Goodbye Garden. Hello Bagels.

This morning was the kind of glorious Autumn day that begs you to be outdoors and to make homemade bagels.  I don't know why Fall makes me want to bake bread.  But it does.  And I'm not fighting the urge!

My garden has been pretty much done for a a week or two now and it is starting to look quite ugly and full of dead things.  I took a few hours this morning and harvested the last of my tomatoes, peppers, onions and herbs and bagged everything else up for the Trash Man.  Can I just say, even when dead and crunchy, mint leaves still smell totally wonderful?

I also tried my hand at some homemade bagels this morning using the Master Dough Recipe I blogged about a few weeks ago.  It was pretty simple...

Make small dough balls, about the size of a peach.

Poke a hole in the middle and stretch it out a bit.

Drop the bagel dough balls into some boiling water (to which you have already added a 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of baking soda).  Simmer 2 minutes.  Flip them over.  Simmer 2 more minutes and remove.

Let them sit for a moment on a flour dusted towel.  Brush the top with egg white and top with whatever your little bagel-loving heart desires.  (I did two with sesame seeds, two with cinnamon sugar and 4 with sliced serrano chiles and cheddar cheese!)  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove and serve warm.

Ta Da!!
(In case you are counting, one of the cheese ones is missing because Jeff ate it...  He is my trusty taste-tester)

Totally makes me happy!