Bagels

My family really enjoy bagels, especially for hearty packed lunches.  They are expensive to buy, usually costing between £1 and £1.60 for a 4 or 5 pack from the supermarket.  I baked a dozen bagels and they cost 47p to make, not counting energy/cooking fuel costs.

You could add chopped, finely cooked onion and garlic to make the bagels more flavoursome, or for sweet bagels add some ground cinnamon and a couple of handfuls of raisins.  I used white bread flour to make these bagels, if using wholemeal bread flour you will need to add a little more water (3 - 6 tablespoons) and they will take longer to rise.  

Bagels

500g strong bread flour - 32p

7g instant yeast - 11p

10g salt - 1p

1 Tblsp golden syrup or sugar - 3p

250ml lukewarm water - free

Mix everything together to form a dough and then knead it really well, for about 15 minutes in a mixer or slightly longer by hand. It is quite a firm dough. Leave to prove until almost doubled in size.  

Knock the dough back then divide into 12 portions, my plain dough weighed 65g a portion. Roll each piece of dough into a long sausage shape then join the ends and roll to seal the join. Leave to prove again for around 30 - 40 minutes. 

Thanks to my husband for being the hand model

Preheat your oven to 240C/220C Fan/Gas Mark 9. Put a pot of water on the stove and bring the water to just simmering, not actively boiling, and cook the bagels for a minute each side. Drain then put on lined baking trays. Cook the bagels in the preheated oven for around 15 - 18 minutes.