Food brings people together. Families gather for holidays with the meal being a main attraction. Friends gather for cook-outs and barbeques. If you Google families and eating together, you will find numerous heartfelt or inspirational quotes about eating together. In addition, you will find an abundance of captions for your Instagram feed on eating together and you will find all the positive and feel-good reasons for eating together.Cooking together amps up the family connection that you gain by eating together. My step-daughter, Stephanie, who I usually just refer to as my daughter, developed an interest in cooking when she was student teaching in a small town that did not have a selection of restaurants or fast-food places. Her only option was to prepare her own meals. Since her college days, her cooking and baking skills have developed and perfected. We recently started cooking together and have really been having fun while cooking together. She introduced me to making bagels. She made this recipe several times and comments that they are “easier to make than you would think”. She is correct!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water-warm to the touch-about 100°
- 2 3/4 tsp instant dry yeast or active yeast
- 4 cups bread flour- not all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp packed brown sugar
- 2 tbsp salt
- Nonstick spray or 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 quarts water
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 egg
- Everything bagel seasoning
Instructions
- Prepare the yeast by whisking warm water and yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
- Thoroughly mix together the flour, brown sugar and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture and beat on low speed for 2 minutes while adding all the flour to the stand mixer bowl.Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 6-7 minutes or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 6-7 minutes. If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or work surface to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. After kneading, poke the dough with your finger. If it bounces back slowly, your dough is ready rise.Lightly grease a large bowl with olive oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil or spray. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes or until it doubles in size.Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Shape the bagels. When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball. Press your index finger through the center of each ball to make a hole about 1.5 – 2 inches in diameter. Loosely cover the shaped bagels with a kitchen towel and rest for a few minutes as you prepare the water bath.Preheat oven to 425º.Fill a large pot with 2 quarters of water. Whisk in the honey. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to medium high. Drop bagels in one at a time making sure they have enough room to float around. Cook the bagels on each side for one minute.Whisk an egg to create an egg-only egg wash. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on the top and around the sides of the bagel. Place Everything Bagel seasoning in a shallow dish. Dip the bagel into the seasoning and then place seasoning side up on the baking sheet.Bake for 20 – 25 minutes rotating the pan halfway through. Bagels will be done when they are a dark golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.Slice, toast and top with your favorite topping such as fresh Strawberry Rhubarb Jam.HAPPY EATING!!
Cindy’s Step-Daughter Stephanie
Shop the Post
