No, this isn't what people say about me. Well, maybe they do, but that's a little wierd. My son kissed my shoulder today after I had biked 20 miles with him and ran an additional three and said "you taste salty, Mom". Like I said, a little wierd.
So today I lost my cookie press. I am sure that I had one. I bought it at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I think it must have been under the "beyond" section because I can't imagine using a cookie press in bed or in the bathroom. In fact, it seems rather gross. But what was even worse was where I found me cookie press. It was in my husband's workshop. Apparently, my kids thought it was a caulking gun and put it there. Worse yet, there was caulk on it. So. Looks like I will be getting a new cookie press tomorrow. But not until after I make the butter cookies I already mixed up tonight.
In any case. You might be asking yourself "what is ugly but delicious?" well, the answer, my friends, is bagels.
I am struggling with this bagel recipe. They are so incredibly good, but I just can't get them to look pretty. Try them yourself, they are fantastic, and rather easy to make. But I hope yours are prettier than mine....
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups of warm water
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
Yeah, I know, right? Seems too easy?! How does Bruegger's get away with charging $1.50 for these simple rolls? I don't know, because once you make them, you will never buy them again.
1. Put the sugar and yeast in a bowl. Pour 1/2 cup of warm water, stir until dissolved. Leave alone for five minutes.
2. Put flour and salt into your mixer with the dough hook on. Mix. Slowly add the yeast mixture in and set mixer on "stir".
3. Pour 1/2 cup of warm water in. When that is mixed in, add the remaining 1/2 cup. Mix until it is a firm, stiff dough. If it is still sticky, add a little more flour.
4. knead the dough for about 10 minutes, whether by hand or in your mixer. oil a bowl and turn your dough in it until coated. let it sit for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.
5. Punch your dough down, let it rest for about 10 minutes.
6. Divide dough into 12 pieces. You can cut it into 8 if you want the big, bakery style bagels, but I have little kids and find they are just too big. 12 is perfect. rolls them into neat little balls as smoothly as possible.
7. stick your finger through the middle and stretch the hols to about an inch. try not to destroy the rest of the dough ball (see "ugly, but delicous" above), set them aside on a cookie sheet and let them rise for about 10 minutes.
8. In the meantime, boil water on your stove (I throw a little sea salt in it.....some recipes say to put a cut up potato in it to get additional starch, but I have found this to not be detrimental in any way, nor have any type of effect I can figure out) and preheat your oven to 425.
9. Set your bagels in the boiling water for 1 minute on each side, then pull out with a slotted spoon and set on a slightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes until brown.
10. It should be pointed out that if you are making bagels to use for sandwiches, I have had success rolling the whole mass of dough into a "loaf" shape, then cut flat sections off, putting a hole in the middle. This makes a flatter bagel, but wider, and is more "sandwich-like". My kids like it better, too.
In any case, my bagels are ugly. I don't know why. And as far as the butter cookies go....well, the kids ate all the dough.....while I was searching for the cookie press......
At least the bagels are delicious.
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