Bagels

Two of my girlfriends and I decided to do some fun cooking together every week. This week they wanted to learn to make Bagels, so I taught. We each tried a different recipe so we could compare textures, flavors etc... We made 2 cheese garlic, whole wheat cinnamon, chocolate chocolate chip.
The first step is the mixing. The easiest way is by using a bread machine, on the dough setting. We also did two by hand to compare. Mix warm water, 1 tsp sugar and yeast, and let stand for 5 mins (if using fast rise yeast you can skip the 5 mins waiting) Mix remaining sugar, salt and half of the flour. Stir in the yeast mixture and remaining flour. Knead, adding more flour as necessary for 10-15 mins. Dough should be smooth, satiny, stiff and elastic, the dough should spring back when poked. Then cover and place someplace warm and rise until doubled, about 45 mins to 1 hour.
Here is the dough, I forgot to take a picture of the cheese one (the bread machine), the other two are chocolate, and the wheat (1/3 whole wheat, 2/3 bread flour)

Then you have to knead the dough, mix in any to chunks, shape into circles, and place on a baking sheet and cover for a second rise, about 20 mins. The cheese was the smoothest, dough, while the chocolate was very hard to work with, and the wheat was just perfect.

After the second rise you boil some water (with honey or sugar in it) and boil the bagels, a few at a time, for a min on each side. Then you can glaze add any toppings you want and bake! Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 mins.

The cheese was delicious, but too soft, we needed to knead more flour into it. The chocolate was too stiff and needed more water, next time I won't bother with the cocoa (it only changed the color, it didn't add to the flavor, and made the dough stiffer) but just add the chocolate chips. The wheat was perfect!!!! So now we all know the correct texture. I'd made bagels before, often when we lived in Japan, but it has been a few years. The reminder was great, and I'll be back to making bagels often again now!
Here are the three we used today.

Garlic Cheddar Bagels
makes 2 lbs
1 1/2 C water
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp sugar
4 tsp crushed garlic cloves
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cocoa
5 1/2 C bread flour
3 tsp yeast
2/3 C grated or cubed cheese
extra cheese for topping

Chocolate Chip Bagels
makes 2 lbs
1 1/2 C water
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cocoa
5 1/2 C bread flour
3 tsp yeast
1 C mini chocolate chips or chunks

Cinnamon Sugar Wheat
makes 2 lbs
1 1/2 C water
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour
4 C bread flour
3 tsp yeast
Cinnamon/Sugar mixture to knead into swirls just before shapping, and for topping