Let’s be frank. Most of us do not live in New York. Most of us probably wouldn’t want to live in New York, save for one reason: the bagels.
Pretty much the rest of America is woefully underserved when it comes to bagels. Our neighborhood sources tend to be grocery stores or chains — or downright nonexistent. With some precious exceptions, the bagels we do get are doughy, pale, gigantic, bland or some bastardization that involves chocolate chips, Asiago cheese or (really!) French toast. (Rainbows? No. Just no.)
Here’s the thing, though. You can make your own bagels, in your own regular ol’ kitchen, and even if you’re a beginner, the results will vastly surpass almost anything you’re likely to buy.
No special skill or elaborate equipment is required to turn out bagels that are golden and crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside and absolutely impossible to resist. Can you boil a pot of water? Then you can do this. And with apologies to your favorite bagel shop, you’ve probably never had a bagel fresher than one you just pulled from your own oven.