Cousin Cook-a-Thon

Once again, I turn to the kitchen as my trusted accomplice in entertaining (and wooing) my teenaged cousin.  Luckily, she has decided that cooking is "cool", so she has been a willing victim.  It doesn't hurt that she loves food as much as I do!

After an inital batch of chocolate-mint cookies that were gobbled up by a hungry high school cross-country ski team, we decided to set our sights higher. Being the good Jewish girls that we are, we turned to the foods of our heritage--bagels!  The recipe is simple and straightforward, and you can add in whatever mix-ins, toppings, etc. that you think might be tasty. I'm excited to make these again with even crazier additions.

Mmm...I wonder if there are any left?

Homemade Bagels

Recipe from Hub Pages

4 cups bread flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp instant yeast
1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water

*Our additions:

1/3 cup garden pesto

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Sea salt to sprinkle

-Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.
-Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.
-Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.

-Pre heat your oven to 425.
-Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant rolling hand. The
dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends
together. Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly.

-After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute,
turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Add any toppings that you desire. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.
-Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!
-Let cool for at least 20 minutes.