I Bagel Your Pardon?

Hellooo! You've probably already guessed what today's post is going to be about from my dad joke of a title. I had not been getting any exercise in the lockdown so today I decided to give myself an arm workout kneading dough to make bagels! Bagels are an all-time breakfast favourite. Whether you are a busy New Yorker on your way to work or a trendy teen from Dhaka hanging out with your friends at North End Cafe, everyone loves bagels!

My love for bagels came from evening hangouts at North End with my friends or family back in Bangladesh, over a cup of hot chocolate and a cream cheese bagel. All my North End peeps from Dhaka know what I am talking about! From then until now, that is why eating bagels always has a nostalgic factor to it for me, as it reminds me of my high school years, when life was much less complicated and simple.

The crispy exterior of the bagel combined with the chewy texture inside when you bite into it makes it one of the best kinds of bread out there. You can top off a bagel with anything you want- sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried onions etc. and spread anything starting from cream cheese to jam onto it and you've got yourself a delicious and fulfilling breakfast.

Homemade bagels and the whole process of making it has a certain kind of art and warmth involved and it always looks so therapeutic to me. So, I decided to do something wholesome for breakfast today and ended up making bagels to give my mood a boost.

The ingredients needed are as follows:

• 1 ¼ cups water

• 4 ½ cups bread flour

• 3 tablespoons white sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 tablespoon instant yeast

• 3 litres of water

• 1 cup honey (Optional)

Directions:

• Combine water, flour, sugar, salt, oil, and yeast in a mixing bowl. Dust a flat surface with some flour and transfer the dough to the surface. Start kneading the dough, it will be very sticky at first so, you can apply some flour onto your palms as well. This will make handling the dough easier. Keep kneading until the dough becomes thin and translucent and does not tear off when you stretch. It took me about half an hour for the dough to fully develop but that time may vary.

• Transfer the dough back to the bowl, cover it with cling wrap and a kitchen towel, and let rise for 2 hours.

• After two hours, open up the bowl and punch the dough down, place it on a lightly dusted flat surface, and using a knife, divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll each piece of dough into the shape of a sausage about 5 inches long and then join the ends to form a circle. Repeat with the remaining dough, and and then let them rest for 15 minutes.

• Preheat oven to 240 degrees C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

• Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add honey to the water if you want a sweet chewy texture. Place bagels into the pot, three at a time, until they rise to the surface of the pot. This make take about 1 minute per side. Remove the bagels with a slotted spoon and place them onto the parchment-lined baking sheet.

Note: At this stage, you can add toppings to your bagels if you like. Pour out your desired toppings in a bowl and dip the wet tops of the bagels in it. Place them back on the tray, with the toppings on the upper side.

• Bake the bagels in the preheated oven until they begin to brown,for 15-20 minutes.

The bagels that I made turned out crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. However, the tops were not as smooth and evenly baked as I would have liked them to be. I did not use any toppings but I did spread some cream cheese onto one to try it.

Although the overall process of making the bagels might seem pretty frustating and complicated, I promise you it will turn out to be very therapeutic and wholesome and the end result will be definitely worth it! Take it from a fellow bagel lover, homemade bagels straight from the oven hit different! So, if you have some time on your hands or want to give your arms a workout in this lockdown, do give this recipe a try!