SO SIMPLE BAGELS

in honor of my love of bagels (and reconciliation with an oven!) i decided to finally give making them myself a go... and i was well impressed with the results!

using isa chandra moskowitz's recipe, from her fab book vegan brunch, i whipped up a batch of gorgeous, fresh bagels in under 2 hours - amaze!

how?

3 tablespoon of sugar

1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water

7g dry active yeast

4 cups of plain flour

2 tablespoons of wheat gluten

2 teaspoons of salt

dissolve 1 tablespoon of the sugar in the lukewarm water in a bowl, add the yeast, set aside.

combine the flour, wheat gluten, salt and remaining sugar into the mixer bowl of your kitchenaid (or equivalent) mixer bowl or large mixing bowl if you'd prefer to knead by hand - mix to combine.

Add the yeast mixture and knead for at least 10 minutes to form a dough that is "neither dry nor wet but nicety tacky"

transfer your dough into an oiled bowl (I used a large glasslock bowl with a fab click-top lid) and cover with clingfilm, and place in a warm sunny spot for at least an hour until it has increased by half it's volume and is "nicely springy."

bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, preheat oven to 220'C

transfer the springy dough to a dry, clean surface and divide into 12 even pieces. roll each piece into a ball and then push your thumbs through the middle and roll the dough under into a doughnut shape. stretch out the hole slightly and set aside until all your dough has been shaped. place the shaped bagels into the boiling water (lowering to a simmer) in batches of 3.

The bagels should rise to the top - cook for 1 minute, flip and cook for a further min on the otherwise. remove from the pot with a slotted spoon, draining off any excess liquid and place on a baking tray lined with parchment. repeat until all bagels have been boiled. place the baking tray into the preheated oven and cook for 18 minutes or until "nice and amber brown"

leave bagels to cool for 30 minutes - then enjoy just as they are or topped with your fav bagel toppings - yum!!

makes 12 small or 6-8 large bagels