Homemade Cheese Bagels

I've been looking for a good bagel recipe for a long time. I try every recipe I come across and I never find one that I really love....so I keep looking. These bagels were good, but I think the next time I make them I will be adding some baking soda to the boiling water to create more of a chewy crust and I think that the boiling time the original recipe calls for is too long. Other than that these tasted great and the kids really enjoyed them this morning for breakfast.

Bagels
recipe from King Arthur Flour

Dough:

• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 4 cups flour (they call for bread flour, but I never have that)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar, Colby, jack or pepper jack cheese

Water Bath:

• 2 quarts water
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Place all of the dough ingredients in the pan of your bread machine and set it to dough. Let it mix and raise. When it's ready to shape, take the dough out of the machine and place it on a work surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and roll them into smooth balls. Poke a hole in the center of the dough and stretch the hole out to be about the size of a quarter. Place on a greased cookie sheet and continue until all of the dough is done. Let them raise for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Bring the water bath ingredients to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. After the bagels have risen for 30 minutes, gently simmer 2 or 3 at a time for 1 minute on each side. Remove from the water and place on a greased cookie sheet.Sprinkle with more shredded cheese if desired. Repeat with remaining bagels. Bake bagels for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown, turning the pan around halfway through the baking time.  Let cool. You can slice these and place them on a cookie sheet in the freezer, then place them in a plastic freezer bag for storing in the freezer. Reheat in the toaster for best results. 

Boiling the bagels was by far and away the hardest part for me. I followed the KAF recipe to the letter and I just think boiling for 2 minutes on the first side was too long. Some of my bagels flattened out in the water when I boiled them for this long, so I shortened the time and they were staying nice and plump. Just my observations.....you may have a completely different experience! Also, I know for a fact now that I should have added a little more flour to the dough because it was still slightly soft and not as stiff as it should have been. This may have been (and probably was) a contributing factor to the bagels performance in the water bath. Live and learn and then make bagels again :)

Flat or puffy, cheesy or plain- these bagels were delicious any way you sliced them! I'll be making them again very, very soon. 

This recipe has been linked up to Little House Livings Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange