Bagels (Bread Machine-easy) - Oh MY!

I found a recipe for Homemade Bagels making the dough in the bread machine.  I knew I had to try it!

I love my bread machine!  I think lots of people have these little appliances and don't use them.  Get your bread machine out of the cabinet!  They are so wonderful!  I rarely bake anything in mine, but I DO use it for all the mixing and timing.  That saves lots of steps.  But what I most like is that anything you mix in the bread machine is "managable".  There are no huge day-long baking adventures created with one batch of dough in a bread machine.

This little recipe made 8 bagels!  Perfectly managable.  Especially for a night when I had worked all day, came home to make supper, and wanted to do try something new like making bagels.  I have tried making bagels before but never with this much success.  These are perfect!!!!

These bagels are chewy, with a crispy crust, but light inside!  I loved them!  I will definitely be making these all the time.  I might also try this recipe and method for making homemade pretzels sometime in the near future.  But, I digress.  Back to the bagels.

Here's how I made Homemade Bagels AT HOME MY WAY:

Homemade Bagels (Bread Machine)

Ingredients for Dough:

• 1 cup Warm Water
• 1-½ teaspoon Salt
• 2 Tablespoons White Sugar
• 3 cups Bread Flour
• 2-¼ teaspoons Active Dry Yeast

Ingredients for boiling the bagels:

• 3 quarts Boiling Water
• 3 Tablespoons White Sugar

Ingredients for Baking:

• 1 Tablespoon Cornmeal
• 3 Tablespoons Poppy Seeds, Or Your Choice Of Toppings

Directions:

1.  Place water, salt, sugar, flour and yeast in the bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough setting.

2. When cycle is complete, let dough rest on a lightly floured surface.

3. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces, and roll each piece into a small ball. Flatten balls. Poke a hole in the middle of each with your thumb. Twirl the dough on your finger or thumb to enlarge the hole, and to even out the dough around the hole. Lay the bagels (shaped) on a cookie sheet, spray with cooking spray, and let rest for 10 minutes.

4.  Meanwhile, in a large pot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar.


5. Sprinkle an ungreased baking sheet with cornmeal. Carefully transfer bagels to boiling water. Boil for 1 minute, turning halfway through. (I set a timer for 30 seconds and then flipped, then timed for another 30 seconds.

6.  Drain briefly on a clean towel (just a few seconds).

7.  Arrange boiled bagels on the cornmeal sprinkled baking sheet. brush tops with butter or egg (optional), and sprinkle with your choice of toppings (optional) (I love poppy seeds).


8. Bake in a preheated 375 degree F (190 degrees C) oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until well browned.  (Watch them.  Mine only took about 22 minutes.)

Here are some pictures of the process, start to finish!  Easy and fun!  My husband even got up away from his favorite show to take a peek at how these are made.

First the dough, after the bread machine had done it's part:

Separate the dough into eight even pieces.  I cut in half, then each half in half, and so on until I had eight even pieces:

I formed into a ball, pulling the sides under and pinching:







I pushed my thumb in to make the hole, and widened the hole:

Here they are resting, ready for their bath (10 minute-rest):

After resting 10 minutes, notice they plump up just a little bit (before their bath):

Scrub a dub-dub, bagels in a tub (boiling in the sugar/water) (30 seconds on each side, then flip for another 30 seconds):

Drip dry (just for a few seconds on a towel), then place on the cornmeal covered cookie sheet, brush with melted butter or egg, and add any toppings.:

Ready for the oven my pretties:

All done and gorgeous, don't you think?  Wait until you TASTE 'em!

Enjoy!

Gina

This recipe was shared at:

http://www.littlehouseliving.com/old-fashioned-recipe-exchange-25.html