above: everything you need to make the perfect bagel (sort of). i’m no bagel snob, but i do enjoy a really good toasted bagel with butter (oddly enough, i didn’t eat cream cheese until high school. i know, it’s weird). i’m also not from nyc, so i’ve probably got a distorted view of what makes a good bagel. i’ve only got childhood experience with local pennsylvania bagel shops to go on, but i like to think that the pennsylvania dutch touch found its way into many of those places, and those guys knew what they were doing.
in college, one of my roommates (hi jenn) worked at a walkathon for some good cause. she ended up coming home with something like 100 leftover bagels that we needed to get rid of. so began the great bagelthon of 2004. we had a contest to see who could eat the most bagels until they were all gone. no rules. i was eating like 10 a day (seriously), which, for future reference, is not actually beneficial to your health. for the record, i won bagelthon. oh yes, i won.
above and below you can see my standing mixer, which is not a kitchenaid, but a sunbeam. i love it with all my heart. i’m a recent convert to standing mixers, having pretty much baked and cooked everything in the past 10 years with a glass bowl and wooden spoon.
when i formed the bagels and and boiled them, a bunch of the ends came undone so i was left with croissant shaped bagel thingers. next time i’ll do make more by flattening the dough balls and punching a hole in the middle with my thumb.
i’ll be enjoying these for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next few days (or for as long as i can withstand this constant bageling). enjoy!
