Bagels

Michael and I buy a lot of bagels so I thought I'd finally try to make my own. This was the first time making homemade bagels and they came out pretty well. I would change a few minor things I did but other than that I'll definitely be making my own bagels from now on!

Ingredients:

3 tsp. yeast

4 cups all-purpose flour (I used bread flour and I think this was one of my mistakes)

2 tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. warm water

toppings of your choice

Instructions:

- I used my bread maker to knead the dough and rise, but you could do this yourself. Add all ingredients except toppings and knead and let rise. If you have a bread maker, put it on dough setting and follow instructions on how to add ingredients.

- Once that is finished, roll dough into about 3-4 inch spheres and poke a hole in the middle with your finger. Shape however you want. Ours turned out sort of lumpy and not as nice looking as store bought bagels, but we didn't care...

- Boil these for 2+ minutes. The longer you boil, the chewier they will be. We boiled ours for exactly 2 minutes and I think this was perfect. Be careful though... they will get a tad bit larger in the boiling water.

- Place these onto a greased cookie sheet and top with whatever you choose! I added a tiny bit of margarine to them and sprinkled garlic and onion flakes on most and cinnamon and sugar on two.
- Bake them at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Ovens may vary so just keep an eye out on them. I actually baked mine at 350 and it took like 50 minutes for them to bake. That might've been because of the bread flour. Who knows.

- Let cool just a few minutes before you eat because these babies are HOT!

- Don't refrigerate after they are cooled because this will make them tougher. Store in an air-tight container and enjoy!

Basically these were amazing when eaten while still warm. Yum!! I'll probably make another batch today and see how they turn out with all-purpose flour instead of bread flour and 400 degrees instead of 350. Bagels are nice to make because you can top them with whatever you want. I can't wait to eat my cinnamon sugar one here in a bit!