TODAY Food Club

They have been with us for centuries--the roll-with-a-hole called a bagel. But when The Bagel Store in Brooklyn turned them in to a psychedelic rainbow of twisted dough, our love affair with the bagel only got deeper and much more colorful. I haven't had this much fun in the kitchen in a long time. Hope you do, too!

Rainbow Bagels

Ingredients

• 2 packets active dry yeast (I like Red Star)
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1 ¼ cups warm water
• 3 ½ cups flour (I use bread flour or high gluten flour)
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• Food coloring (Between 4-6 colors)

Preparation

1. Pour the yeast and sugar into a large bowl.
2. Add warm water but do not stir. Let it sit for five minutes, and then stir the mixture to dissolve.
3. Add flour and salt and stir with large spoon until you can gather dough to place on floured surface.
4. Knead the dough for about 6-8 minutes until it is smooth and elastic.
5. If too moist add a sprinkling of flour until dough is not sticky.
6. Lightly coat a large bowl with butter or oil and place dough in bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel.
7. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in size.
8. Punch the dough down, and let it rest for another 10 minutes.
9. Carefully divide the dough into 8 pieces. (Should be roughly 3.2 oz balls)
10. Shape each piece into a round.
11. Wearing disposable gloves, take each dough ball and color with food coloring, working the dough to distribute color.
12. With a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball to form a rectangle. Make sure each dough ball is rolled out the same size.
13. Layer each rectangle on top of each other.
14. Cut into 1-inch strips lengthwise.
15. Twist dough into a round bagel shape and seal the ends by rolling with your hands or pinching. (You can use a little bit of water on your fingers to act as glue.)
16. After shaping the dough rounds place on a lightly greased cookie sheet, cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
17. Prepare a pot of boiling water.
18. Drop 2-3 bagels at a time into the water and cook for 2 minutes.
19. Flip bagels over after one minute. With a slotted spoon, remove bagels and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
20. Repeat until all bagels are boiled.
21. Sprinkle tops with desired seasonings. (I used a garlic sea salt mixture)
22. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
23. Bake bagels for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.
24. Serve while still warm with cream cheese or butter.

Recipe Tags

• Kid-friendly
• American
• Breakfast