Bagels

Last Saturday, I was at home during a rainy, cold day, and I didn't want to do homework.  Not the most uncommon situation, but in this case I didn't have any urgent tasks, and so I decided to do something fun.  

I've been planning to make this recipe for a while now, and I finally had the time.  In case the post title didn't clue you in, I made bagels!  Whole-wheat cranberry walnut bagels, to be exact.  I started them off in the early afternoon, then went and worked on researching to vote.  I let the sponge rise for two hours, then added the rest of the ingredients and kneaded.  And kneaded it.  And kneaded it some more.  If I had a bread mixer, it wouldn't have taken so long, but it was still worth it.  After about 1/2 an hour of kneading, I'd finally gotten my dough to the right texture.  I shaped it into little bagel balls and let it rest.  Then I shaped it into mini-bagels (variation from the recipe, yay!), and let it rest again.

I hadn't read through the directions very well, so I was a little bit surprised that I needed to put the dough in the fridge overnight.  It worked, though.

On Sunday afternoon, after church, I came home and pulled a pan of bagels out of the fridge.  I preheated the oven and set a pot of water on to boil.  In the meantime, I mixed some nutella and cream cheese to replace the hazelnut cream cheese called for in the recipe.  Yum.  Then I added baking soda to the boiling water, dropped the bagels in, and turned on the timer.  After a minute, I flipped them.  After another minute, I dropped them back on the pan with some cornmeal underneath.  I learned after the first batch that it's better to grease and cornmeal the pan, rather than using waxed/parchment paper.

I put the bagels in the oven for a few minutes less than the recommended time, because they were about 1/2 the size of those in the recipe.  When I pulled them out, they were fragrant, chewy, and delicious, full of whole-grain, walnut, and cranberry goodness.

When they were warm, I didn't want to put the cream cheese mixture on them, because they were too good alone.  Once they'd cooled, though, it was an amazing addition.  I froze about 1/3 of them, ate or gave away half, and then left the rest out for lunches.

This project was so fun - I had a great time, even though it was kind of a long time.  One funny part?  The next day I had sore ab muscles from leaning over the counter and kneading.

Overall, this project was worth it - much yummier and healthier than store-bought bagels.  I've also started researching other bagel recipes, although I need to use up these ones first!  Have fun!

<3
Eliza

P.S. On Sunday I got together with Melissa and Natalie, from our "compassionate service committee" (aka baking committee) of last year's ward.  We made pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, and banana bread.  It was so much fun!

P.P.S. You can get vital wheat gluten at winco or whole foods in bulk, or you could just buy a box of it at the grocery store :)