Everyday Bagels

While not authentically Pennsylvania Dutch, this is the recipe that I bake the most often. I like to bake a batch of these bagels (almost) every week and take them to work with me, to eat for breakfast. I eat a bagel nearly every morning, since they’re easy to pack, and to eat while working, hence the name Everyday Bagels.

They’re not as intimidating to make as it may look. Yes, there are quite a few steps, but none of them are overly complicated. If you’ve never made bagels before, just follow the steps below, and you’ll get the hang of it in no time! Actually, my biggest piece of advice is, don’t forget the salt! One time I forgot to add the salt to the dough, and they just had no flavor. They tasted like nothing and really weren’t all that good. I wanted to throw them out, because there was no way to fix them (and I didn’t want to eat them as is). I tried putting salt on top of the cream cheese to compensate for the forgotten salt, but it didn’t work. The dough was still extremely bland (and it’s not exactly as if they have much flavor to begin with!). This mistake taught me how important two teaspoons of salt could be. Very important.

It actually reminded me of words spoken by Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.” (ESV). If you’d like to understand this verse better, try making a batch of salt-less bagels and eat one. And, yeah, maybe even try to put some salt flavor back into them and see if it works. After you’ve done that, imagine that you are the bagel which has lost its salt. Then, go back to the kitchen and make a new batch of bagels, with salt, and see how much better it tastes!

Enjoy! ~Kelly

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Everyday Bagels

Yield: 8

Author: Kelly

Prep time: 45 MinCook time: 20 MinInactive time: 1 H & 50 MTotal time: 2 H & 55 M

Delicious, homemade, golden brown bagels, topped with any seasonings you want.

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 and ½ cups warm water (around 110 degrees F)
• 1 tbsp brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1 pkg instant dry yeast (2 and ¼ tsp)
• 4 cups bread flour
• 2 tsp salt

Water Bath

• 2 qt water
• ¼ cup honey

Egg Wash

• 1 large egg white (2 tbsp)
• 1 tbsp cold water

Instructions

1. In a large bowl (if using a stand mixer to knead the dough, use the bowl of your stand mixer), combine the warm water and brown sugar. Stir together, until the sugar is dissolved, then add the yeast. Let this sit about 2-5 minutes, until the yeast has proofed.
2. To that same bowl, add the flour and salt. Mix until combined (if you’re using a stand mixer, use your dough hook at low speed, if not, use a large spoon.). The dough shouldn’t be overly sticky, add a little more flour if it is. (The dough shouldn’t stick to the sides of your bowl.)
3. Knead the dough until it bounces back when poked. This should take about 5 minutes in a stand mixer, or about 7 minutes by hand.
4. Place the kneaded dough in a bowl greased with olive oil and cover with a clean towel. Place the bowl in a warmed oven, about 105 degrees F. For a quicker rise, dampen the towel with warm water before you cover the bowl, or place a dish of warm water on the bottom shelf of your oven while the dough is rising. Let the dough rise about 1 to 1 ½ hours or until doubled in size. (If you let the dough over rise, your bagels will deflate and be slightly flat.)
5. After the dough it done rising, punch it down. (I prefer to punch the dough down using many little punches over the entire top surface of the dough, but you can also punch it down using one larger punch in the center of the dough.)
6. Remove the dough from the bowl, onto a slightly floured, clean surface. The dough shouldn’t be overly sticky, so it won’t need much flour to keep it from sticking. Split the dough into 8 equal sections. Roll each section into a ball, and then stick your thumbs through the center and slightly pull them apart to create an opening, about 1 ½ inches wide.
7. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
8. In a large pot, stir together the water and honey. Bring to a light boil. Place the shaped dough in the water, top side down, and boil for 1 minute. Then flip the bagel and boil the other side for an additional minute. Each bagel should be boiled for a total of 2 minutes. You can fit about 2-3 bagels in the pot at a time. Remove from the water using a slotted spatula or spoon.
9. Mix the egg whites and water to create the egg wash. Once the bagels are out of the water bath, brush them with the egg wash and top with any desired toppings (for example, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, minced onion, everything seasoning, or whatever you like!)
10. Place the bagels on a lined baking sheet (line using parchment paper or a silicone baking mat) and bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops get a nice dark golden brown. You’ll know they’re ready if they sound hollow when you tap on the tops.
11. Let the bagels sit on the tray for about 5-10 minutes. Then remove them to a wired cooling rack. Bagels can be stored at room temperature, in a sealed bag, for up to 5 days. They can also be frozen using zip top freezer bags. I would recommend removing them from the freezer to defrost the night before you want to use them. Otherwise, you can quickly defrost them by microwaving a single bagel, wrapped in a damp paper towel, for 20 seconds on each side. Don’t over-microwave them or they will become tough and chewy.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

269

Fat

1 g

Sat. Fat

0 g

Carbs

56 g

Fiber

2 g

Net carbs

54 g

Sugar

10 g

Protein

8 g

Sodium

605 mg

Cholesterol

0 mg

*Nutritional information is estimated

https://kellyskitchenpa.com/recipes/soft-chocolate-chip-cookies

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