Bread Baker's Apprentice: Bagels

Bring on the bagels! I've made bagels at home before and I'll just say - yuck. Now I am following the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge on Pinch My Salt. The recipe we were making was bagels.

A few others had already made their bagels and the results were uniformly outstanding. After reading those reviews, I was energized and ready to make bagels.

What a recipe! If you love bagels and want to make them at home, Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice book is perfect!

It does take two days due to the retarding in the refrigerator, but it's all fun and for very worthwhile results!

Many of the BBA Challenge bloggers handled the finishing of their bagels differently. I even saw a jalapeno cheddar bagel! I chose to make a seed mixture that resembles "everything" bagels because those are my favorite.

Everything Bagel Topping Mixture

Used to seed 13 large bagels

4 teaspoons each
poppy seed
sesame seed
dried minced onion (Penzey's)
dried minced garlic (Penzey's)
black cracked pepper

2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Mix together and top bagel once it's out of the boiling bath and before it goes into the oven.