Recipe Corner

Whole Grain Bagels

from the Low-Fat Living cookbook, by Robert K. Cooper with Leslie L. Cooper

3 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)
3 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
8 cups whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cream of tartar

In a large bowl, mix water and honey. Sprinkle yeast on top. Set aside to proof for 5-10 minutes.
Add salt and 3 cups of flour. Beat well for 3 minutes using an electric mixer (or beat approximately 300 strokes by hand. . .guess which I did :-) . . .and it turned out fine).
Turn onto a floured counter and knead in enough of the remaining flour to form a workable but soft dough. Knead for 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Form into a ball. (I actually had to add quite a bit more flour in the bowl before I had any kind of dough worth kneading. . .maybe it's the humidity down here.)
Llightly coat a very large bowl with a little oil. Add the dough and turn the ball to coat with oil. Cover and set in a warm place (80-85 degrees), allowing the dough to rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Bring a very large pot of water to a boil. Add the soda and cream of tartar. (Add slowly. . .they bubble up!)
Punch down the dough and divide into 16 pieces. (I did 32, because I like smaller bagels.) Roll each piece into a 7"-8" rope. Put a drop of water at each end and pinch the ends together gently to form a circle.
Gently drop a few bagels into the boiling water (they expand, so don't crowd them). (Once expanded, my big stock pot could only hold 4. . .it's at least 12" in diameter.) Boil for 2 minutes on each side.
Remove the bagels with a slotted spoon and place on a wire rack to drain. Boil the remaining bagels in the same manner.
Lightly oil a baking sheet and place the bagels on it.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 15-20 minutes or uintil crisp and lightly browned.

I was able to begin boiling, draining, and baking while still working on rolling and forming. Just get about half of the dough ready, and then multi-task! :-)

See my fabulous pictures here .

Labels: Breakfast

posted by @lici@ @ 4:53 PM