Homemade sesame seed bagels

Hello friends,

This is my first real blog post...ever. I hope everyone likes it. I have been thinking about this for a long time. I am obsessed with cooking, and well, chef is not really in the cards for me. But I want to share my love of food with others. I want to show people that real food not hard, and so worth a little effort.
You will also be seeing a little of  the other stuff I like. Crafting, gardening, my family, perhaps even an opinion or two.

This recipe started as a recipe swap with a good friend. See I really want to be good at making bread. Whenever I make it though I feel like it isn't as good as it could be because I do all my kneading by hand. So that's where my wonderful friend Kristen comes in. She also loves to cooks and she has a mixer. I love cooking buddies. Anyways she said they were delicious so I gave them a try. 

It takes a little bit of time and effort with all the resting and boiling and baking, but its very worth it. Even the kneading wasn't too bad.

They were just the way a bagel should be crunchy and toothsome on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. I made mine sesame seed with a little sprinkle of coarse salt, I'm sure any topping would be great; poppy seeds, garlic salt,  chili powder, cinnamon sugar. I want to try flavoring the dough next time, the recipe was so easy flavoring the dough shouldn't be too hard.

The recipe comes from the Tasty Kitchen. I really like this blog I have made a few recipes from this site and they are always awesome.

http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2011/04/step-by-step-homemade-bagels/

Ingredients 
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 T sugar
2/3 cup warm water + extra
1/2 T vegetable oil
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour

Instructions

• In the mixer bowl combine water, sugar and yeast. Let sit for around 5 minutes.
• Add flour, veg oil and salt. Mix (dough hook for machines, or by hand) until dough is elasticy. While you are kneading you may feel like you need more water. Add it little by little, remember you can always add more but you can't take away.
• Let rise for 30-45 minutes.
• Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes. Cut dough into 6. Roll into snakes then form into circles, a little water will help the ends adhere. 
• Rise on a floured board for 20-30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 425ºF
• Boil 6 cups of salted water, place 2-3 bagels in the water. Boil for one minute and flip and boil for one more minute. Place on paper towel to absorb moisture.
• Bake for 18 minutes, turning after 10 minutes

Note: Substitute 1/2 cup wheat flour and 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour for a wheat variation