Bagels

I'm going to be completely honest. Homemade bagels fresh from the oven actually taste even better than homemade bread fresh from the oven.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

2 1/2 cups warm milk (110-115 degrees F)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

1 egg

7 cups (approximately) all-purpose and/or bread flour

cornmeal and any addings/toppings you want

Instructions:

1) Stir the yeast into the warm milk. Add the vegetable oil, sugar, salt and egg, and mix well.

2) Add enough of the flour to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a surface and kneed until smooth and elastic. Add flour as necessary is you find your dough remains sticky while kneeding.

3) Place in a greased bowl turning once to grease the top. Let rise for an hour.

4) Punch down and shape into 16 balls. Press through the center to create the bagel hole. Cover and let rise for 10 minutes.

5) In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. When boiling, drop bagels into the water for around 3 minutes. With a slotted spoon, flip each bagel partway through the boiling time. Meanwhile, place cornmeal onto a cookie sheet where you are going to place each bagel. When the bagels finish boiling, using the slotted spoon, place them onto the cookie sheet an inch or two apart.

6) Bake at 400 degree Fahrenheit for about 17 minutes.

Note: The bagels in the pictures are cheddar cheese bagels. We place bits of cheese on top after boiling the bagels. You can also add other flavors like raisins, cinnamon, blueberries, sesame seeds, etc. I've added them while shaping the bagels, but if you want only one flavor perhaps you can add it before the dough rises? I haven't tried that yet.