I am always thinking about my stomach.

Nerves, stress, and the tetris game that is packing to head back to Czech. I'm so sad that I'm going to miss Eid at home but my family is sending me to the airport with some goodies (kue nastar, kue kering biji pala, putri ayu, and some chocolate).  I miss a lot of foods from home while living in Czech so I've had to become a little more resourceful and make these things from scratch. What kind of thing do you miss Ariana? Well, I'll tell you, Ariana. I miss bagels like crazy. Soft, squishy, toasty bagels with peanut butter or cream cheese or as a breakfast sandwich or bagel pizza when I'm too lazy to really cook anything. Bagels aren't really available in Czech. My former flatmate, Kristy, said she knew of two places in Praha but that's about it. One of my students who visits his American father in New York every summer and I had a bonding moment when discussing traveling. It went something like this:

Me: What foods will you eat this summer when you're traveling?
Lucie: I will stay home and eat ice cream!
Marek: I will eat pizza in Italy!
Ryan: I will visit my dad in New York and we'll have some good bagels.
Me: *pause* My sweet child, thank you! You understand. Bagels. Kids, listen to Ryan.

So because bagels are amazing rings of goodness clearly sent for the betterment of mankind, I will share the recipe (courtesy of Emeril Lagasse) I have been using for the past couple months. They're not quite like store-bought bagels but they're still delicious and have a nice crunch when you toast them up:

2 cups warm water (appx. 110 degrees Farenheit/43 Celsius)
.5 ounces of yeast (roughly 3 tsp)
4 tablespoons of sugar
5.5ish cups of flour
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons oil
cormeal
toppings if you want. I like onion or plain but do whatever feels right.

1) Pour the water into your mixing bowl. Stir in the yeast and only 3 tablespoons of the sugar. Make sure the water isn't too hot because then you'll kill your yeast. I made that mistake the first time I tried the recipe. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

2) Start adding in 4 cups of flour and the salt. Don't add it all at once, do a little bit at a time.

3) Mix in the rest of the flour by hand.

4) Place on a floured surface and start kneading as much flour in as you can. Do this for about 5 minutes.

5) Put 1 tsp of oil in a large bowl and spread it evenly around. Put the dough in and turn it over so it's covered in oil. Cover it and let it rise for an hour. Meanwhile grease a baking sheet or two with the remaining oil.

6) Take the dough out and punch it down. Cut it into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then into a log about 6 inches long. I just figure if it can wrap around my hand that's long enough. Make the logs into circles and pinch the ends. Put them on the baking sheets, cover, and let sit for 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 400F/ 200C. Also, start boiling a large pot of water (I use a 12-cup pot) and add in the last tablespoon of sugar.

 

7) Boil each bagel for about two minutes. As I put the bagels in the pot I throw down some cornmeal so the bagels don't stick to the baking sheet. If you're putting on toppings, dip the tops of the bagels in the toppings now.

8) Bake the bagels for 20 minutes. And then you eat them with your mouth.