Bagels!

We made bagels! From scratch. How cool is that?

I developed a love of bagels while living in the States as a teenager. When I first got back to Canberra there was absolutely nowhere that you could buy bagels here. Sometimes a cafe would purport to sell bagel sandwiches and each and every time they would turn out to be bread rolls with holes in the middle. So disappointing.

Over the last few years my bagel cravings have been well satisfied by the bagels from That Bagel Place, who sell their wares at the Farmers Markets on Saturdays. However, they aren't cheap (they are over $1 each) and, when I saw this post over a Angry Chicken, I though hey making our own would be heaps cheaper and also very cool.

As it turns out they are ridiculously easy. I used this recipe - as recommended by Amy - although I used a combination of plain wholemeal and plain flour rather than bread flour 'cause that's what we had on hand. Also, they took less time in our oven than the recipe suggests, so I'd recommend just playing by ear the first time and checking them regularly after the first 5 minutes.

I should also add that Australian baking paper is a lot thinner than US parchment paper and you'd be better off just greasing your baking sheets really well. Otherwise you might end up having to pick the paper off the bottom of your bagels like us...