Won't you feel clever for making BAGELS? There are only a few differences between the dough for bread or bagels and one extra step. If you make several dozen at a time, you can freeze them. This recipe will yield two dozen bagels and four large breads.
Ingredients
Lots of water — 8 cups
1 tblsp. — baking yeast
2 tblsp. — sugar
8 cups — organic unbleached white flour, germ added
1/4 cup — gluten powder (optional)
4 cups more — unbleached white flour
1/2 cup — oil
2 tsp — salt
4 cups — organic whole wheat flour, with extra to clean hands or if dough is too sticky, one cup or so
2 tsp — pick one: baking soda, salt, sugar (to the boiling water)
Small amounts — bagel toppings like sesame seeds, kosher salt, onion flakes, poppy seeds, or granulated garlic
Method
Start in a large bowl with two cups hot water and six cups cold water. That should be just warm enough to not burn on the back of your wrist. To this, add one tablespoon baking yeast and two tablespoons sugar.
Let it sit about five minutes before adding in eight cups of unbleached white flour (I like the organic kind with the wheatgerm added back in). Beat it one hundred times to develop the gluten. If you would like a dense bagel, more akin to a bagel shop's, you can add in some gluten flour at this point or gluten powder. This raises the protein content and will help make a denser bagel consistency, but it is not necessary for a delicious bagel. Let this sponge rise for twenty minutes.
Let it sit about five minutes before adding in eight cups of unbleached white flour (I like the organic kind with the wheatgerm added back in). Beat it one hundred times to develop the gluten. If you would like a dense bagel, more akin to a bagel shop's, you can add in some gluten flour at this point or gluten powder. This raises the protein content and will help make a denser bagel consistency, but it is not necessary for a delicious bagel. Let this sponge rise for twenty minutes.
