Homemade Bagels

4C White Bread Flour, 2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast, 1 1/2 teaspoons Salt, 1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil, 1 1/4-1 1/2 C very warm tap water, 3 tsp (or 1 Tbsp) white sugar.

Combine yeast and sugar with 1/2 C water. Let rest 5 minutes until foamy. Combine Flour, Salt, Oil, Yeast mixture and enough water to make a very stiff dough. If you need the entire 1/12 C water, use it. You don't want the dough to be too soft, but you want to be able to incorporate all of your flour. Once all ingredients have been combined, turn out onto a lightly floured counter. Knead for 10 minutes. Cut into 12 even pieces and roll into balls. Let rest for 10-20 minutes. Take each ball and roll it into a rope slightly longer than the width of both hands- take both ends and bring them together under your palm and roll them to seal, making sure they are completely sealed shut. You should now have a raw bagel! Continue with the other balls until all are shaped- let rest another 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil and pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F. Splash a small amount of vegetable oil on a large baking sheet to grease it and set aside.

Once your water is boiling, add 1 teaspoon baking soda, and place 2-3 bagels in the water at a time. (Don't crowd them.) Boil 2 minutes on one side, then flip and boil another 2 minutes- They will puff up in the water- Remove from water, drain slightly and if desired, dust the bottom with corn meal- (You can also put any topping you desire on them at this point- Onion, sesame seed, carraway, etc.) Set bagels on prepared baking sheet. Continue until all bagels are boiled, then place tray in oven. After 10 minutes, turn bagels over and cook another 5- You want them to be light brown, but not too crispy. Remove from oven to cooling rack- Cool slightly then enjoy!

(Cooks note- The original recipe states to make only 8 bagels, however I have found this makes them gigantic- That is why I make 12 and it makes them a very decent size. You could make "mini bagels" by cutting the dough into 24 balls- please note, they are going to look very small at first. Once they proof twice and boil, they get much bigger. Also, if you want to make sweet or savory bagels, just mix the ingredients into the flour when you are adding the water. Keep in mind that will change the calorie count, etc. )

Serving Size: Makes 12 good size bagels

Number of Servings: 12

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user KYTARA.