Homemade Bagels

Only 5 ingredients! And pretty easy, just allow enough time for the dough to rise! These are the ingredients for 8 bagels, each bagel turns out to be about the size of the palm of your hand (not huge like the Dunkin Donuts ones).

2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cup warm water
3 1/2 cups flour (I used bread flour, the recipe said high-protein, wheat, or white would work fine)
1 12/ tsp salt

Put 1/2 cup of water in a bowl and add the sugar and yeast. Let this sit for about 5 minutes, it should get frothy, then you know the yeast is activated! Stir to dissolve sugar and then add in the remaining water, flour, and salt). Knead ingredients together for about 5 minutes, you'll want the dough to be moist yet stiff. If it's too sticky add some more flour, too dry add some more water. After kneading let rise for an hour.

1 hour later: Dough should have doubled in size, gently punch down and let it sit for another 10 minutes. After this divide your dough into 8 pieces and roll each into a really tight ball of dough (this took awhile to get a really good ball). Use a finger to make a hole in the center of each ball and stretch out the center a little (not too much, the dough will about double in size during boiling). Let the bagels rest for 10 more minutes. While this is happening bring a big pot of water to a boil.

Using a slotted spoon (of whatever you have) drop each bagel into the water for 1-2 minutes. They should float, the more time in the water the chewier the bagel. I boiled mine for a minute each side. Take them out of the water and put them on a oiled baking sheet.

Now is the time to add toppings! I didn't (because we were planning to eat them with cinnamon raisin peanut butter) but if you wanted to: beat an egg and brush the top of each bagel with egg. Add any toppings you want (poppy seeds, onion, garlic, salt, etc) and that's it. (the egg helps the toppings stick)

Bake the bagels for 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees or until they are browned and crispy on the outside. Enjoy!