As a cost saving effort, and something to do all winter, I started making homemade bread and bagels. I’m happy to say we haven’t bought bread since last December. Hopefully my family is also happy to say that ;) The bread is pretty simple since I have a bread machine. I put in the ingredients, set the machine to “dough” and wait for 1hr 3min. When it beeps I put the dough into bread pans, let it rise an hour or so, then stick it in the oven for half hour. A little time consuming, but we don’t get out much these days anyway :)

The kids eat a lot of bagels, so I thought I’d give that a shot too. Bagels have proven to be more of a project than bread. It took a few tries, but I think I’ve found an awesome recipe. One of my problems with baking is that I’m not very precise and don’t tend to do the same thing twice (clearly not very scientific), so my outcomes are pretty hit or miss. This recipe has consistently come out good, despite my variations :) I’ve added frozen blueberries to it, cinnamon and raisins, cranberries, etc. Put the extra ingredients in right at the beginning and test it after the first knead cycle to
make sure there’s enough flour (I often miss this step). Anyway, give it a shot and let me know how it goes.

BAGELS
From “The Best Bread Machine Cookbook Ever” by Madge Rosenberg
Yield: 8
bagels

Dough
1 1/2 tsp active
dry yeast
2 cups bread flour (I often do 1/2 bread flour, 1/2 whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 tbsp
sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1 tbsp barley malt syrup (I got mine at King Arthur Flour)

Toppings
2 tbsp poppy seeds, sesame seeds, kosher salt, or minced onion (or everything
bagel topping, also from King Arthur Flour)

Instructions
1. Add all ingredients for the dough except the barley malt syrup in the order suggested by your bread machine manual and process on the dough cycle according to the manufacturer’s directions.

2. At the end of the dough cycle, remove the dough from the machine. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a
large pot bring 2 quarts of water to a boil.

3. While the water comes to a boil, divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope 12 inches long. Make a
circle of each piece, overlapping the ends by at least an inch and pressing or rolling the overlap tightly to seal. Let the
bagels rise for only 5 minutes. (I prefer the “roll into a ball and make a hole in the center” method of shaping bagels.)

4. Add the malt syrup to the boiling water. (The syrup gives the bagels their golden crust.) Lower a few bagels at a time into the boiling water. As soon as the bagels rise to the top, remove with a skimmer or spatula to a lightly greased baking sheet. Sprinkle about 3/4 tsp of any of the toppings over each bagel and bake 20 minutes or until golden.
(I let them boil for 30 seconds to a minute because mine seem to rise to the top immediately. Feel free to experiment!)