A few weeks ago, I jumped on the bandwagon (bagel-wagon?) because I was too entranced by Amy's post to resist. I used this recipe she linked to, and it worked perfectly. This one is from my first batch - I captured photographic evidence of the only bagel that was circular in shape. I'm not sure if anybody else has had this issue in bagel-making, but lots of ours have broken apart in the boiling phase and turned into crescent-bagels. Still very tasty, if somewhat malformed.
I've since gotten some good tips about fixing the problem of the dough-rings breaking apart (cutting the dough with a cookie cutter, for example, is a method I might try soon).
But let me be clear: their weird shape has in no way diminished how fantastic these bagels are. They're chewy and lovely and smell like gladness when they're baking. I'm totally converted! If only I could remember to get the dough going in advance (this is always my stumbling block with baking bread items).
