Annie, the bagels look pretty good to me. I wish I could take those extra two off your hands. For some reason I've gotten exceptionally lazy lately and haven't made any bagels for a long, long time. Thanks for the mini-review of the whole wheat bagel recipe. I use the the King Arthur flour water bagel recipe exclusively. And most of the time I use half white whole wheat flour. I've never tried the actual whole wheat recipe. Probably because shaping and letting the bagels rest overnight is just way too much thinking ahead for my pea brain. But yours look good, so maybe I'll give it a try. I'd better hurry, though. Summer is just around the corner. Our temperatures are supposed to get up into the low 80s next week. Yuck!

Bumblebeez: Sorry: Been out on sick leave for awhile ( Diviticulites ) I gave you the Recipe alone, because you knew how to Boil and Bake them. When I was younger we went to Murray's Deli,; in Philly, to get Locs and Bagels w Cream Cheese and Onions. I believe they are in NYC also. I also had them at a friends ( Ike ) on Sunday morning. They were always 5 inches round W. a hole in the center. Sometimes it is what you grew up with ? Guess what I'm trying to say is, everyone likes variety. You could try mine and may not like them but you may love them. It is not a Sweet Dough . It has a subtle sweetness. Traditional ??? All the recipes are basically the same. I THOUGHT THIS WAS ABOUT MY RECIPE ??? Talk to you later, I'm back to bed. Lou PS; Here is a Recipe I had saved , from a NY Bagelmaker. Ingredients 1 cup lukewarm potato water (This is essentially the water left over from boiling potatoes. Covered, this will refrigerate for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 4 months. You can also dissolve 1½ tablespoons of potato flour in 1 cup of lukewarm water, but I havent tried this.) 1 envelope of yeast 1 tablespoon beaten egg 3 tablespoons canola oil 1 tablespoon malt syrup ~3 cups all-purpose flour 2 tbsp granulated sugar 1½ teaspoon Kosher salt Poaching Liquid 16 cups water 1/3 cup honey Glaze 1 egg yolk 1 tablespoon water poppy or sesame seeds Instructions In a large bowl, dissolve 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar into the lukewarm potato water. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it stand for 10 minutes or until it gets frothy. Stir the tablespoon of beaten egg, canola oil and malt syrup into the yeast/water mixture. Stir together 1 cup of the flour, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and the kosher salt. Slowly beat these dry ingredients into the yeast mixture using an electric mixer until smooth. This should take about 2 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to gradually mix the remaining flour in to the mixture resulting in a soft sticky dough. On a lightly floured surface knead until the dough is smooth and stretchy. Make sure to get all the dry isolated flour spots worked out of the dough. This should take 5-10 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl, rotating the dough around the bowl so its outside is covered in the grease. Cover with plastic wrap (or wax paper with grease on it and a small towel). Allow the dough to rise for 1 to 1½ hours until the dough has doubled and you can poke your finger into it and leave a mark. Preheat your oven to 400 F. After rising, punch the dough down and knead it several times. Divide the dough into 10 pieces (the recipe originally called for 12 pieces, but my bagels were getting even too small for me. I may tweak the recipe to result in an even dozen). Keep the unformed dough and formed bagels covered when youre not directly shaping them. There are two methods for shaping a bagel. One is to make a ball (dont compress it too much) and poke your thumb through the center. You work your thumb (on the inside of the bagel) and your index finger (on the outside) all the way around the bagel until its formed. The other method which I prefer is to roll the dough into a long pipe and then wrap it horizontally around your hand using your fist as well as your other hand to seal it into a ring. The pipe of dough just barely wraps around my hand and I have to stretch it a bit. I like this method because the shapes end up more bagel-like, whereas for me, the first method results in more roll-like creations with small depressions in the middle. Place your bagels apart on a floured and covered baking sheet. Let them rise for 15 minutes. In the meantime, in a large pot, bring the water to a boil. Add the honey and stir. This is the poaching liquid. Gently slide your bagels into the water a few at a time into the water over a medium heat for 1 minute on each side. This is to proof them, they should be noticeably bigger than when they went into the water. Carefully remove the bagels onto parchment paper or a foil-lined greased baking sheet using a slotted spoon. Stir together the egg yolk and water and quickly brush over the bagels as they come out of the poaching liquid. Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds. Bake in the 400 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the tops are golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

