So many recipes, so little flour

There are so many NY Style bagel recipes out there; its hard to know which one to follow.  Of course they all rave about being the most authentic tasting, bla, bla, bla.  I decided to try and follow the Peter Reinhart recipe.  Early into making the dough I wasn't feeling confident in how it was taking shape.  It was soft and supple, yet seemed to tear easily.  I did need to add a little over a tablespoon of extra water.  And, because it didn't seem to be smooth enough, I decided I should kneed the dough longer than the recommended 3 minutes after it sat for 5 minutes.  Another note on using this recipe would be that I didn't want to shape the bagels before putting them in the refrigerator; so, I decided to let the dough sit overnight in an oiled bowl covered in plastic wrap and then covered with a dish towel.  I then formed the bagels the next day, around an hour before boiling them.  I also had the oven heat up the entire hour the bagels sat, a note I've read in several recipes. 

Dough right after I added the liquid ingredients to the flour.

I shaped the dough into a ball before letting it rest for 5 min.

Final dough placed in an oiled bowl.

I evenly distributed the dough and formed them into balls.

I used the thumb method to shape the dough into bagels.

 At this point I was confident the bagels were not going to come out right.  The dough was soft and pliable; yet I couldn't get the dough to evenly distribute and take proper shape.  If anyone knows why the dough wouldn't meld into itself- please let me know.

Final product.

I have to admit that I'm embarrased at how deflated and too doughy these turned out.

I definitely will be trying another recipe; this one found on smittenkitchen.com is an adaptation of Peter Reinhart's.  From the pictures she posted the bagels look like they have an awesome crunch to them .  So again, once I try out this recipe I'll let you all know how they turned out.


-Jerr