Bagels!

I don't know what came over me. I just got a craving this afternoon and HAD to make bagels. In many places outside of the East Coast of the US, it's very difficult to get the perfect bagel. In Finland, we have Arnold's, but I don't believe they boil theirs. As I've heard from others in the bagel industry, an unboiled bagel is 'just a roll with a hole'. My first real job was at Einstein Bagels in Severna Park, MD. I was lucky enough to work with my good friends, N, M, and D. We didn't really make the bagels ourselves back then, nor did we take the job seriously, but we did eat a lot of bagels. (I was 15 and a 3 season athlete back then so carb loading wasn't as dangerous at that time.) It's a dangerous thing, making bagels alone. No one there to moderate how quickly you eat them ALL (ok, I ate 3/8 the first night). Time to go for a long run to work off all the carbs. But first I'll tell you how I made them.

4 cups all purpose or bread flour (or you can also trade some all purpose flour for rye or whole wheat, but then you need to pay more attention to the dough consistency as these flours can absorb more/less water than all purpose.)
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp instant yeast
water and a few tablespoons of sugar for boiling
toppings or extras: I tried black sesame seeds, dried garlic flakes, organic sunflower seeds, and poppy seeds, but I would also recommend regular sesame seeds, dried onion flakes, cheese, jalopenos, or dried fruits within the dough, like raisins or blueberries.

1.) Mix the water, oil, sugar, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour half a cup at a time incorporating well after each addition. Add until you have an almost firm dough.
2.) Place on a large kneading board or a floured counter surface and knead together with the remaining flour for 10 minutes. You may add flour to help the dough not to stick to the surface (which is why I advise to mix until 'almost' firm in the previous step).
3.) Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. I usually cut my ball of dough like you might a pie, so that I'm sure all pieces are roughly equal. Then I have triangles which I make rounded between my palms into little balls.
4.) Allow the balls to rest 10-20 minutes.
5.)Preheat your oven to 225C. While the oven is heating, rolls the balls into snakes just a bit longer than the width of your hands together as you roll. When it reaches that length, wrap the snake around your dominant rolling hand, placing the ends side down on the rolling surface and roll a little until the ends of the snake are merged. They might not look perfect or pretty at this stage. It takes practice. They'll still taste amazing.
6.) Allow the rolled bagels to rest another 20 minutes. In the mean time, prepare a large pot of boiling water, filled about half way, with some sugar dissolved in it (3 tbs to 1/4 cup will do sufficiently). I've also heard of people using syrup for this, maple or otherwise. This gives it the chewy glaze on the outside. I've heard people brushing with egg whites or whole eggs before baking, but the sugar technique is simpler and more efficient in my book. I'm going to cover the bagels in toppings anyway!
7.) Boil bagels 1 minute on each side. I put 2-3 bagels in the pot at a time and set my phone's stop watch for one minute, flipping with a spoon. Remove with a slotted flat spoon after the two minutes are up, and allow to drain a bit on a baking cooling rack for one minute.
8.) After 1 minute, you can dip the 'top' side of the bagel into a bowl of your topping of choice.
9.) Place all bagels onto a lightly oiled baking sheet.
10.) Bake for 10 minutes on one side, flip the bagels and bake for another 10 minutes.
11.) Remove from the oven and allow about 10-20 minutes for them to cool a bit.
12.) Enjoy with a number of combinations.

My favorites have always been:
1.) Runny egg and melted cheddar with a scant bit of plain or garlic cream cheese on an 'everything' bagel.
2.) Hummus, cucumber, bean sprouts on a pumpernickle rye bagel.
3.) Strawberry cream cheese and strawberry jelly on a toasted poppy seed bagel.
4.) Honey almond cream cheese on a cranberry bagel.
...... the list goes on and on. More suggestions welcome!