Bagels - BBA challenge #3

I couldn't wait to get to week 3....bagels! These were very easy to make.

I expected the sponge to be thinner and used a whisk. It took a bit of work to get the thick gloppy sponge out of the tines.


I was feeling domestic, so I opted to hand-knead the last 3/4 cup of flour in. I was questioning my sanity after the first 1/4 cup and almost threw it back in the KitchenAid. It took me a total of 10 minutes to work in the rest of the flour.
Surely he didn't expect us to knead for another 10 minutes after that last 3/4 cup of flour was worked in. I consulted the recipe. Oh yes he did! There was a sense of accomplishment when I finished the final kneading. (and a sense of tingling in my arms, neck and back. lol)
At this point I divided the dough in half so I could make half cinnamon-raisin and half plain bagels.

We had two options for shaping the bagels. Poke holes in the rolls we shaped or create a rope and wrap them around our hands to shape. I chose to do both.
The bagel on the left was shaped with the rope method, the bagel on the right with the poke method. I like the wonkiness of the rope method.
The cooked bagel on the left is with the poke method, the ones on the right the rope method. Next time I'll stretch the holes out a little more for the rope method.
Sliced Raisin bagel.
Sliced plain bagel topped with kosher salt and sesame seeds

Lessons learned:

1. Don't use a whisk on the sponge
2. Use my KitchenAid mixer to work in the last 3/4 cup of flour before hand kneading.
3. When boiling, boil the tops first then flip over and boil the bottoms. (they came out prettier this way)

Our next recipe in the book: Brioche