I always love doing a rainbow themed week around St Patrick’s Day. We always have rainbow pancakes for dinner with a “pot of gold” eggs and “fluffy clouds” of whipped cream. This year I decided to make something new and we tried these rainbow bagels!!

Bagels surprisingly aren’t hard to make! You basically make a bread dough and let it rise. Then shape it into balls and poke a hole through them. What gives them the chewy texture is when you boil it in water for a few minutes and then bake it! Everyone need to try them!

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 and 3/4 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast
• 4 cups bread flour, plus more for work surface and hands*
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• coating the bowl: nonstick spray
• egg wash: 1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon water

For Boiling

• 2 quarts water
• 1/4 cup honey

* DIY bread flour: 1 cup of all purpose flour, take out 1 1/2 teaspoon flour. Add 1 1/2 teaspoon vital wheat gluten.

Directions

1. Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm water and yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
2. Add the flour, sugar, and salt. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. The dough is very stiff and will look somewhat dry.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. With lightly floured hands, knead the dough for 4-5 minutes. The dough is too heavy for the mixer to knead it!
4. Divide the dough up into different sections. Put on gloves. Add different colored food coloring to each dough section and knead into dough. (It takes a lot of food coloring)
5. Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place all the sections of dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. (I divided up my colors into two smaller sections before adding them all back into the bowl so that the colors would be more spread out)
6. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes or until double in size.
7. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
8. Shape the bagels: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough into 10-12 equal pieces. (Just eyeball it– doesn’t need to be perfect! I like bagels on the smaller size) Shape each piece into a ball. Press your index finger through the center of each ball to make a hole about 1.5 – 2 inches in diameter. Loosely cover the shaped bagels with kitchen towel and rest for a few minutes as you prepare the water bath.
9. Preheat oven to 425°F
10. Water bath: Fill a large, wide pot with 2 quarts of water. Whisk in the honey. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-high. Drop bagels in, 2-4 at a time, making sure they have enough room to float around. Cook the bagels for 1 minute on each side.
11. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on top and around the sides of each bagel. Place bagels onto each lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes for smaller bagels and 20-25 minutes for larger bagels. You want the bagels to be a dark golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow bagels to cool on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
12. Slice, toast, top, whatever you want! Cover leftover bagels tightly and store at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.