Cinnamon and raisin bagels

I love bagels, particularly cinnamon and raisin one's, toasted for breakfast buttered they just can't be beaten. Mr Lancashire Food as you all know is rapidly becoming the expert bread baker in our household, however for the time being he is sticking to savoury bakes. I had a craving for a sweet bake so I thought I would give bagels a try after seeing a few other bloggers having a go at them recently but I wanted a sweet bagel, the kind that works with cool cream cheese or slathered (that word again !) in butter, so much so it runs down your fingers when your eating it.

I think the boiling the dough thing puts a lot of people off making bagels so I was pleased to spot that one of my favourite American food bloggers Averie Cooks had been experimenting with bagels without the boiling stage. So the game is on, using her recipe our first bagel making adventure began, I was very impressed as to how easy they were to make and even Mr LF liked them and he is not normally a fan of sweet bread recipes. The bagels freeze well but the recipe makes about 8 bagels so depending on your household size you may not need to store them at all.

What you need

• 1 cup of warm water 
• 1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp dried yeast
• 2 1/2 cups strong white bread flour plus a little more for dusting surfaces
• Sea salt - pinch of
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup raisins
• Polenta for dusting the trays

What you need to do

• Firstly activate your yeast, by mixing the warm water, sugar and dried yeast in a bowl or jug and stir together well, leave to side for about 10 minutes until the mixture is bubbling well.
• Now in your stand mixer, place the flour and salt (if using) and start to meix gently with the dough hook attached, adding the yeast mixture, until well incorporated, the volume of yeast mixture you need to use with vary with your flour, temperature and humidity.
• Now knead in the mixer for about 5 -7 minutes until you have a smooth elastic dough
• Add the cinnamon and raisins and continue to knead to incorporate the raisins and cinnamon, don't be alarmed by the quantity of cinnamon it will knead in.
• Place the dough in a bowl covered by clingfilm and allow to rise until doubled in size.
• Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface pushing back any raisins that fall out
• Divide the dough in to 8  equal sized pieces and shape into a ball, using your fingers make a hole in the middle to form a bagel.
• Leave to rise for 30 minutes or so covered with oiled clingfilm until risen
• Pre heat your oven to 200c / 400F
• In a large bowl filled with hot water, place the bagels for about a minute, turn them over after about 30 seconds.
• Place on a baking sheet sprinkled with the polenta to stop your bagels from sticking and burning on the bottom.
• Bake for 18 -20 minutes until well risen and golden, they will smell amazing
• Allow to cool on the baking tray and serve immediately buttered or alternatively split and toast.