Earlier in the week I tried my hand at making bagels. I used to work in a bagel shop and I have a pretty deep love for the big, doughy, carb disasters we call bagels. I never buy them, though, because they're always insanely high in calories and full of white flour, which I try to avoid when I can. But when I ran across this recipe for homemade bagels while sorting through my bookmarks, I had to give the whole wheat variation a try. I followed the recipe pretty exactly, except I'm out of agave so I just stuck with sugar.

They were fun to make - boiling bread dough is a weird experience. Next time I make these (and there will be a next time) I'll knead the dough in my bread machine, because I really am not a fan of kneading and I don't think I did it quite long enough. Even so, they turned out pretty well. I made four plain and four with an everything topping (poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried onion and garlic, and sea salt). They were nice and soft right out of the oven, but the next day they weren't as great. There's a reason bagels are made fresh every day. They don't stand the test of time very well. Next time I'll pre-slice and freeze them the day they're made.

Labels: baked goods, bread

Posted by Amanda on March 04, 2007 at 1:49 PM | Permalink