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It really isn’t that hard to make your own homemade bagels, and these I’ve made and served with a scrumptious Mimosa Cream Cheese Spread! 

New year. New beginnings. New goals. New directions. New resolutions. New Bucket List.

What do you focus on at the start of the New Year?

Once upon a time I was a faithful resolution maker. Every single year. In fact, I’m willing to bet there’s a few of them right here on the blog from way back. But they never stuck. At least not for long. So I realized a few years back that resolutions were pointless in my world, and I instead focused on goals. But then, I realized that a yearly bucket list was more fun. I began creating a lifetime bucket list and then I did a yearly one and last year I began my culinary bucket list. I have also already begun my culinary bucket list which will grow rapidly I think.

I didn’t get as much crossed off my bucket list last year as I had hoped. But I definitely got some crossed off.

I have decided to spend more time this year trying to accomplish things off my bucket list and today I present you with one of them. Homemade Bagels. Homemade Bagels with Mimosa Cream Cheese Spread. You’re welcome.

When #SundaySupper announced the theme for this week, I was actually really excited and I knew that it was a good way to get the new year started off on the right foot. Cross something off my bucket list right away, right? Well, here it is.

I have been making my own bread for years. I’ve even attempted hamburger buns once. But I really wanted to make bagels. They didn’t seem t0o hard and this recipe is super easy with only 5 ingredients. Yep. Right up my alley.

I received this recipe a few years back from my very frugal friend Wendy, who pretty much  made everything completely from scratch. Even her diaper wipes were homemade.

The woman could make anything from scratch. I don’t know where she got the recipe, but I had a feeling she’d made it dozens of times, because they day she gave it to me, she didn’t even use a recipe card to write it down. I mean who does that? Okay so maybe there are a few recipes I can do that for too. But still…

Anyway, homemade bagels. They were incredible. And very easy. And I was surprised everything turned out the right way. Nothing went wrong. And they looked beautiful when they were all finished. Almost exactly like the kind I can go to the bakery and get or the local grocery store. And they tasted better. WAY better. Probably because I made them with my own two hands. They were incredible. The kids ate them all.

I made up a batch of Mimosa Cream Cheese Spread to top these delicious bagels to celebrate the New Year and it was the perfect brunch on New Years Day.

Here are your ingredients. (don’t worry, recipe is below)

All you need is:

4 cups of bread flour

1 Tablespoon of sugar

1 ½ teaspoons of salt

1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil 

2 teaspoons of INSTANT yeast

Well, you also need about 1 ¼ cups of warm water, but that’s free.

Begin by dumping the 4 cups of flour in a large bowl.

Add the tablespoon of sugar and the 1 ½ teaspoons of salt.

Next it’s a tablespoon of vegetable oil.

Next goes the 2 tablespoons of instant yeast. Don’t be afraid of it. Just throw it in there and provided you are using instant yeast, all will be fine with this beautiful dough.

Now you need about 1 ¼ cup of warm water. Just dump it over everything.

Immediately start kneading. Knead and knead. For like 10 minutes. Or use your stand mixer to knead. Then it’s shorter. And easier. But I will tell you, kneading bread gets massive aggression out. It’s kinda soothing to the soul. Just saying.

The dough should be kinda stiff. Not too stiff. You can add up to another ¼ cup of warm water to incorporate everything but I didn’t need to. The more I kneaded, the more it just all went together.

Roll the dough into a giant log. You know, like I did in the picture.

Slice the log into 6-8 equal parts. Or you can do what I did and make four large bagels and three smaller bagels. It really doesn’t matter. Just don’t make them too small. Roll each of the “dough slices” into balls and let them just sit there for about 15  minutes in a warm place. I didn’t say hot. Just not cold. In fact, I’d try to keep it at 15 minutes so they don’t over-rise because then you have a disaster waiting to happen. We’re not baking a loaf of bread here, only bagels. Just 15 minutes. Warm. Room temperature warm. Not drafty. Trust me.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Now, take each of your balls and roll them into snakes. You should have 8 little snakes. Roll the snakes around your fist and then squeeze the ends together to make sure they are attached. Don’t think I’m nuts. Just do it that way and you’ll have perfect bagels. If they aren’t perfect, it’s not really going to matter because you are eating them. You’ll also get better as you go.

Now just let them sit and rise for 20 minutes.

While you’re waiting, boil a pot of water.

While you’re waiting for your pot to boil, prepare your baking sheet. Grease a baking sheet. That’s all.

After 20 minutes your bagels will look bigger and kinda puffy. I didn’t say huge, I just said bigger. Now it’s time to give them a  bath. Put as many as you can in your pot at one time but don’t crowd them in there. You don’t want them to stick together. Boil for 1 minute and then flip them over and boil for another minute.

Remove them from the water and allow them to dry for a minute and then put them on your prepared greased baking sheet. Do this with all the bagels.

Bake in the oven for ten minutes. Take your pan out of the oven at 10 minutes, and flip all the bagels over. Then put them back in the oven for another ten minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about ten minutes and then eat ’em with some yummy Mimosa Cream Cheese Spread (or whatever you want to eat them with!)

This Week’s Recipes:

Specialty Breads:

• Homemade Bagels with Mimosa Spread by Daily Dish Recipes
• Alton Brown’s Soft Pretzels by Hezzi-D’s Book and Cooks
• Braided Challah by The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
• Belgian Waffles by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Gluten-free Bread by Happy Baking Days

Main Dishes:

• Bagna Cauda and Potatoes by Shockingly Delicious
• Mushroom Ragout over Creamy Polenta by Noshing with the Nolands
• Butternut Squash Gnocchi by Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Ropa Vieja by Magnolia Days
• Tah-Dig (Persian Rice) by The Little Ferraro Kitchen
• Braised Short Ribs by The Messy Baker blog
• Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon by Hip Foodie Mom
• French Onion Soup by The Weekend Gourmet
• Savory Spinach-Filled Crepe Cake with Cheddar Sauce by Webicurean

Desserts and Snacks:

• Divinity by Juanita’s Cocina
• French Macarons by I Run for Wine
• Nut and Seed Nougat by What Smells So Good
• Granola Bars with Dried Fruit by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Mini Classic Key Lime Pies  by In the Kitchen with KP
• Hot Lemon Curd Soufflés by Food Lust People Love
• Popcorn with truffle oil and asiago cheese by Ruffles & Truffles

Recipe for Homemade Bagels with Mimosa Cream Cheese Spread

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