Soft Bagels

Ah, the smell of bread baking in your oven !
Yeasty smell fills your house and the best part of all this is.........you get to enjoy it !
I have made bagels before using whole wheat flour and even though they were very good, I wanted to use a different recipe this time.
I wanted the NY style bagels (as opposed to Montreal style bagels) that are slightly chewy and are boiled for 2 minutes on each side before being glazed with egg and topped with sesame seeds, poppy seeds or just kosher salt.
You can make anything you want with these bagels from sandwiches to bread crumbs.
Freeze them in freezer safe ziplock bags and thaw them in your microwave before use.
Or eat them while still warm.

Ingredients:
2 cups warm water (I like to use milk)
1 TBSP brown sugar (can be susbstituted by white sugar or honey)
1 TBSP instant yeast
2 scant teaspoons salt
5 cups flour (625 gr)
2 to 3 TBSP butter
1 to 3 TBSP powder milk
1 beaten egg and kosher salt, poppy and sesame seeds for topping

Directions:
Knead by hand at least 10 minutes, let rise 30 minutes, divide in 12 equal pieces.
Form the bagels by inserting your thumb in the center and pulling and stretching the dough gently until you get a circle.
Let the shaped bagels rest and rise for 30 minutes.


See, they will puff up and if you don't make the hole large enough (should be 1.5 -2 inch), after boiling and baking, the hole will almost be gone.
Which is not a problem, but maybe you wanted to know about this.
Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil, add 1/2 teaspoon salt and drop 2 bagels at a time in the pot.
Let boil approx. 2 minutes on each side, then scoop with a slotted spoon and lay them on a few plates.
Preheat the oven to 425 F.
Beat the egg, glaze the bagels, top them with your choice of toppings and bake for 25 to 35 minutes.
It depends on how puffy they become, but keep in mind that they will be ready when they look golden-brown and delicious !