I have been naïvely promising my other half that I would make him some homemade bagels. How hard could it be? Ha! Well now I know. The end product was both pleasing to the eye and taste buds, but holy cow was it a lot of work. I started with a recipe I had seen on Smitten Kitchen’s website (and halved the recipe) on Saturday morning and after a long evening out was rudely awoken at 7am Sunday without so much as a cup of tea by a husband muttering, you said you would make bagels.
So I was off to the kitchen to complete the process. To be honest, the bulk of the work is kneading the really stiff dough and forming the bagels and proofing them the day before. This morning was the boiling and baking of said bagels. I opted this time for plain bagels with a bit of sea salt on top, next time I will invest in a dough hook and will make cinnamon raisin bagels.
Even with all the work, they were leagues better than any bagel I have been able to find anywhere in the UK as yet. I cannot comment on the bagels made in Brick Lane in London (I have heard they are amazing), but I can say with clear conscience, that these are excellently chewy bagels.
I made 2 types of quick flavoured cream cheeses, both of which were well worth the quick amount of time they took.
Vanilla nut cream cheese
- 2 Tablespoons light cream cheese (I use philadelphia)
- Dash vanilla extract
- sprinkle of cinnamon
- 3 pecans finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon honey
Stir all ingredients together and away you go. Will keep for a few days in the fridge
Veggie cream cheese
2 Tablespoons light cream cheese
1 T Julienned carrot, finely chopped
1 T Finely chopped mild onion (or spring onion, chives)
Tiny pinch of sea salt and pepper
Stir all ingredients together and serve. Will keep for a day or so in the fridge.
So my first foray in the baking bagels has been successful, thankfully as it was a lot of work and I would definitely try these again.
Bagel Recipe
Serves | 6-7 |
Prep time | 3 hours |
Cook time | 10 minutes |
Total time | 3 hours, 10 minutes |
Allergy | Wheat |
Dietary | Vegan, Vegetarian |
Meal type | Bread, Breakfast, Lunch, Snack |
Misc | Freezable |
Region | American |
Website | Smitten Kitchen |
Ingredients
- 1/2 teaspoon Instant yeast
- 2 cups High gluten or strong bread flour
- 1 1/4 cup Water (room temperature)
- 1/4 teaspoon Instant yeast
- 1 3/8 cups cup High gluten or strong bread flour
- 1/2 tablespoon Honey (or malt syrup)
- 1 tablespoon Bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Polenta/cornmeal (for dusting the trays)
Note
I made this entire recipe by hand, I do *not* recommend this unless you want quite an arm workout. This dough is really stiff and not like making normal bread as it takes a lot of kneading.