When I was growing up, every Sunday meant bagels for breakfast. My dad would go out early in the morning and stand on line for ever, patiently waiting to shout his order to the teenagers behind bins full of pumpernickel, salt, egg, and seeded bagels, triumphantly bringing back a huge brown bag of bready goodness. Now, I know that we tend to romanticize things from our youth, but I swear those bagels are by far the best on the planet: crusty on the outside, and a great combination of fluffy yet chewy on the inside, and when hot out of the oven, absolutely divine.

I have yet to find their equal — and around here it’s nearly impossible; those soggy and dense sorry-excuses-for-bagels at the supermarket drive me crazy, and so I in a fit of insanity, decided to try my hand at making them on my own. The result wasn’t perfect (the outsides weren’t crunchy enough), but it was incredibly satisfying, and the smell of baking bread is the stuff of dreams.

Ingredients:
2 cups warm water
2 packages active dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
about 5 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
3 quarts water with 1 tablespoon of sugar
cornmeal
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
poppy and/or sesame seeds.

Method:
Stir together water and yeast in large bowl of electric mixer and let stand 5 minutes to soften yeast. Stir in the sugar and salt. Gradually mix in 4 cups of the flour and beat at medium speed for 5 minutes. With a spoon, stir in about 1 1/4 cups more flour to make a stiff dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky (about 15 minutes). Add more flour as needed to prevent sticking. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled (about 40 minutes).

Punch dough down and divide into thirds. Set 2/3 of the dough aside & cover with plastic. Cut the remaining dough into 8 pieces. To shape, knead each piece into a small ball and poke your index finger through. With both index fingers, spin the dough around to enlarge the hole while keeping the circular shape (about 2-3 inches in diameter). Place the bagels on a floured tray and let stand for 20 minutes.

Bring the sugar-water to boil in a 5 quart pan, and keep it boiling gently. Lightly grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Carefully lift the bagels and drop in the water (about 3 at a time) and boil gently for 1 minute, turning only once. Lift the bagels out of the water with a slotted spoon, briefly drain on paper towels, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with the egg yolk glaze, sprinkle with seeds and bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until richly browned.

Repeat with the remaining dough.

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