Homemade Bagels – no kneading necessary!

I’ve been quiet the last few weeks, but not because life has been quiet. In fact, I’ve been baking up a storm: homemade bagels, soft pretzels, lemon curd pie, flourless chocolate torte, salted caramel marshmallows, vanilla bean marshmallows, and more! I will be blogging about a few of these adventures, but I thought I would share the bagel recipe first because it is so easy and so delicious! Let’s face it, good bagels come from bagel shops and are too expensive to regularly indulge in. This recipe makes 10-12 bagels (depending on how big you make them) and costs a mere fraction of what it would be to get a dozen bagels from your favorite shop. And they are delicious!!!

Recipe:

For Dough
1 1/2 T sugar
1 1/2 T kosher salt
1 1/2 T rapid yeast
3 cups warm water
6 1/2 cups bread flour

For Baking:
8 cups water
3 T sugar
1 t baking soda
Flour for work surface
Whole wheat flour for bread peel
Toppings: sesame seeds, dried onion, poppy seeds, etc.
Pizza Peel, Bread Stone, and Metal Dish

Combine sugar, salt, yeast and water in 5 qt stand mixer with dough attachment. Add flour and mix until combined. Cover and allow to rise 2 hours. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

When ready to make bagels, lightly dust surface of dough with flour and break off a 3 oz or small peach sized piece of dough. Quickly stretch and shape the dough into a ball. Repeat until all dough is used. Allow to rise covered with saran wrap for 20 minutes. Meanwhile boil 8 cups of water in a large stockpot. Preheat oven to 450 F (20 min) with baking stone on center rack, and a metal dish on bottom rack. Once the water is boiling, lower heat to simmer and add sugar and baking soda.

Take a dough ball and make a hole in the center. Slowly stretch out the center until the hole is 2x the diameter of the dough wall. Drop the dough in the simmering water and cook for 2 minutes, then flip it over and cook one more minute.

Take bagel out and lay on a clean kitchen towel dusted in flour. Repeat until all bagels are boiled. (I did three at a time, but you need to be careful not to crowd them in the pot or they will become misshapen.)

Transfer 5-6 bagels to pizza wheel dusted in whole wheat flour. Add toppings to bagels and slide onto hot stone.

Pour 1 cup hot water into metal pan in oven and quickly shut the door to create a steam bath. Cook bagels 12-15 minutes until slightly golden or longer if you want crispier bagels. Remove and allow to cool on wire rack. Repeat until all bagels are cooked. Enjoy slightly warm with cream cheese or toppings of your choice!