Anthony Lombardi

Today, for the first time, I made some homemade bagels. Both Lisa and I agree they’re the best we’ve ever had! We ate them with the usual topping: cream cheese. Part of the reason they were so good may have been simply that they were fresh. The crust was nice and crisp and the crumb had the perfect spongy-chewy texture unique to bagels. I think I’ll be making these again sometime. Perhaps I’ll add some interesting toppings like sesame seed.

The recipe was from The Best Bread Ever, an out-of-print cookbook that explains how to mix and knead bread in a food processor. I don’t think I’m going to try a different recipe since I can’t imagine them done any better than these were. I did subtract 25 degrees from the temperature settings since I noticed everything I’ve made from the book has settings on the hot side. I think my oven may be a little smaller than most home ovens though, so that could explain it.