Jalapeno Bagels

My kids have gone cuckoo for the jalapeno bagels at Costco. We've been out of them for a while so I decided to try making them from scratch. (Now you know how much I hate going to Costco.)

I have had a recipe for these in my recipe binder labeled "to try" since my daughter read a story called Jalapeno Bagels in second grade. It included a recipe "from a real Mexican-Jewish-American bakery, Los Bagels Bakery & Cafe, in Arcata, California."


Jalapeno Bagels
1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1/2 tsp. dry yeast
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
5 cups flour
1/3 cup jalapenos, chopped
1/4 cup dried red peppers

Mix water, yeast, salt, and sugar. Add flour and jalapenos and mix into a ball. Knead for 10 to 12 minutes, adding more flour if necessary, until dough is stiff. Add red peppers and knead for 3 minutes. Let dough rest 10 minutes, then cut into 12 pieces with a knife.


Roll each piece of dough on a table to form long tube-like shapes. Then, for each of the 12 pieces, connect the two ends by overlapping them about 3/4 of an inch and rolling the ends together to make a ring shape. Make sure each joint is secure or it will come apart while boiling.

Cover with a damp towel and let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours in a warm spot. In a large pot, bring 1 to 2 gallons of water to a rolling boil. Place bagels in boiling water and boil until they float (15 to 30 seconds). Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

What happened to the hole?

Janet's notes: I left out the 1/4 cup dried red peppers, and instead of making the dough by hand, I threw all the ingredients in the bread machine and put it on the dough setting. I think I used too much yeast because they rose beautifully, then collapsed when I lifted them off the cookie sheet to boil them and never recovered.

Verdict: Flat but tasty!