Here is another Recipe, below. I use my Braided Bread Recipe , something like this one. But cut back on the sugar. Not sweet as some would have you believe. I put them in boiling water for 1/2 minute on each side and bake them at 400 Deg. This is what I like ??? Plus a lot of other foods. So I don't go Banana's over Bagel's and where they are from. I'm Thankful for any type Bagel. Lou - - - - - - - - - - - - - - New York Bagels recipe Ingredients: 2 quarts of water. 2 large eggs. 1 egg white. 1 potato, peeled and quartered. 1 packet of active dry yeast. 4 cups of all-purpose flour. 2 cups of boiling water. ¼ cup of vegetable oil. 1 ½ tablespoons of sugar. ½ tablespoon of salt. Cornmeal, to dust cookie sheet. Preparation Instructions: Put the potato into boiling water and boil for fifteen mins. Discard the potato and allow the water to cool to about 110°F. Transfer one-third of a cup of the potato water to a small bowl; then sprinkle the yeast over top of water and stir to combine. Set aside for three minutes. Sift the all-purpose flour, salt, and ½ tablespoon of the sugar together into a suitably sized bowl; then add the yeast mixture. Stir in another 2/3 cup of the potato water and the vegetable oil. Add the eggs and stir to form a dough ball. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until the ball is firm. Place into a greased bowl, turning the dough so all sides are greased. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and set aside in a warm place for about 60 minutes until the dough has risen to about double its original size. Punch the risen dough down to flatten and remove from bowl. Cut the dough into eighteen equal pieces and shape each piece into a six-inch long, ¾-inch thick rope. Bring the ends of each rope together and pinch to close, using a little water on the ends to help secure them. Cover all rings with the towel and allow to rise for 20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 450°F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and dust with cornmeal. Bring the 2 quarts of water to a boil and add the remaining sugar to the boiling water Drop the bagels into the boiling water one at a time, cooking each for 3 minutes, turning once in the middle. As each bagel is removed from the water, place it on the cookie sheet. Paint the tops of the bagels with the egg white that has been beaten with 1 teaspoon of water. Bake for fifteen minutes or until the bagels are a golden brown color.

Here ya go.... Bagels ====== Source: Hors d'oeuvres Cook Book Pics http://thibeault.smugmug.com/gallery/1421770/1 I have typed it exactly how the recipe is printed in the book. If you have a bread machine or kitchenaide by all means use it to do most of the kneading. I always like to finish the kneading by hand. You can also make these in to normal size bagels. I have used this recipe for over 20 years. I have tried other recipes but this is my favourite one. 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 about 2 tablespoons poppy or sesame seeds. . Stir together water and yeast in large bowl of electric mixer; 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 on a floured board and knead until smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky, (about 15 minutes); add more flour as needed to prevent sticking - dough should be firmer than for most other yeast breads. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled ( about 40 minutes to 1 hour). Punch dough down and divide into thirds. Set 2/3 of dough aside on a floured board; cover with clear plastic. form remaining 1/3 dough in a log and cut into 16 equal pieces. to shape, knead each piece into small ball and poke thumbs through centre. With one thumb in hole (hole should be at least 1/2 inch) work fingers around perimeter, shaping ball into a small donutlike shape about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place bagels on a floured board or tray and let stand 20 minutes. Bring water-sugar mixture to a boil in a 4 to 5 quart pan; adjust heat to keep it boiling gently. Lightly grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Lift bagels carefully and drop into water (about 6 at a dtime) boil gently for 1 minute turning only once (30 seconds each side). Lift out with slotted spoon and drain very briefly on paper towels, and place on baking sheet. Brush with 1/3 of the egg yolk glaze, sprinkle with seeds and bake in a 400 oven for 20 minutes or until richly browned. cool on racks. Repeat with remaining 2/3 dough (you may need to punch it down before shaping,) working with 1/3 at a time. Makes 48 cocktail size bagels. Note: Here is what I did to make Onion Cheese Bagels: I sauted some onions in butter just until tender. Not brown. After the dough had risen, I divided it into three parts. I took one of the parts, flatten it out and topped with some of the onions and some grated three year old white cheddar. Then I formed a log and divided it into 6 parts. Then I just proceeded to make 6 bagels and let them rise for about 20 minutes. After they were boiled I brushed them with the oil that the onions were cooked in and then topped them with some of the onions. The onions got a little more brown then I would have liked so next time I would wait until half way through baking before adding the onions. I sprinkled some grated cheddar on top about 5 minutes before they were finished baking. AnnT