Whole Wheat Pretzel Bagels

Who loves bagels? *raises hand*

Who loves pretzels? *raises hand*

What if you could combine them?

:-O

Yup, that's right, a whole wheat pretzel bagel. DELICIOUS. I found the recipe here, from Lovely Little Kitchen. I just purchased my KitchenAid mixer, which made this recipe super easy. If you don't have a mixer, you could knead the dough by hand (about 10 minutes).

Whole Wheat Pretzel Bagels
     1.5 cups warm water
     1 tbsp sugar
     2 tsp salt
     1 package active dry yeast (2.25 tsp)
     3 cups all purpose flour
     1.5 cups whole wheat flour
     1/4 cup melted butter
     10 cups water
     2/3 cup baking soda
     1 egg yolk with 1 tbsp water, whisked well

Combine the water, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes so the yeast can activate. Add the flour and butter and mix on low speed for 5 minutes after the dough comes together (this kneads the dough).  Remove the dough from the bowl, coat the bowl with oil, and place the dough back in the bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and allow it to rest for an hour as it rises. Dough rises best in 80-85 degree conditions. If it's not that warm, it may take longer to rise. Once the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Boil the water and baking soda in a large pot. Divide the dough in half again and again until you have 8 or 16 pieces (8 pieces will make a typical size bagel, 16 would be for mini bagels). Poke a hole through each dough piece and form into a bagel shape. Once the water/baking soda mix is boiling, place the bagels in there, several at a time, and boil for 30-60 seconds. The dough will puff up a bit. Remove and place on a baking sheet. 
Coat the bagels with the egg wash. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

It was so EASY using the mixer for dough! It also helped create the fluffy inside of the bagels. 

Mmm!! These really tasted like a pretzel! I couldn't believe it. I think it was a combination of the baking soda in the boiling water (normal bagels use honey) and then the egg wash on top.

A word of warning.. if you toast these the next day, the egg may burn slightly if it puddled in the center of the bagel. So I recommend picking off any extra egg before toasting, otherwise it won't smell very good.. 

I ate chili with these, which was great, and they also tasted awesome with cinnamon sugar and butter on top. Lovely Little Kitchen has a recipe for Cinnamon Sugar Cream Cheese you can pair the bagels with. I personally don't like cream cheese, so I didn't try it. 

I'm very excited to try a few different bagel recipes and some bread recipes now that I have the KitchenAid mixer. It definitely makes kneading dough way easier, which has two benefits. One, you have less work to do, and two, the dough kneads better. The first two bagel recipes I tried were "okay", but I think the fact that I kneaded them by hand made them both very dense. I'll keep you updated when I try them again :)

Don't be intimidated by a bagel recipe. They are actually quite easy to make! They have the extra step of boiling in the water, but you don't have to be a master chef to try them out. When a bag of 6 costs nearly $5 in the grocery store and a bakery doesn't offer them for any cheaper.. they're worth the homemade effort!

Readers: Are you a soft pretzel fan? Do you prefer them with cinnamon sugar or salt? What's your favorite bagel flavor? Do you like butter or cream cheese more?