Asiago Cheese Bagels

I've been dying to make bagels for the longest time, but had to wait until I had plenty of time on my hands. However, I learned today that the process wasn't nearly as involved as I'd thought. I mixed up the dough this morning, put it up to rise for an hour while Steve and I went for a run (hooray for 50-degree weather in January!), and came home to roll, boil, and bake my bagels.

There are many different recipes out there for bagels and I think the one I went with is on the easier side of things - Confections of a Foodie Bride had adapted a recipe of Nigella Lawson's for French Toast Bagels. I made a few tweaks to this recipe, opting for savory over sweet. I eliminated the maple extract and the cinnamon and added a 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp baking soda to the water I poached the bagels in. I also made sure that I let the bagels dry a bit after boiling them before returning them to the baking sheets.

The final touch was shredded Asiago cheese sprinkled on top after the egg wash, and into the oven they went. The end result? Beautiful golden brown bagels that (in my opinion) could have come straight from a bakery. Toasted and smothered in cream cheese (or butter, my preference) and Steve and I were in heaven - what a great way to spend a Sunday!