The following bagel recipe is the product of ~60 bagels, or 10 batches.  I took what seemed to be a fairly generic recipe, incorporated elements from other recipes, and experimented to produce it.  I think these are the best bagels I’ve ever had (but I am biased), and hope anyone crazy enough to try a recipe on this blog enjoys them.

Bagel Recipe (6 bagels)

1.5 cup warm water

1 pack of active dry yeast

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp salt

3 cups flour

1. Mix the sugar, water, and yeast together in a large bowl.  The water should be warm to the touch but not hot.  Let stand for 5-10 minutes, until the mixture is foamy.  The warm water and sugar is for kickstarting the yeast.  Water too hot will kill the yeast, resulting in a dough that will not rise.
2. Add the salt, mixture well.  Add flour .5-1 cup at a time, mixing well before adding more.  This mixture should start resembling dough after 2 cups, at which point it’s easier to use hands than a spatula.  The final product should be a hefty feeling dough, with smooth elastic sides.  It may be necessary to add more flour or water to achieve this result.  If so, make sure to add in small amounts.
3. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a cloth.  Let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.
4. Place the dough onto a floured work surface and knead until the dough is smooth.  Cut the dough into 6 equal portions.  Roll each portion into a round ball, and place onto a resting surface (make sure to remember the order in which the balls were placed).  The easiest way to roll these portions into round balls is to place a palm completely over a piece of dough, bring all the fingers in slightly so about 1/4″ of each side is crumpled, and start moving the hand around in a circular fashion.  It takes a bit of practice, but done right this will save tons of time and frustration.  Let the balls rise for 30-45 minutes.
5. Starting with the first ball, knead until smooth and form a bagel.  There are a number of ways to do this, but the easiest is to make a flat disk and poke a hole in the center.  Stretch the hole out carefully until the it looks like a bagel.  An alternative is to wrap this dough around a hot dog.  Except for the hot dogs, the recipe doesn’t change.
6. Once all bagels have been formed, start boiling 10-12 cups of water with 1 tbsp of sugar.  This is to give the bagels time to rise.
7. Boil each bagel (again starting with the first) for ~45 seconds on each side, and place onto a cooling rack.  Add toppings if desired (sesame/poppy seeds, sauteed onions, etc).  A sprinkle of kosher salt on top is also really good.
8. Once all bagels have completely cooled (15-20 minutes), place them into a 400F oven.  For a better crust, fill a loaf pan with water and place onto the bottom rack before turning on the oven.  This will provide a very humid environment to bake the bagels, result in crust with a little more bite.
9. After 25 minutes, take the loaf pan out, and check the tops of the bagels.  If they don’t look golden, wait another minute and check again.   Place the bagels on a cooling rack and enjoy!