Bagels Part Deux

So one of my favorite friends - Sara d came to visit (yes that's d with a lowercase on purpose!!!) this weekend. It was awesome. We chatted late into the evening Friday and then slept late on Saturday (if you don't count that I let Harper out at 4:30am). We drove into Ballard and walked around - did a little shopping at Buffalo Exchange - love that place. I tried on about 5 pairs of skinny jeans and hated them all. The best was the pair that were actually stuck ON my feet. I mean how was I supposed to get them on? And I love that they are about 8 inches too long. One day I will find my long lost skinny jeans. After our Ballard hang out (we ate lunch and met up with a friend of Sara's from L.A. who recently moved here) we made the dough for the BAGELS!!! Then we ran to the PCC to get stuff for "everything" topping. I might have stared at the container of Wheat Gluten for 5 minutes before I realized that even though it was calling itself "Wheat Gluten Flour" it was indeed just vital wheat gluten. We rushed home and primped for our night out and then we rolled the dough into bagel looking shapes.

While Tom was busy watching the Bulls lose to the Celtics - and yes he did BET against the Bulls. He won, but what kind of team spirit is that, we headed to the Park Pub down the street from our house. Lots of people from work and other friends met us out for a low-key and fun b-day celebration. I got some amazing Burts Bees stuff (love it - already using the lip balm and the hand salve), some wine, and a dozen amazing cupcakes. Possibly the best "gift" is knowing that Clark and Megan put a deposit down on a puppy that they will receive on New Years Eve. Now everyone obviously knows where I will be New Years Eve! I will be snuggling and talking baby talk to the puppy while Harper totally ignores it and pretends it does not exist. At least he won't chase it like it's a squirrel or cat.

So after beers and juice-like cider we came home. This morning Sara and I walked all the way up Phinney/Greenwood to 85th. I bought Harper an amazing red jacket for when we go snowshoeing as well as some "healing salve" (that I probably could have bought for humans at Walgreens for 1/5 of the price) for his super dry skin. The poor dog has little scabs where he scratches so much. Next on the agenda of insane spending of money - a humidifier. After our epic walk we went to the Ballard Farmer's Market and strolled around. We tasted a bit and then we treated ourselves (or so we thought) to some hot dogs. I got a regular hot dog and Sara got a chicken basil sausage. Seriously within 15 minutes of eating them we both felt strangely nauseous. Not sure what was up??? Maybe it was the funky tea that we tasted? But that can't be because we bought the hippie tea and drank it later with no nauseating feeling.

Then we made the bagels. The reason why they are bagels part deux is because while we did not follow the exact Cooks Illustrated recipe, we did add gluten this time. After seeing the dough (it was a totally different consistency) I was sure they would be amazing.

We boiled (30 seconds this time instead of 2 minutes) and baked - 14 minutes, on a pizza stone that was insanely hot. They turned out fantastic.

And that my friends is perfection. The bagel was chewy and crunchy. Salty and oniony and garlicky. AMAZING. The question is, will my Kitchenaid mixer ever work again. Ok it's not broken at all - but it was about to have a heart attack trying to kneed the dough. I suppose 7 cups of flour plus gluten is asking a lot of it.

And so as my parting birthday gift to myself - after dropping Sara off at the airport I decided to get a new phone. I was ready to buy something stupid because I was not prepared for the DROID update. However Tom called as I was walking in and instructed me to get a cool phone. So I got the little HTC Droid with all touch screen. I have no idea how to use it and I forgot to have them transfer my contacts so if you call and I say "hello?????" don't feel offended.

Happy bageling. I will be eating my everything bagels for quite a while. So if anyone is interested in making them, use the old recipe I have linked on here somewhere and then add 3 Tablespoons gluten. Also I am not sure that you need to make any sort of a "sponge". The Cooks Illustrated recipe does not call for a sponge that rises for 2 hours - so I dunno about that part. I would also divide your dough into at LEAST 18 parts. We did 13 the first time and had monster bagels, this time we did 16 and many were still gigantic. So I'd do 18 if possible.