Whole Wheat Bagels

I’ve wanted to make bagels for a long, long time. I love bagels, but I’m pretty particular about them, because if a piece of bread is going to be the center of my meal, I want it to be good bread. And so, I find that only small batch, made by hand bagels seem to hit the spot. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll eat a doughy monster in a pinch. But for a real bagel craving, I need the real thing, which usually means a trip uptown to our favorite bagel spot, so it doesn’t happen that often. Thus the need to try for the homemade.

I think I waited so long to try out a recipe because I thought bagel making was going to be really, really hard. Like endless hand kneading hard. And despite what you may think based on my other baking adventures, I’m not always a fan of hard. Especially when it come to bread making, where hard = more likely to screw it up, resulting in hard and inedible. Not a good combination.

So imagine my delight when I discovered a bagel recipe that could be made with the assistance of the unsung hero of my kitchen–the Mini Zo. I bought this baby last fall at the suggestion of one of the ladies in the King Arthur test kitchen, and it’s been the best investment. With it’s help I bake bread, knead roll dough, all sorts of magic stuff! And it lessens the margin of error for bread making–always a plus when I’ve made a commitment to make all of my bread at home!

After my health emergency passed last week, the threat of surgery no longer loomed, and I was free to eat again it was decided. I was making bagels! Because nothing erases the memory of four days of chicken soup like a delightful piece of bread!

But after all of the delaying, and all of the worrying (would they boil okay? would they taste alright?) these bagels ended up being shockingly easy to make. So easy, I kept checking the recipe to see if I had missed a step. And shockingly delicious. Just like the bagels from our favorite shop. But with a little bit of my love mixed in.

Whole Wheat Bagels
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

If you have a bread machine, this is the perfect recipe to try your dough cycle out on! You put the ingredients in, and a hour and a half later, you’re ready to roll! Don’t have a bread machine, or want to try mixing and kneading by hand? Check out the link above, where KAF has instructions for putting these beauties together by hand.

Ingredients:

1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cups (16 ounces) water, warm
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 tablespoon salt

Directions:

Place all ingredients in the bowl of your bread machine. Set to the dough cycle. When dough is done, remove to a floured work surface.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a rope 8 to 9 inches long and 3/4 inch wide. Form each rope into a circle and join the ends. Alternately, you can roll each piece into a ball and punch a hole in the center. Place the bagels on a tray that’s been dusted with cornmeal, cover lightly with plastic wrap, and let them rise for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, secure the plastic wrap around the edges, and place the pan in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours.

Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and let them rest at room temperature for 45 minutes. While they’re resting, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, and preheat the oven to 450°F.

Place a few bagels at a time in the pot and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. If the bagels aren’t totally submerged when you put them in the water (mine floated) cook them for 1 minute on each side. Use a spoon or flat strainer to remove the bagels and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the bagels for 15 to 20 minutes, until they’re brown. Remove the bagels from the oven, and cool them on racks.

We ate ours with salmon, cream cheese, and friends. And boy, were we sad they were gone so fast! This is definitely on the make more soon list!

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