Homemade Bagel Twists (Dunkin Donuts style)

I've really been addicted to the new bagel twists from Dunkin Donuts the last few weeks. Its a good thing I've had a gift card, because this cheddar one keeps calling my name!

(Image from Dunkin Donuts)

I've made homemade bagels a number of times, and I even experimented with homemade pizza bagel bites, so I thought I would do a little more experimenting. I followed the same bagel recipe from John Lee as I did in the past, but this time I mixed cheddar cheese in just before taking the dough out of the mixing bowl. I probably only used 1/2-3/4 cup of cheddar, but you can certainly use more.

I kneaded the dough until smooth and shaped into bagels

I really wanted to try making bagel twists too. So I used 2 sections laid next to each other and wrapped them together.

I pinched the ends together and tucked them under so they would hold.

After resting for 20 minutes, they were nice and puffy and ready to boil!

I also added a little bit of cheddar cheese to the tops of the bagels before putting them into the oven.

And I'm so glad I did because they came out perfect! These taste so much like what I was craving at DD, but I'm sure they're healthier and they are way way cheaper!

Next time I will probably only use one section of dough to make each bagel twist, and just roll the dough out longer, bend it in half, and wrap it around itself. I'll be able to make more twists this way and they won't be quite as large. I actually put the twists back in the oven for 4 more minutes to make sure they were done. It also gave the cheese a bit darker coloring, which I like.

Here is the full recipe for homemade bagels (for my step by step tutorial with pictures click here):

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

1. Mix all ingredients together (I used my Kitchen Aid)

2. Turn out onto lightly floured surface, then knead until smooth

3. Divide dough into 8 pieces and roll into balls. Let rest on the counter for 10 minutes

4. Roll each ball into a snake just longer than both hands placed side by side

5. Take one of the snakes and wrap it around your palm so that both ends meet. Use the counter and a rolling motion to fuse the two ends together and form a circle. Or use a twisting method to create bagel twists

6. Let the bagels rest on the counter for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil and preheat the oven to 425 F

7. Once they have rested for 20 minutes, boil for 1 minute, then use a slotted spoon to flip each bagel over and boil for another 1 minute. I put them on a bamboo cutting board for a minute or two so they were not soaking wet when I put them on a greased baking sheet. Then bake at 425. The recipe I linked to says to bake for 10 minutes, flip, and bake for 10 more minutes, but I found baking for 15-20 minutes without flipping worked fine too.