Lilly Higgin’s Homemade Bagels

Lilly Higgins shows you how to make unbeatable Ballymaloe-style bagels…

I’ve always wanted to make bagels but thought that they might be too much hassle. They are actually so easy to bake – and taste amazing! A great thing to make regularly at the weekend. When I was taking the photos for this recipe, I halved the bagel, toasted it, covered it in cream cheese and made some coffee. Without even thinking, I sat down and ate the bagel, forgetting to take the photo! They’re that good, they’ll make you forget what you’re supposed to be doing and simply concentrate on the gorgeous chewy crust and cold cream cheese!

YOU WILL NEED
* 300ml warm water
* 1?2 tsp salt
* 1 sachet (7g) fast-action yeast
* 2 tbsp sunflower oil
* 580g (1lb 4oz) strong bread flour
* sesame and poppy seeds
* 1 egg, beaten

METHOD
1 Mix the water, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl.
2 Add the flour and oil. Mix until a dough forms.
3 Knead for 10 minutes.
4 Divide the dough into 9 equal pieces.
5 Make each ball of dough in to a bun. Using your thumb, make a hole in the middle and gently rotate to form a bagel shape.
6 Leave to rise for 50 minutes or till doubled in size.
7 Preheat the oven to 180C.
8 Bring a large pot of water to the boil.
9 Gently drop each bagel into the water, turn every minute or so.
10 After 3 minutes of boiling carefully place each bagel on a rack to dry slightly.
11 Place the boiled bagels on a greased baking tray and glaze with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with seeds.
12 Bake for 15 minutes, turn over and bake for a further 5 minutes until golden.

Cinnamon & raisin bagel variation
Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 100g raisins to the dough and follow the same steps above.

Recipe by Lilly Higgins, lillyhiggins.ie