Bagels!

So for the first year and a half that I lived there, I was thoroughly convinced that New Jersey was the land of a thousand bagel snobs and no good bagels.  It was October of my second year when I finally got someone to take me to a bagel shop where they declared the bagels to be "good."  And I've gotta admit, there's a difference.  I'm told (by bagel snobs) that to make good bagels, you need really hard water.  Here in Tucson you could basically stand a spoon in the water, so it seemed like bagels were worth a shot.  I'd be interested to hear how this recipe comes out elsewhere.  I suspect that the hard water thing is probably a myth, but I haven't put any effort into testing this hypothesis.

Basic Recipe

2 cups water
1 package yeast
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 tsp salt
6-8 cups flour

Chocolate Chip Bagels

Cut salt to 1/2 tsp
1 package mini semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp cocoa powder
5 tbsp sugar

Pumpkin Bagels

Cut salt to 1/2 tsp
Cut water to 1 cup
1 can pumpkin puree
5 tbsp sugar
Some cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, nutmeg.  Maybe a teaspoon ish of each?  Sorry---I don't really measure anymore when I play with pumpkin pie spices.

Blueberry Bagels

Cut salt to 1/2 tsp
Cut water to 1 cup
1 pint blueberries, fresh or frozen
5 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vanilla

Instructions

First, wake up those yeasty-bugs!  Heat your water up to 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit and sprinkle the yeast over the top.  Stir to break up any clumps, and then let it rest for ten to fifteen minutes, until it starts to bubble up a little bit.  While you wait, bring any additional wet ingredients (pumpkin puree or blueberries or whatever) up to about 100 degrees so they don't cool your dough down too much.  Add three cups of flour, and the other ingredients, and blend until smooth.

Slowly add two to three more cups of flour, until you have a dough that you can handle with your hands without getting it stuck to your fingers.  Turn it out onto the counter (your counter's clean, right?) and knead for a minute or two.  Let it rest for about ten minutes, and then knead for another ten minutes, adding flour as you go whenever the dough starts to feel sticky.  You could end up adding a lot of flour here, especially if you're dealing with blueberries.  The kneading pops the blueberries, adding more moisture to the dough, so you need more flour to absorb it.  Actually, you should probably budget an extra five minutes of kneading to the blueberry dough to account for this, but it's worth it, because blueberries!

Once you're done kneading, spray a large bowl with cooking spray, put your ball of dough in the bowl, and spray the top with cooking spray to keep it from drying out.  Put plastic wrap over the top of the bowl to make it air tight, and put it someplace warm.  (In Tucson, we have such a place.  We call it "outside.")  Let the dough rise for about an hour.  I believe that it is traditional to say "until double in bulk," but I don't think anybody actually knows what that means.

While your dough is rising, get a pot of unfiltered water onto the stove to boil.  You want it boiling by the time your dough is done.  Also, preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now that your dough has risen, you get to punch it!  This is far and away the best part of dealing with yeast doughs.  Uncover it and give it a good solid punch right in the middle.  Then turn it out onto the counter and squish it back down to its original size.  Bagels do not need a second rise, so you should start shaping them right away.    Rip off roughly plum-sized lumps of dough, roll them up into a ball, and then use your thumb to punch a hole in the center.  This takes practice---most of my bagels are still kind of ugly, but super tasty!

Put your bagels into the boiling water about five at a time (more or fewer depending on the size of your pan---just don't crowd it).  They'll float to the top.  You want to give them about three minutes on one side, then flip and give them three minutes on the other side.  Get them out of the water and onto a cookie sheet.  You can do an egg wash at this point if you want, especially if you want to put seeds on top, but it's not necessary.

Pop them in the oven for 15 minutes, and you'll have bagels!  Yay bagels!  Bagels bagels bagels!