Bagels are one of the (many) bread-foods I have been trying to perfect. I LOVE bagels, and as with all foods that I love, I figure if I make it myself it will be healthier and less expensive for me to eat it, give me more options for variety and experimentation, and teach me good uses for my food storage. (This is usually, though not always, the case.) So I've made several attempts to produce good looking and great tasting bagels. I have had more flops than successes in this endeavor, including several batches of wrinkly bagels that nobody would eat but me (and the only reason I ate them is because I have a thing about wasting food). I did have success when I baked with my sister earlier this year but I had yet to meet with success on my own.
I used the bagel recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice (one of my two favorite books for bread recipes) and modified it (per his instructions) to use the sourdough I received a few weeks ago from my friend Hans. I was very pleased with the resulting bagels. I think I'd cook them a little longer next time as they were very pale (only on top - the bottoms were nicely browned thanks to my baking stone), but otherwise I followed the recipe pretty much exactly.
I used cheddar cheese, sesame seeds, dehydrated onions, and salt as toppings. Instead of making 12 big bagels or 24 mini bagels, I compromised and made 18 medium sized bagels. They are good sized - not too big but not too small. They worked out to be about 3 oz each.
Kimball and the kids enjoyed them. I think Erica and Cambria each ate a whole bagel, while Isaac ate half. I finished one by myself and Kimball ate 1 1/2. I had another for lunch as a sandwich - they are a great size for that.
I was impressed that my family ate them so well, especially considering the fact that Kimball claims not to like sourdough bread all that well. I happen to love it, so I'm thrilled that they like these bagels. I'll definitely be making them again.
