Fresh Bagels!

 I tried making Bagels a long time ago just to see what it was like and had made them a couple of times.  I found it was a lot of work for 8 bagels, and I preferred the store-bought ones. Then, the Pandemic happened. Bagel shops were closed, we weren't going into any stores and I started making bagels regularly. I enjoyed it, but it was certainly time consuming and let's face it, I'm more of a sweets baker and decorator than a bread maker. At the beginning of the Pandemic there were serious flour shortages, and as soon as they became available I ordered many bags of bread flour from King Arthur Flour.  Once things reopened and we ventured out, I stopped making bagels regularly although Bubby is a fan and would sometimes request them.

Now, however, one of our local bagel shops has hugely increased their prices, and the other one has become pretty skanky.  So it looks like I'm going to be putting bagel-making into my regular kitchen duties rotation, along with salad-dressing, dried parsley and crushed red pepper, and other staples we make by hand in our kitchen. It's a good thing I still have that last bag of Pandemic bread flour!

I use this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction blog. For toppings I generally use a mixture of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried thyme and a bit of kosher salt. It's what I tend to have at hand. The only change I make to the recipe is that I use half a whole egg for the egg wash, instead of egg white. No need to separate an egg and waste a yolk.  We'll use the other half of that egg for scrambled eggs. 

Slice and freeze the bagels and we have a stock ready to consume and Bubby is happy! If we're lucky they'll last a week.

Homemade bagels on the cooling rack.