Instructions: The water I use is actually hot water. I turn the tap and let it go almost as hot as it can get. It needs to be fairly warm to activate the yeast. I was always paranoid about killing the yeast and used water that was too cold and so the dough didnt rise enough. So go ahead and use hot water. Add the yeast to the water with 3 tablespoons of sugar and stir it around a little. In about 30 seconds the whole thing should start to foam. If it doesnt you probably didnt use hot enough water.

The instructions say to add the flour a little at a time. I dont bother - I just pour all the flour in. I figure if its too stiff Ill add a little water, if its too wet Ill add a little flour. Kneading is really important so knead it well. I figure that I shouldnt skimp on kneading the dough because its good exercise for giving long massages right? So I try to do a hard knead for 15 minutes. By this time dough should be elastic with no crumbs of dry flour embedded in it.

If its a little sticky it doesnt really matter that much. If its dry though its hard to knead. Im lazy so Id rather have it a little wet.

At this point I diverge from the recipe. The recipe has all sorts of complicated instructions about 10 minutes rest etc etc. I just divide the dough into bagel shapes starting with a ball of dough then poking a hole in the middle. Then I let it sit for about 45 minutes until it has risen. The bagels should be nice and puffy. If you were to bake the bagels now you would get bagels with the consistancy of bread. But we all like chewy bagels. So the trick is to boil the bagels. So heat up some water to boiling and drop the bagels in and boil each side for about 3 mins.

The recipe says to use x amount of water with sugar in it. I dont bother. So really I only use the 3 tablespoons of sugar. Or a little more if I want my bagels sweet. Drain the bagels on paper towels (or dont bother). And bake them until they are brown at 375 degrees for about 25-30 mins. If you like the glossy sheen use eggs to coat the outside. Otherwise they are kind of ugly.

By the way... when I make french bread I use a pan of water in the oven and it makes the french bread chewey. I was thinking that I could do this with the bagels too. Use a cup or 2 of boiling water in a pan while the bagels bake. The french bread gets chewey so I would think the bagels would too. Ill have to try it next time.

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