There is a Shona proverb that says, chitsva chiri mutsoka. In English it means, you see new things when you travel. That is how I feel about bagels. I don’t remember ever seeing them in any bakery.
When I first tried them, I was expecting them to be soft and sweet. They are the opposite, the crust is chewy and they are savoury. I could not figure out how they were made, never mind that there are many recipes and tutorials online. Then I saw them being made on TV.
Bagels are made using a regular bread dough. The difference is that before being baked they are parboiled in a water and sugar bath. This gives them the chewy crust.
I used a recipe from Natural Chow. Unlike most recipes it uses all purpose flour which I always have so I did not need to buy bread flour that I hardly ever use.
Here is the recipe: