Today, on this  -22 degrees below zero wind chill day with winds blowing over 30 miles per hour I decided to make my husbands favorite treat.  Bagels.  I have known him for almost 40 years and every morning of those 40 years he has had a bagel for breakfast.  He loves bagels, especially homemade.  My whole family loves bagels–including the babies!  Well, Abbott (almost 5 months old) doesn’t know yet about bagels but I am sure he will love his G’s bagels too!I’m just saying, every time I make bagels they look different.

Oh dear mother though, they always taste great.  Perhaps I failed to blossom in geometry–that may be why they are never perfectly cylinder like the ones in the packages.  I like texture, so they are never perfectly smooth, and besides, all those nooks and crannies allow more toppings to stick.  So I am happy with the results.

Here is my recipe:

G’S BAGELS

Ingredients:

• 4  cups all-purpose flour

• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

• 1 tablespoons white sugar

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt

• 1 egg
• various toppings of choice

Directions:

In mixing bowl, fit with a bread hook, combine 1-1/2 cups flour and yeast. Mix water, 3 tablespoons sugar and salt together, and add to the dry ingredients. Beat with a mixer for half a minute at a low speed, scraping the sides of the bowl clean. Turn up the speed for 8 minutes. If you need more flour, add up to a 1/4 cup.  The dough should pull away from the sides and form a ball.  It will be a stiff dough.
Cover, let rest for 15 minutes.  (I always put my dough that is rising or resting on a wooden bowl.  Granite and other counter tops are too cold and may impact rising.)

Take a large pot and start boiling a gallon of water.  

When the bagels are ready, put 3 or 4 bagels into the water, (don’t crowd them) and boil for 7 minutes, turning once. Drain them. Place on a greased baking sheet, paint them with an egg wash of 1 beaten egg with a shhh of water.  Add your favorite toppings, and bake at 375 degrees F  for 30 to 35 minutes. 

Enjoy.  Remember, they don’t have to be pretty.