Bagels

Week 22, Bake 22.

I've decided that I really like kneading. It's not even about getting out the aggression, I just like it (its almost like playing with play dough). Anyway, I am now struggling for ideas for my bakes, I have some in my head but they are being saved for special occasions or times when I can't think of any better bakes. It has been a lovely sunny couple of days in Somerset, which was made even better that yesterday at work I got to go on a school trip to see the Olympic Torch with the children. It was actually quite great and of course I took pictures...

Anyway so this weeks bake is bagels as I thought I would try something different.

Ingredients:

• 1x 7g sachet of dried fast action yeast
• 4 tablespoons of caster sugar
• 2 tsp of salt
• 500g of bread flour
• Sesame seeds to decorate
• water

Method:

1. Tip the yeast and one tablespoon of sugar into 100ml of warm water.
2. Mix with a fork and leave for 10 minutes to get frothy.
3. Pour it into a large mixing bowl and add 200ml of water and the salt.
4. Now stir the flour in a little at a time using a wooden spoon. Bring it into a ball of dough and turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it for 10 minutes (or until it becomes elasticated).
5. Cover the dough in an oiled bowl and leave it to rise for 1 hour (or until it has doubled in size) in a warm place.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 200c.
7. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 10 balls of 85grams.
8. Shape it into a flattish ball then using a wooden spoon or your finger create a hole in the centre and twirl it around until you have a 3cm hole.
9. Shape your bagel to make sure it is the perfect shape.
10. Cover the bagels with cling-film whilst you shape them all.
11. Now boil a saucepan of water and the remaining sugar.
12. Slip the bagels (one at a time) into the boiling water and flip them over cooking them for a minute.
13. Remove the bagel from the pan, then put them on a baking sheet and sprinkle them with your chosen topping. (I used sesame seeds).
14. Cook them for 20 minutes and eat!