Jalapeno Bagels

I made bagels!

This is a first for me and I never would have attempted it had it not been for my oldest. The other day, while picking my son up from school, a teacher (not my son's teacher) came up to me and told me that my son had taken an interest to her Jalapeno bagel that she had baked. I'm still fuzzy on when, why, and how he came about her bagel (may have been rainy day schedule and she was the room teacher for the kids... I don't know...that's not the point), but he asked her all sorts of questions about it, tried it and liked it. My oldest then asked her to give the recipe to his mom and she did.

I had no idea how physically exhausting the bagel making process can be. The directions call for kneading the dough until it's tough. By the time the dough was tough enough, I was out of breath!

After the kneading workout, it all went smooth. I baked it to a perfect golden color. It smelled good. It looked good. And then I took a bite. YOWZA! Muy Caliente! Translation: Insane hot! Next time, I will decrease the Jalapeno peppers by 1/2 the amount. Although, with a lot of cream cheese and jelly it was worth the calories. Plus, my sinuses were all cleared up after eating the bagel.

Below is the recipe. If you like hot salsa or Tabasco sauce, you probably won't want to modify the recipe. However, if you are more of a mild salsa kind of person, then decrease the Jalapenos by about 1/2.

Jalapeno Bagels

• 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
• 1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 5 to 6 cups flour
• 1/3 cup jalapenos, chopped
• 1/4 cup dried red peppers

Mix water, yeast, salt, and sugar. Add flour and jalapenos and mix into a ball. Knead for 10 to 12 minutes, adding more flour if necessary, until dough is stiff. Add red peppers and knead for 3 minutes. Let dough rest 10 minutes, then cut into 12 pieces with a knife.

Roll each piece of dough on a table to form long tube-like shapes. Then, for each of the twelve pieces, connect the two ends by overlapping them about 3/4 of an inch and rolling the ends together to make a ring shape. Make sure each joint is secure or it will come apart while boiling.

Cover with a damp towel and let rise 1 to 2 hours in a warm spot. In a large pot, bring 1 to 2 gallons of water to a rolling boil. Place bagels in boiling water and boil until they float. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy if you dare!

I think I'll substitute the Jalapenos with blueberries next time.

Jamie