Everybody enjoys a large, warm bagel in the morning to start their day. Jewish bagels are some of the best available and now you can make them at home with your favorite ingredients.
Ingredients:
· 1-1/2 cups of warm water
· 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil
· 2 Tablespoons of sugar
· 2 Tablespoons of salt
· 2 Tablespoons of molasses
· 3 Quarts of simmering water
· 4 cups of bread flour
· Cornmeal
· Kosher salt, poppy seed or sesame
Directions:
First, mix the warm water, yeast and 1 Teaspoon of sugar together and let it sit for 10 minutes. Next, add the remaining sugar, salt, 2 cups of flower and oil. Mix well and add the final 1-1/2 cups of flour. Turn the newly formed dough on a board and knead for 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth. Additional flour may be necessary if the dough sticks to the board during the kneading process.
Place the dough into an oil bowl, cover and allow it to rise until doubled in size. This will take approximately 1 hour. Once this is complete, punch down the dough, split it into 16 small pieces and allow it to sit for 5 minutes.
To shape each piece into bagels, roll the dough in a long strand and split 6 inches in length. Roll this into small pieces, approximately the width of a finger but twice the length. Shape this into rings and pinch the ends so they do not separate during cooking.
Next, set the oven to 450 degrees and place the uncooked bagels onto a baking sheet covered in cornmeal. Cover the sheet for 10 minutes to ensure the cornmeal sticks to the bagels. In the meantime, heat water in a large pot and add molasses. Once hot (not boiling), drop in the bagel rings and cook for 30 seconds, turn and repeat. Remove the bagels from the water and drain for 5 minutes on a rack. Then, sprinkle with the desired topping. Finally, bake in a cookie sheet on the bottom shelf until light brown and shiny.