Bagels!

I am immensely proud of having made bagels, and good bagels too! These take more time than the bread, but if you like bagels, I say it's worth it! Both of our girls are big bagel fans, so this recipe is a great discovery for us. Bagels are good on the go, and they are extra-handy for a baby who wants to feed herself (and wants to eat constantly). In fact, we read once in a bagel place that bagels were created as bread for babies, because the ring shape is easy for them to grasp. Who knew?

Again, I followed a recipe from Feed Me I'm Yours by Vicki Lansky, and again I added wheat germ and dry milk. My biggest tip is add the flour carefully! I mixed the dry ingredients in a bowl (4 cups of flour plus the add-ins) and planned to add them gradually to the wet, only to have the whole contents shift half-way through my "gradual adding" and slide right into my other bowl...creating a very hard, very lumpy wad-o'-dough that went in the bin. Sigh. Lesson learned! You'll also see in the photo that some of the bagels got quite brown. The ovens here are TINY, and the baking sheet you see goes from wall to wall. One dozen bagels is all I can make in one go, but lemme tell ya...they're almost already gone!

Bagels

1.5 cups warm water (105-110F)
1 package dry yeast
1 Tbsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar or honey (I used super-fine raw sugar)
4-6 cups flour (white, whole-wheat or a combo)(I used all whole-wheat)
1 egg
poppy or sesame seeds (optional)(I omitted)

In a large bowl, mix warm water with yeast. Add salt and sugar (or honey). Cover bowl with a damp cloth and let stand 5 minutes. Gradually add flour until a soft-to-medium (but not stiff) dough is obtained. Knead on a lightly floured board (5-10 minutes) until shiny and smooth, adding a little more flour as necessary for kneading. Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until dough is doubled (about 30 minutes). Punch down and knead lightly.

To form into bagels, roll out approximately 1/4 cup of dough into a strand about 7 inches long and pinch the ends together firmly. Place bagels fairly close together on a floured board or baking sheet. Cover and let rise again (about 30 minutes) in a warm, draft-free place.

Bring about 5 inches of water to boil in a fairly large, open pot/kettle. Turn the heat down to simmer. When bagels have risen, gently lift one at a time and drop into simmering water. Turn them immediately and simmer for about 2 minutes until puffy but not disintegrating. Several bagels may be put into the water at one time, but do not crowd the pan. Remove the bagels to a towel-covered rack to drain and cool while you boil the next batch.

Place the cooled bagels on a greased baking sheet. They can be close together. Beat the egg briefly with 1 Tablespoon of water and brush the mixture over the tops of the bagels. Sprinkle with seeds if using. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

Honey-Wheat Bread

Having rediscovered the joy of homemade bread, I doubt we'll be going back anytime soon. It just takes time, and most of that time is hands-off waiting for it to rise while you do other things. You have to be mindful of the clock, but the only real requirement is you stick around to see the whole thing through. I'm hoping to be together enough to bake two loaves in the evening twice a week. One loaf can be fresh; the other can wait in the freezer. When supplies dwindle, it's time to bake two loaves again. Easy-peasy. And this bread is DELICIOUS! The recipe is "Basic Whole-Wheat Bread" from Feed Me I'm Yours by Vicki Lansky. She recommends adding a measure of soy flour, nonfat dry milk and wheat germ to each cup when using white flour. I went ahead and added what I had (no soy flour) to the whole wheat. We can always use the extra nutrients, and it certainly doesn't compromise the taste!

Homemade Honey-Wheat Bread

2 packages yeast
1 cup warm water (105-110F)
1 Tbsp honey
2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter, margarine or vegetable oil (butter!)
1/3 cup honey
1.5 Tbsp salt
5 cups whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ (optional)
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk (optional)
3 cups white flour (or as needed)

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in 1 Tablespoon of honey. Set aside for 10 minutes.
In a saucepan, combine milk, butter (or margarine or oil), honey and salt. Heat to lukewarm--do not scald.
Pour warm milk mixture and dissolved yeast into large mixing bowl. Add the whole-wheat flour, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Be sure to use all the whole-wheat flour. Add wheat germ and dry milk if desired. Add enough white flour to make a soft, yet manageable dough.
Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (approx 8-10 minutes). Place dough in a greased bowl, turning it to grease the top. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until the dough has doubled in bulk (40-60 minutes).
Punch down, divide in half, and knead each half for about 30 seconds. Shape into 2 loaves and place in greased loaf pans.
Cover and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400F and bake 40 minutes or until done.
Turn out loaves onto rack and cool.
Slice, eat, enjoy, and wonder how you will ever eat store-bought bread again.

Apple Oatmeal Bread

There is such goodness in homemade bread. Yes, it takes a bit of effort and planning, but it mostly takes time to rise all by itself. When it bakes, it fills the house with fabulous smells, and you can't beat the goodness of freshly baked bread! Since we moved from Europe, we have lost the good breads available daily in our local bakery. In their place, we have supermarket bread. In the words of Mimi, "Yuck! Ick! Pooey! We spit on that!" It just isn't the same! No flavor, no richness, no texture! We just can't handle it, so I'm going to have to buckle down and bake my own for the first time since Qatar (where we also had icky supermarket bread). My returning foray into homemade bread couldn't have gone any better! The recipe I tried was "Apple Oatmeal Bread" from the King Arthur's Flour website. They have an impressive list of bread recipes, by the way. Take some time to peruse if you are interested in bread-making. The Apple Oatmeal Bread smelled heavenly while baking, and ooooooo the goodness when it's done!

Apple Oatmeal Bread

2 packages (a scant 2 tablespoons) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups warm milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups oat flakes or old-fashioned rolled oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 cups (approximately) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (I used whole wheat)
2 cups coarsely chopped tart apples (Granny Smith)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water, for glaze
additional oat flakes or rolled oats, for topping

In a large bowl, stir yeast into water to soften.
Add remaining ingredients through walnuts. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.
Gradually add remaining flour, a little at a time, until you have a dough stiff enough to knead.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface.
Knead, adding flour as necessary, until you have a smooth, elastic dough.
Put the dough into an oiled bowl, turning once to coat the entire ball of dough with oil, and cover with a towel.
Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Grease two 9 x 5-inch or 10 x 5-inch loaf pans, and sprinkle with rolled oats.
Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface.
Divide dough in half.
Shape dough into loaves and place in prepared pans.
Cover with a towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

Just before baking, brush tops of loaves with egg/water mixture. Sprinkle with additional rolled oats.

Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 30 minutes, or until internal temperature of loaves reaches 190°F.
Immediately remove bread from pans and cool on a rack, to prevent crust from becoming soggy.


This morning, we discovered this bread makes the MOST DELICIOUS FRENCH TOAST!
I grew up with (dreaded supermarket) white bread French toast, which I always hated for the soggy, eggy nothingness it was. Now, I have a whole new understanding of why people eat French toast! Yum yum yummers!

French Toast

slices of Apple Oatmeal Bread
2 eggs
1 cup milk (or less if you prefer an eggy toast)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
butter or oil to grease skillet/griddle/pan/what-have-you

Mix ingredients from eggs through salt.
Heat pan/griddle/what-have-you until water drops dance on the surface.
Melt butter or spray/spread oil.
Dip bread in mixture until both sides moist. (you can soak the bread rather than dip if that's your pleasure)
Place in skillet and cook (flipping when first side is done) until both sides are nicely browned.
We spread jam on ours and were over the moon. Enjoy!