Whenever I think of bagels, I think of the Bagel shop that was present on the corner of Ridley Road market. It’s interesting because, although I spent the first six years of my life in Hackney, and have never really left it in spirit, I cannot recall actually buying a bagel from there! Instead I spent much of my working life buying New York Bagels from Tesco and Sainsbury’s. They made for excellent breakfasts, lunches and sometimes dinners! Bagels were also a favourite of mine when out and snacking (don’t tell my mother, she detests me eating on the street ). It has never occured to me that I could make these baked good myself, until I came across a blog from another foodie. Angie made them seem so easy to do, I though, ‘let me try this’. So I did.

This was my first attempt. They were really easy to make and were quiet tasty. They made for a nice addition to Ignacio’s birthday breakfast. Tomatoes, olive oil and salt for me and mascarpone and honey for Ignacio.

And then, as one is want to do, I got curious about the whole bagel making process. I ‘discovered’ a few more things and slightly altered what I did for the bagels I made on New Year’s Eve for our New Year’s Day breakfast. I made a hole in the little bagel rounds with the end of a wooden spoon (the first time round I rolled the dough into a ‘worm’ and squashed the ends together). I added maple syrup to the water that I boiled the bagels in. I covered the bagels with an egg glaze and sprinkled poppy seeds on the top.

The second batch came out really nice. I used the egg glaze to make a tiny portion of scrambled eggs which I ate with the bagels for breakfast this morning.

Moving into 2021, bagels are definately coming with me. They are easy to make and they are so tasty. I will continue to perfect my technique with time but I am having fun experimenting!

The original recipe and method that sparked this inspiration.

Ingredients

4g dried yeast

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

230g bread flour

Method

1. Put the yeast and half of the sugar into a bowl and pour in 50ml of warm water. Leave for 7 minutes, until the mixture becomes frothy.
2. Pour an extra 100ml of warm water into the same bowl and stir in the salt and flour slowly, stirring until it forms a soft dough.
3. Knead for 10 minutes and once the dough is smooth, leave in a bowl covered with cling film in a warm place for an hour.
4. Bring water to the boil and preheat the oven to gas mark 7. In the meantime divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and make into bagel shapes. Once boiling, cook the bagel in the water for 2 minutes on each side and place on a tray.
5. Place the tray in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
6. Leave to cool and eat with your preferred fillings, or on its own.