Artisan Breads Every Day - Bagels

Another terrific recipe from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day.

If you have been following along as we worked through this cookbook, you already know that we have enjoyed some good bread. But the day we made cinnamon raisin bagels was the first time that the children and I bit into the still warm bread and immediately packed up and went to visit Dad so he could have some too! With four children, visiting Dad at work is a rarity. But we knew how much Ed enjoys bagels, and (how can I say this humbly) these were the best bagels I've ever eaten.

I've made bagels in the past. There is a few extra steps, like boiling in soda water, that keep me from making them often. This recipe, though tipped the scales. Bagels this good are worth a little extra work!

I used the option of adding cinnamon and raisins. I also replaced 1 1/2 cups of white flour with whole wheat flour and added 2 T vital gluten. I increased the water slightly to a total of 1 1/3 cup.

I mixed up the dough and placed the dough in the fridge in a bowl and formed the bagels two days later. I ran into a little difficulty with shaping. The raisins had hydrated and pulled the moisture out of the dough. Around each raisin, the dough was punk dry. I thought the dough was ruined but in an attempt to salvage it, I wet my hands liberally while I formed the dough into bagels shape. This made the dough harder to work with and the bagels were lumpy and misshapen but the dough hydrated enough that the outcome was delicious! Next time I'll pre-soak the raisins in hot water before adding them to the dough.

The recipe makes six huge bagels. I doubled the recipe so that there would be a few for the freezer. They stored well, but didn't last long there either!
Do you want to try this recipe? You can find it on Cookbooker!