New York Style Bagels

In the last few years or so, Bagels have become so popular in Germany that you can find them almost everywhere.
My first Bagel I ate at Starbucks on a trip to Berlin with friends.But that was a few years ago.
While I was in America for 4 weeks in 2011, I had mini cinnamon and blueberry bagels and I totally fell in love with them. At thats when I really decided that Bagels are just awesome.
For the last 2-3 years I made so many Bagels and with different recipes, but something always didn't seem right and I had such a fight with forming them without them looking like total crap.
And finally, finally I found a recipe that is just perfect.
The Bagels taste so good, god, my stomach just started grumbling.
My dad loves Bagels, so when I make them he is always so excited.
But now comes my warning. Making Bagels takes some time. It's a yeast dough so it need quite some time to rise and the more time it gets, the better and fluffier the Bagels will be.
Now some of you probably think " What?? Why the hell should I make them, when I can go to the grocery store and buy some?". Well, yes you could do that, but self made Bagels are 100X more delicious then store bought one, and when you eat them when they're still slightly warm with yummy cream cheese, ahhh thats heaven. 

The recipe I'll give you, makes about 8 Bagels. You can easily double the recipe and freeze some, so that you always have some Bagels on hand.
This is a basic recipe, to which you can add for example garlic, onions, herbs etc. for different flavors or you can use another flour kind. For bread or bagels I usually use whole wheat flour. It has, in my opinion, more flavor and it is also healthier.

For 8 Bagels you'll need:
4 1/4 cup(500g) Flour 
1 Package dry Yeast
1 1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 1/2 Tsp. Sugar
1 1/4- 1 1/2 (300ml) cup warm water
1 Egg

1. Sift the flour, yeast, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Add the water( start with 1 cup, you can add more later) and with the knead hook of an electric hand mixer process everything into a nice pliable dough. Spread out flour on your working space and knead the dough for about 2-3 minutes.
If you think the dough is too dry, add some more water.
If the dough is a bit sticky, don't worry, I have experienced that if the dough is sticky it rises better and the Bagels will become nice and fluffy.
Either flour or grease your bowl, and put the dough back into it. Cover the bowl with a slightly wet towel and place it where it is warm and let it rise for about an hour.

2. When the time is up, get the bowl and boy down down the dough so that all the air can come out.
Pour the dough onto your flour cover working space and give it a quick knead. 
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll them into balls. To make the hole in the middle, there are different ways.Previously I used the end of a wooden spoon. I floured it and poked it into the middle and twirled the Bagel around so that a hole developed. Now I use the other opening of a piping tip and cut out a hole and then pull on the Bagel to widen it a bit.

3. Preheat oven to 390°F/200°C.

Place the Bagels onto a parchment paper covered baking sheet and either flour it or grease it(yes, just parchment paper isn't enough because they'll stick to it). I used non stick-cooking spray. Let them sit for another 30 minutes.

4. In a large pot heat up water, but do not bring to a boil. If you want to add 1 Tsp. Honey to it.

When the 30 minutes are up, place a few Bagels in the water and poach each side for about 30 seconds( You don't have to poach the bagels you can also just bake them).

When you poach the Bagels they get a little chewy, which is typical for a New York Style Bagel.

Put them back on the baking sheet. With the egg make an egg wash and brush the Bagels with it. Now you can go creative with the toppings. You can top them with sesame, flax seed, oats, poppy seed, cheese, onion and so on and so on or just leave them as they are with the egg wash.

Bake them for about 20 minutes until they're nice and golden brown.

And believe me when I say your kitchen will smell so fantastic, that you'll stand in front of the oven drooling. At least I did ;)

On the picture where they are poached but unbaked you can see that they're wrinkly and not so pretty, but when they bake up they look beautiful and mouthwatering good.

I really had to brace myself from not just eating one right there(I'm on low carb :( ).

You can put anything you like on your Bagel. A classic is with cream cheese and salmon, or my dad loves his with chicken breast or tuna. Or just plain cream cheese is also yummy.

My best friend love it with a thick layer of cream cheese, salad and cucumber(she would also like tomato but she's allergic to them) seasoned with pepper and salt.

Bagels are versatile you can put so much on them or into them to vary the taste.

And this Bagel recipe is really perfect. I love it and I will do it again soon.

Wow, here you can really see how fluffy they are. I'm in love❤.

When they are a day old, just cut the Bagels in half and toast them. Then they are crispy and warm again and taste yummmmmmmy.

XOXO Owlicious ;)