Asiago Bagels

I love a good Panera Asiago Cheese bagel and cream cheese for breakfast (or any time, really!), but figured there has to be way to make them at home and to get the same taste as the Panera kind...these came VERY close...I used the following new bagel recipe and then added about 3/4 cup of small diced Asiago cheese to the dough. I did find that the cheese all fell to the bottom of the dough during the kneading process in my KA Mixer, but it worked out great anyway.

Asiago Cheese Bagels
Recipe adapted from John D. Lee's recipe on Hub Pages

Ingredients

• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 Tbls sugar
• 1 1/2 tsps salt
• 1 Tbls vegetable oil
• 2 tsps instant yeast
• 1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water
• 3/4 c. small diced Asiago cheese

Directions

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don't have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.

Plop the dough down onto the counter & knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth. (I used my KA Mixer for about 7 minutes)

Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls & let rest for 10-20 minutes.

Pre heat your oven to 425.

Now, take each of the dough balls & punch your thumb through the center, widening the hole until you have the desired shape.

Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes & meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil & grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil & rub it around. (I baked on my Silpat)

After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over & boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute & then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes & they're done!