Baking, Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

Bagels

At the end of April, I had a hankering for bagels.  Not the chain store bakery ones that are really just buns with a hole in the middle but real bagels.  Slightly sticky on the crust with a real chewy middle.  Perfect for toasting and delicious for breakfast bagels, you know the kind.  Even though I bake all of our bread products, I haven’t made bagels for a very long time.

I keep a sourdough starter in my fridge that was originally given to me a few years ago by a fellow vendor at a craft sale.  It just keeps getting better and better the older that it gets.  I used this starter for my bagel’s and made the dough nice and soft so that it would stay chewy.  I can share my recipe, but you can find the same basic sourdough in most good bread books.

Here is my adventure in photos; when I reached the finish, I was really, really happy with the flavour and texture.  I will definitely make these again.

                 Rolling the dough
Shaping the bagels, man, my hands are wrinkly!
            Ready to proof
                        Boiling, boiling
Next time I will use a little egg wash to hold the seeds on.
                   Ready for the oven!
          Ah, bagels, lovely chewy bagels.
             More lovely chewy bagels.
       Ready to split and pop in the toaster.

This was an adventure that I will surely be repeating!  Have a happy week full of fun, crafting, and kindness (maybe throw in some bagel baking too).