Montreal Style Bagels

Montreal Style Bagels

This is by far my husbands favorite bagel, I am not nearly as big of fan, but I make them for him.  I can't get over that we have to drive 20-30 minutes to find them fresh and then pay a fortune for them.  So after an exhausting search I have found a recipe and tweaked it to perfection.  So are you ready to try your hand at these hard to find bagels.  Enjoy them warm from the oven, toasted, filled with your favorite toppings to create a sandwich, use your imagination, they will go quick.

Ingredients

1.5 cups warm water
2.5 tsp instant yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt (heaping)
1 egg
1 tbls honey
3 tbls oil
1 tsp brown sugar (packed)
6 cups white flour

Instructions

1. Combine yeast and warm water, give a quick stir and then let sit for 5 minutes. 
2. put the rest of the ingredients in except for the last cup of flour
3. Use your dough hook and turn your mixer on (or bread machine) and let mix and knead till you get a very firm dough.  It should be firm but smooth, add extra flour till the dough appears like described.  Mix for approx 8-10 minutes
4. Cover bowl with saran wrap and let rise for 10-15 minutes
   
5. Dump the bowl out onto the counter and divide into 14 (approx) even pieces
   
6. Roll out into long ropes 8-10 inches and then make into circles (should resemble a bagel after this step)
7. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet
   
8. Let rise 15 minutes
9. Get a large bot and fill 3/4's with water and add 1/4 cup honey, bring to a boil
10. Drop the bagels (do not crowd pot) into the boiling water for 2 minutes, flip half way through
    
11. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
12. Place the now boiled bagels onto a lined cooking sheet to cool for a minute or two so you don't burn yourself when touching them
13. Take bagel and cover all sides with either sesame seeds or poppy seeds
    
14. Put bagels in oven and turn oven down to 425 F and set timer for 17 minutes
15. Once the oven beeps flip the bagels and set timer for an additional 5 minutes
16. Cool on wire rack for at least 10-15 minutes before eating

Enjoy!