Makin' Bagels

It was a cold and blustery day in PA... a good day to be inside. My husband was out of town. It was a day off work for my dear daughter and me.   It was a perfect day to try our hand at... making bagels!

We LOVE Panera bagels, especially the Asiago ones and the cinnamon toast ones. But we don't live near a Panera. So unless we wanted to drive a distance (which we didn't), we would have to make our own.

We did a little research, read and compared recipes and finally decided on THIS ONE (Asiago) and THIS ONE (Cinnamon Crunch).

We convened at my house and got started:

Brody had his faced washed and was ready to get busy.

As usual, the cats were excited and involved...  #sarcasm

Double checking the recipes:

Beautiful new KitchenAid mixer did a wonderful job mixing up the dough.  

But nothing beats hand kneading!

Our dough raised beautifully!

Dough shaped into 13 rounds. Starting to look like bagels now!

Short break for a belly rub:

"Awww thanks Sissy! You know the BEST spots!"

Next the bagels got boiled for a few minutes...

Grating the cheese...

Ready for the oven now...

Sprinkled with the cheese and baking in the oven.

Smelled soooooo good!

TA DA! Beautiful finished Asiago bagels! #AsGoodAsPaneras #MaybeEvenBetter

Next up, the Cinnamon Crunch bagels. (We were pros by now!)

Then kitchen tidied up...

Two happy (and just-a-little-tired) bagel loving' girls:

We divided the bagels and darling daughter went home.

All told, about 4.5 hours, start to finish...

The cats were EXHAUSTED!

"Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day"

Ohmygosh, is there ANYTHING more delicious than warm, homebaked bread... fresh from the oven, buttered lightly? Oh, YUM! I think I could LIVE on it! Honestly, just the SMELL of bread baking makes me happy! (Really!)

Up until recently, though, I have not been much of a bread baker. I love to cook, I like to bake... but baking bread? (From scratch? With yeast and kneading and rising, ohmy?) Um, not so much!

That is, until a dear friend turned me on to this book:
ARTISAN BREAD IN FIVE MINUTES A DAY



The premise of this technique is that in just a few minutes you can mix up a big batch of basic dough (only 4 ingredients... flour, water, yeast and salt) and store it in your fridge. Thereafter, you just pull out, when you need it, enough dough for a loaf; quickly flour and shape it, let it sit for a few minutes, then bake. (Really, that's all. No kneading, rising, punching, re-kneading, re-rising, re-punching...it's fool-proof -- without angst!!!)

Thirty minutes later you have a rustic loaf of fresh, warm, DELICIOUS homemade bread. It really is just 5 minutes (at the most) of active "working" time.

In my humble bread-loving opinion, fresh, warm homemade bread takes simple weeknight meals to a new level. Even something basic and easy like spaghetti and meatballs is just so much more delicious and *FUN* with a slice of warm bread (or 2... or 3...) on the side!

So... here are photos of my first loaf. What do you think?!





(I wish I would have gotten a few pictures before I cut into it, but I couldn't wait... sorry! It really is THAT good!)

I've been experimenting a little bit... using different flours (I like whole wheat)... different salts, etc. The recipes are basically idiot-proof, and every single time I have ended up with a wonderful, delicious loaf of bread.

The book is fun and chock full of recipes and ideas. I have only scratched the surface of possibilities. I totally recommend it!

(Thanks, Steph!)