Who Needs Panera?

One of the most beautiful things about food and cooking is that it has the ability to transport you just about anywhere in the world and you don't even have to leave your kitchen. 

Today, I went to New York.

I've been in the mood for some good bread recently and I've been on a random bagel kick so I figured why not try my hand at some homemade, NY style bagels?

I found this recipe from a fellow blogger: New York Style Bagels

Before I get into it let me just say....

HOLY SMOKES

These are actually the best bagels I've ever had. Now, the link I posted has the recipe and all the detail you need, but I'll just share some tips I plan to keep in mind for the next time I make these (which will probably be next Sunday). 

As you may already know, there's not a whole lot of humidity in The Mile High City, so I ended up adding a significant amount of extra water to my dough. Just enough to incorporate all the flour though, resist the urge to add water if you don't need it, you want a firm dough.

When I was kneading the dough, I found it a lot easier to break the dough into sections and knead those, then kneaded it all together a few times. I found it was way more manageable than trying to manhandle the whole dough ball. And yeah, it does take about 10 minutes to knead it properly. This is a bagel. Not a cake. There's a considerable amount of gluten you need to develop in those 10 minutes. I'm assuming if you're making homemade bagels, you're not that lazy. So don't be. It should be very elastic when you're done.

(Pre and post kneading. Pretty different, huh?)

After a nice run on a typical gorgeous Denver day (and after the hour rest time was up), I was ready to make some bagels. I boiled my bagels for about a minute and a half on each side and I thought they were perfect for the kind of bagel I like. If you like a chewier bagel, boil a little longer. And for less chewy... well you know.

I was going for an everything bagel but I only had sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and salt. So I guess it's more of a some-things bagel? Anyway, I highly recommend a little sprinkle of salt on the top regardless of what else you top it with. It doesn't make it salty, but just enhances the flavor of the bagel. I might even consider doing an extra pinch of salt in the dough next time- but the salt on the top did the trick.

All of my toppings would have stuck just fine coming out of the water, but I went for an egg wash just for the sake of color and I'm definitely glad I did. It helped make them look as good as they tasted!

Time to bake!

After a run and another great yoga class, I couldn't think of a better snack than a toasted homemade bagel with a little butter. Obviously my hunger got the best of me and I forgot to snap the photo before I dug in. But honestly, after that first bite, I'm impressed I stopped eating long enough to take a picture at all!! Really guys.. They're that good.

Confession time- the hole in my bagels pretty much completely disappeared after the whole cooking process. I'm not saying I re-pierced my bagel for photo purposes, but I'm also not prepared to say I didn't.. I'll be making the holes considerably bigger next time. Not that I felt like it was particularly detrimental.. It's just more of a bagel flavored roll with a little belly button.

Now, if you don't think you're a good baker, please don't be scared off. Bagels are actually way easier to make than you may think and they're SO worth it. I'm not the biggest fan of baking and I'll be making them again and again. I mentioned at the beginning of this post one of the greatest things about food. Well, here's another. It's so exciting to me to share food experiences, recipes, and adventures with people. It helps us connect on a very basic level. So come on, try it out. If it doesn't work out, like anything else, its a learning experience and a funny story later. :)

~Kim