Day 22: ...bagels

Bagels.

I made them. I have thumbed past the recipe several times in the past few weeks. I had looked over the recipe and decided "too complicated". Well, this week has been quite a week for me emotionally and so I was in need of a challenge. So, I made bagels. If pictures are worth a thousand words, then here's a picture of me and the enthusiasm I felt at the thought of making bagels.

Hey! It took me 2 weeks to muster up this amount of enthusiasm!

Here are the un-glamorous steps/photos/commentary:
1) make the dough
       NO PHOTO
2) knead the dough (10 minutes) I had to have what they called a "heavily floured surface" to knead this dough on. Well, let me show you what a heavily floured surface turns into when I knead bread for 10 minutes (this photo was taken after just 1 minute of kneading, so you can imagine x9 more minutes). 

 I was kneading in a billowing cloud of flour *ACHOO* I and my kitchen became a heavily floured surface.


3) let dough rise  Hello, Bob!

4) make 12 equal portions of dough balls

5) punch hole in center with thumb and pull dough out from center of bagel near the hole to create a 1" hole

6) BROIL (2 minutes) 

Note the discoloration on the bagel on the right. The outer layer of dough becomes freckled and hardened (much like sun damage).

7) BOIL

8)Embellish with salt, cinnamon/sugar, sesame seeds, etc.

9) BAKE

10) eat sample

and here's a picture of me after I cleaned up and ate my homemade bagel