Bagel Experiment, Take One

Bagel experiment, take one, originally uploaded by skipthechips.

Cliche, yes, but so real: I miss the bagels from the city. I even miss the ones from the donut carts; it's that bad. Luckily, we have the internet and a lot of energy for this kind of thing. I set out to find some recipe that sounded promising, and settled on this. The hard part about making bagels is not the boiling, which is the part that kept me from trying it sooner. It is the kneading -- this is some tough dough. We don't have a mixer to do the work, and I'm not exaggerating when I tell you we kneaded the dough for about an hour before it came together. In hindsight, this was probably the fatal flaw. And I think next time I'd add another tablespoon of water or two and try to get the kneading to 30 minutes. The boiling was easy (just drop them in for a few minutes per side) and then into the oven they go. We all gave them high marks when they were warm. The issue with these was the next morning, when they were rock hard in the ziplock bag I had stored them in. Again, I think they were kneaded to death. But, aren't they pretty?