whipped cream cheese and a glass of apple juice (all out of orange :( ).
Fantastic!
Taste test #2!
So all-in-all super successful. A little snafu with the blueberries, but still all good! I will definitely be making these every once in a while when I feel like some bagels! Next time I may even dry a dried cranberry version, yum yum.
Here is the original blog post for the full directions and ingredients: http://www.thegalleygourmet.net/2012/04/blueberry-bagels.html
Thanks for reading! Look for a post in the next few days, I'm planning to make some soup soon!
-Liz
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