Family Chow Hall

Bakery Style Cheddar Cheese Bagels

April 30th, 2007

You know what I’m talking about - Bagels like the ones you can buy in the Bakery Department of your grocery store or, better yet, from a bread place like Panera. Mmm… Mmm… my personal favorite is the Asiago Cheese Bagel. When you toast one of them up and slap a thick layer of cream cheese on it, there couldn’t be anything better for breakfast.

Of course, bakery bagels are a treat for me — not something to be enjoyed regularly. If we indulge ourselves constantly, then we get accustomed to it and need higher degrees of indulgence just to enjoy it. Less is more. (I’ve tried to explain this concept to my kids often, they think I’m just against fun.) I think that pampering yourself occasionally is just fine, but as a constant part of your life it’s not fulfilling at all.

So — to get back to the bagels — I’m learning to make bagels at home because my kids absolutely adore them and I refuse to pay bakery prices for something that only costs me pennies to make at home. (basically flour and water, right?) As it turns out, when you buy bagels, you are paying for the labor. They are a bit of work. Not hard, really, just somewhat time-consuming. However, you can make a really delicious bagel at home. There’s no big secret or fancy machine that you need to make them. Oh, sure, mine don’t turn out perfectly smooth and uniformly shaped, but they taste darn good.

Below is my recipe for cheddar cheese bagels. You can use the same recipe with Asiago cheese, or dried blueberries, or whatever strikes your fancy.

Bakery Style Cheddar Cheese Bagels
makes 12

dough:

1 3/4 c. water
2 1/4 t. salt
3 T. sugar
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
3 c. white flour
3 t. yeast
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

for boiling:

3 quarts water
3 T. sugar
1 T. cornmeal

for baking:

1 egg white
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

This is a little complicated, so stick with me… Hopefully you have a bread machine. If so, place all of the dough ingredients into it and set it on the dough cycle. It should be VERY DRY dough. As dry as it can be and still be dough. You have to watch it and possibly add either more flour or more water in small amounts. If you DON’T have a bread machine, you will have to mix it as you would bread flour and it will be difficult because the dough is so dry.

After the cycle is complete, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and let it rest. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and shape. Usually I just make balls and forget about making a traditional bagel shape. If you have your heart set on bagels with a hole in the center, form a ball of dough and then poke your thumb through the middle and stretch it out a bit. Sprinkle some cornmeal onto a baking sheet or baking stone and set them on it to rise. Cover lightly with a towel. Let them rise for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.

For the boiling step, put the water and sugar into a large pot and bring to a boil. At the same time, heat your oven to 375 degrees. When the water is ready, dip each bagel into the water for 1 minute - 30 seconds, flip, 30 more seconds. Remove to a wire rack to drain, then place it back onto the cookie sheet or baking stone.

Beat the egg white and brush the top of each bagel with it. Sprinkle a Tablespoon of cheese onto each top and then put them all in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. I usually rearrange them at 10 minutes - switch top to bottom and front to back. They should turn a nice golden-dark brown.

When they are done baking, cool again on the wire racks and then go ahead and split them and either eat them right away or put them in the freezer. Bagels have a reputation for molding quickly. (Probably due to that dip in sugar water.)

Well, if you can’t enjoy making them, at least ENJOY eating them and saving the bucks you coulda spent at the bakery!

Entry Filed under: Bread, Breakfast, Recipes, Table talk