Changes, hints and thoughts for the future:

- Nigella's recipe originally called only for white flour; making her bagels very smooth and slick looking; I changed the recipe by using cracked wheat flour...making the bagels really bumpy but delicious...and a bit more healthy!

- the original recipe also used white sugar; brown gave it a bit of a malted taste and a really delicious fragrance, too.

- when pinching the ends together of the rings make sure you do it very securely; even re-secure them right before dropping into the water; the first one I poached broke apart as soon as it hit the liquid...of course this was the one I got to eat...and it tasted just as good as the rest of them!

 

 

Bagels

Adapted from Nigella Lawson's How to Be a Domestic Goddess

Ingredients:
300 mg strong, white flour, plus more as necessary for kneading
600 mg cracked wheat flour
100 mg high gluten wheat flour
1 tablespoon salt
7 g or 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for greasing
500 ml warm water, plus more as needed

Poaching Liquid:
14 cups water
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Glaze and Topping:
1/3 cup sesame seeds
1 egg white, beaten

Instructions:
1. Combine the flour, salt and yeast together in a large bowl (I used the mixing bowl from my KitchenAid). Add the sugar and oil to the water in a separate bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid, mixing to a dough with a spatula or wooden spoon.
2. Knead the dough either by hand or with a dough hook (thank goodness for the KitchenAid at this point!), trying to add more flour if you can (I added just a bit, but it was very dry in my kitchen). The dough will be very stiff and hard work, but knead until you've got a really smooth, elastic dough; even with the dough hook and an electric mixer this takes about 10 minutes. I removed it from the KitchenAid after about 8 minutes and kneaded it by hand to make it really elastic -- it smelled wonderful and felt like a living thing beneath my hands.
3. Form the dough into a ball, and put in into an oiled bowl, turning once to coat with oil, then cover the bowl with saran wrap and a tea towel and leave it to rise in a warm, draft-free place, for about an hour. It should be well-risen and, when you poke it with your finger, the impression should remain.
4. Punch down dough; turn out onto lightly floured surface. Knead several times. Divide into 3 portions; roll each into a rope, and cut each rope into five pieces. Roll each of these pieces into ropes.
4. Bring ends of each rope together, overlapping by about 1 inch and stretching overlap around other end to meet underneath; pinch firmly (I said firmly!) to seal. Place on lightly greased baking sheet; cover with tea towel and let rise for 15 minutes.
5. Poaching liquid: In wide saucepan, bring water to boil; add sugar. Slip bagels into water, 3 or 4 at a time; cook over medium heat for 1 minute. Turn and cook for 1 minute. Using slotted spatula, transfer bagels to well-greased baking sheets.
6. Glaze: Place sesame seeds in a dish. Brush egg over bagels. Using hands, dip egg side into seeds; return to baking sheets. Bake in 425F oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until tops are golden. Transfer to rack and eat one as soon as possible without burning your mouth. Allow the remaining ones to cool.