Whole Wheat Bagels

These are fun to make and very yummy!

2 1/4 cups warm water                          5 cups freshly milled wheat flour

2 TBLS honey                                        2 1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp instant yeast                                   1 TBLS gluten ( optional)

Combine water and honey.  Add yeast with about 3 cups of the flour and mix well.
Add salt with the remainder of the flour and knead to form a slightly stiff dough. 
Let double, covering to keep dough from drying out.

In a large pot, bring 1 gallon of water to a boil.  Then add 1/3 cup honey to it.

Divide the risen dough into 12 pieces and shape into balls.  Let the balls best
briefly then poke your thumb through the middle forming a hole, twirling each new
bagel on your thumb to enlarge the hole until the hole is 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Let each bagel restabout 5 minutes, then place into the boiling honey water.  Cook
2-3 at a time adjusting the heatso the water is simmering all the time.  The bagels
should sink, then rise in a few seconds; if they don't, they rested too long, but are okay.
Just turn them over so that both sides get wet.  After 1 minute in the water, remove with
a slotted spoon and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at once in a preheated oven
at 425 degrees for about 35 minutes, turning the bagels over at the halfway point if they
aren't already browning evenly.

The bagels may be brushed with a mixture of 1/2 beaten egg and 2 tbls water, then
sprinkled with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, minced onions, or minced garlic.  The
egg wash makes even ungarnished bagels  shiny and pretty!