Bagels! Bagels! Bagels!

Who knew that bagels were so easy to bake? I have a previous post where I made cinnamon raisin bagels, which were amazing. I wanted something more savoury this time so I added some dried basil and garlic powder. 

I'm not going to get super technical, because I only loosely follow directions at best so here goes. You'll need:

1 cup warm water

1 1/2 tbsp of sugar

2 1/4 tsp of active dry yeast (or instant)

2 1/2 cups of flour

Pinch of salt 

1 tbsp dried basil

1/2 tbsp garlic powder 

First, in a bowl add the warm water (not hot to touch) and then add in the sugar. Stir and add in the yeast. Wait 5 minutes or so to make sure it's active. (It will start to "foam") 

Next, add the optional salt and then the flour. Knead until you're frustrated and want to give up. Usually about 10 minutes. (This is usually where I volunteer my daughter as manual labour...) The dough should be smooth and not sticky. At the halfway point I added about 1 tbsp of dried basil and 1/2 tbsp of garlic powder.  

Place your ball of dough on a cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Set somewhere warm for 2 hours. It should double in size. 

*intermission* (At this point you can do laundry, watch a movie, yell at kids, pay bills, walk the dog etc...)

After two hours take your now giant ball of dough and break it into 6 (large) or 8 (medium) equal size pieces. Roll each one by hand into a ball and then break through the centre to make a hole. 

Place your bagel shaped dough on your lined cookie sheet (again) and let rise for another 30 minutes. 

*intermission 2*

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

In a wide pot, bring water to a boil. Place each bagel in boiling water for 1 minute on each side. The place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, sprinkled with corn meal. 

Now, bake the bagels for 18 to 20 minutes and OM NOM NOM.