Bagels!

I just got back from Southeast Asia, which, of course, means I had to bake ALL OF THE THINGS! Today I made a loaf of bread as well as bagels.  I have made bagels before, but never of the gluten free variety.  The recipe is as follows, originally here (it is the comment by AlwaysSomething):

2 packets active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
5 1/2 cups Cup4Cup all purpose GF flour (I use Namaste brand, which can be bought at Costco for fairly cheap)
3 TBSP sugar
2 Tsp salt
2 quarts boiling water

I added 2 eggs as well as an extra Tablespoon flour.

Start by combining the 2 Tbsp yeast with the 2 cups warm water and stir lightly.  Let sit until it starts to bubble and foam.  While that is blooming, put the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a mixer.  I started using the dough hook for this. Put the mixer on low and mix the flour until a well forms. Add in the yeast mixture and start to beat on medium.  Add in the two eggs and mix until a ball forms. At this point, I switched from the dough hook to the paddle attachment. It combined the flour with the wet ingredients more easily.  If your dough is too sticky, add in the extra Tbsp flour.  I ended up adding the extra flour to my dough.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let sit in the bowl for 30-45 minutes. The dough should rise, but not significantly.

While the dough is rising, boil the 2 quarts water.  The original recipe calls to boil the 2 quarts water with 2 Tbsp. canola oil.  I didn't add the oil; I think it is to prevent the dough from sticking but it is optional.  As the water boils, prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.  You can dust it with cornmeal if wanted. One of my sheets had cornmeal, the other didn't and the bagels all turned out fine.  After the 45 minutes, uncover the dough and start to form bagels.  Grab a hand-full of dough and roll it like a snake.  Put the two ends together. If needed, wet one end of the dough to help them stick together.  After you roll out all of the dough, poach the bagels.  Drop them into the boiling water and let them boil.  I did about 1 minute on each side, but it doesn't have to be very precise.  After the dough is poached, remove from the boiling water and let them drain a second.

Transfer them to the parchment and top with whatever you so choose.  I used a mixture of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and minced garlic.  Because the dough just came from the water, the toppings will stick well.  You can also brush with egg for an egg bagel instead of using toppings.  Put the bagels into a 400 degree oven for 14 minutes.  I had two cookie sheets with bagels so I rotated the cookie sheets after 7 minutes. This means the upper rack moves to the bottom, and the bottom to the top.  In addition, rotate the sheets so the bagels in the back are in the front and the front are in the back.  I then baked an additional 3 minutes, switched the sheets again, and 3 more minutes until they were golden.  I baked them a total of 20 minutes with two rotations of the sheets. I was able to make 17 irregularly sized bagels about the size of a mini bagel.  If making full sized bagels, it should yield around 10...I'm guessing.

Once cooled, slice in half and schmear on whatever you choose. My favorite is to start with a little butter and then add some lox cream cheese and Muenster cheese.  You can also add fresh smoked salmon or smoked white fish, or any other bagel topping.

Enjoy!

Bread is going to be another post...eventually.