Homemade Bagels

I love bagels, holy cow.  We have an amazing bagel sandwich shop in downtown and it's so hard not to go there all the time.  I've seen a few bagel recipes online and was always discouraged, because they look so complicated.  So when I found this recipe, I was a bit skeptical, because it seemed too easy and that maybe it wouldn't taste like real bagels.  But I was wrong!  This recipe was simple, fun and so freaking tasty!  I think I will make these often, and probably not buy bagels that much anymore.  These are so good.  I got to work on forming them a little bit better, but for my first try, I was impressed with how well they turned out!  We ended up with 4 plain, 2 sesame & 2 cheese.  Delicious!

4 c. bread flour
1 Tbl. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbl. oil
2 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 c. warm water

1.  Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Don't worry about proofing the yeast, just stir all ingredients until it's well incorporated.
2.  Plop the dough on the table, add some flour and kneed for about ten minutes.  Dough should be firm and smooth.
3.  Cut into 8 equal pieces and form in balls, let rest for 20 minutes.
4.  Roll out a dough ball with your hands until it is a little bit longer than the width of your two hands.  Form into a circle--the website had some technique that I couldn't quite grasp.  I just eyeballed it and formed circles that looked uniform enough.
5.  Let rolled bagels rest for 20 minutes; bring big pot of water to a boil, spray cooking sheet with Pam or something & preheat oven to 425 degrees.
6.  Boil as 3 - 4 bagels at a time, one minute per side.  Once they've been boiled on each side, place on oiled sheet.  If you want to add poppy or sesame seeds, or even cheese, simply have a clean plate ready with the toppings and carefully (bagel will be hot) place on top of the toppings.
7.  Once all bagels are done and toppings have been added, bake for 10 minutes.  Flip bagels and cook another 10 minutes.
8.  Let cool 15  - 20 minutes (however long you can stand it) and then enjoy!

waiting to be boiled

boiling!

into the oven

after first 10 minutes

finally done!

oh the sesame ones were amazing

well, they were all amazing!