Fluffy!

So it turns out bagels are pretty easy to make. Yeast and lukewarm water are mixed to make a slurry, then bread & rye flour, vegetable oil, sugar and salt are added on top. After being mixed for 5 minutes, the dough is kneaded, rounded up and left to rest for 30 minutes. We also made a cinnamon-raisin version of the dough. Here the dough is mixed for 4 minutes, then the cinnamon & raisins are added in and everything is mixed for an additional 2 minutes.

After the resting period, the dough is divided into 100g pieces and rolled into balls. Using the end of a wooden spoon, a hole is poked through the center of each ball and stretched open to form a ring. Each ring is dropped into a pot of boiling, salted water until it floats {this only takes about 10 seconds}. To make poppyseed or sesame seed versions, the tops of the bagels are dipped into the seeds after coming out of the water. Then these go into the oven for 20-30 minutes at 375 degrees. I really liked how chewy they came out; definitely not as dense as a Montreal-style bagel.