Another Bagel Bakery -- Combining Poodles and Berners!

Cali and Kate caught the Bagel Bug. Cali and Kate are among the most faithful of puppy visitors -- I believe this picture of Kate with the Rock Star contributed to him now living with Kay and Sue in Arizona :)


And although allergic to dogs, Cali (Kate's mom) was a most faithful and knowledgeable puppy visitor -- she could always tell the puppies apart!


Cali's family does not have a berner but does have Tiger, a very small assistant baker


With Tiger supervising and a camera to document, Cali and Kate got to work! Apparently Cali needs a KitchenAid mixer for her next birthday!


Kate reminds us that making bagels is actually quite fun!!




I spy Kate's eye!


And here is the berner assistant baker -- this one does not steal bagels from the counter (not that any of mine would ever do such a thing!!! -- they don't pull on their leashes either ;)


TOO CUTE!!!!!! This must be the Happy Bagel Bakery!


Looks like another bagel success story!


Thanks so much to Cali and Kate! I hope the bagels were delicious -- it sure looks like they were fun :)

Now, who is next???

Baking Bagels with Berners

I had it planned perfectly! American Idol starts at six because for some reason, I have the east coast version through Direct TV -- so anyway, I started the bagels at four. I had walked and/or trained all six dogs so they were tired...

I printed the recipe out after making the font big enough...

...to read without glasses.

I had special Montana whole wheat flour

and so I was all set. Halo got up to supervise.

I know Elizabethanne said kneading the dough is a great upper body work-out but I felt smug -- I have a KitchenAid! Besides, I walk large, strong dogs so I get that upper body workout a lot!

Zoey wondered if we could please play catch

but she decided to help by pointing out which of the measuring spoons was a tablespoon.

Syd, Zoey and Cadi all stood at the ready in case a quick floor clean-up was necessary!

The Kitchen Aid was beating the tar out of that poor dough -- I think Syd heard all the yeasties screaming...

But it turned into a ball and so I put the dough to rise under the special towel Kay and Sue gave us many years ago...

but the dough did not seem to be rising so I got worried that indeed the mixer had killed all the poor wee yeastie beasties. I started a new batch, kneading it by hand -- yes, it is an excellent upper body workout! I got the second batch all set to rise when I discovered that the first batch seemed to have risen after all! Good thing we like bagels!

In the meantime, Zoey wondered if we could please play fetch now?????

and Asia wanted me to turn on the tv so she could watch American Idol.

I explained to Asia that we had some more time before American Idol and since the tv is literally not on at any other time, she decided to come and help out in the kitchen -- here she is pointing to the boiling bagels -- and yes, those boiling bagels get ginormous!

While the bagels boiled I admired the view

and went to the loft where one of my bikes sits on the trainer. I rode this morning because as Elizabethanne said, the harder you ride, the more bagels you can eat :) You don't need to see a picture but trust me -- I do not look as stylin' as Elizabethanne does on her bike!

Looking back up at the loft, you can see Karma -- she likes to sit up there and watch us, pretending to be a goddess or something like that.

The bagels were done boiling -- look at the steam coming off of them!

So I boiled and baked and boiled and baked, and soon had 16 bagels! I did not have a big enough plate for all of them -- but here is a sampling...

Persistent Zoey on the grooming table -- "could we PLEASE play fetch now?!"

Made from scratch cocoa and fresh bagels -- do I know how to throw a dinner party, or what?!! Here is my one guest (aka Heidi) at the American Idol party getting worked over by Mrs. Maize :)


My bagels were chocolate chip and it was very hard to hand knead the chips into the dough -- the mixer did better. I also think my dough did not rise as well as it should have in either batch -- clearly the fault of the yeast and not the baker ;) However, they were good enough that I ate two with my cocoa!! And it was fun to make them :) I sent Heidi home with some and stuck the rest in the freezer.

Okay, who is next????

Bagel Break for Berners

Thanks for your comments on the bagel theme -- I am having fun and expecting more pictures soon :) Heidi could hardly stand cute Logan in his undies and chef hat, and Chris is feeling envious over Cindy's oven!

I am making chocolate chip bagels tomorrow for my pretend American Idol party, and will definitely provide a report -- thanks so much to Susan for all the fun with bagels!

It was back to school today for me, and I feel very blessed to have the job I do :) The girls felt blessed that I came home and that they got to play in the snow that is falling -- here are some fun pictures for you...

Okay -- seriously -- could she be any cuter???! Sydney, now 14 months old


These two are Zoey who was giving me a break from throwing her beloved funny toy -- that puppy (now 16.5 months) sure loves to retrieve!



Halo walked over and took Asia's stick, and chewed it right in front of poor Asia!


The puppies love to bark at Maize and try to get her to play with them. Usually she is not so interested but the new snow and mom staying outside put her in a playful mood, and she had fun with her granddaughter and niece :) Not bad for 9.5 years!




I hope you are having a playful day, preferably involving bagels!

Busy Baking Bagels with Berners and Babies

Yes indeed -- yet another participant in the Bagel Baking Challenge! Cindy is our latest in what I hope is a series of bagel bakers :) Cindy has a Kaibab B and D litter dog, an Angel Dog from the Kaibab A litter, and is grandma to Glitterati, Mika, who was helping out with bagel baking, along with Cindy's two-legged grandkids. So, straight to us from Salinas, California is Cindy's adventures in bagels:

Assembling your baking crew is very important


Make sure your four legged audience is sleepy


Using the proofing setting on the new Wolf Range worked great


Water play is a good distraction while waiting for the bagels to bake


Yummy, warm plain bagels with peanut butter and jelly!

Cindy adds to Susan, "Thanks so much for the recipe :)"

This is very fun -- who is next???

Guest Blog! Baking Bagels for Busy Women (revised with yet another bagel baker/assistants!)

Elizabethanne took me right up on the Bagel Challenge and shares her report...

Assemble your ingredients and remove any rings:


Hire good help:


Make the dough by hand. It is an excellent upper body workout and allows one to work out the frustrations of the day. It looks like this after rising:


Make it into long things that some people call "snakes," but I can't call them that because a friend of mine told me that he has snakes getting into his Moab condo and hanging out in the guest bathroom and I would just as soon forget that he ever told me that. About the condo? I told him, "Sell it!"


Then I tried this cool move to attach the two ends together. I found it on YouTube:


While they rise, go get warmed up on your bike on the indoor trainer. Watch something motivational, like ski racing.


After rising, boil the bagels. Warning: They get REALLY big:


They have to boil for seven minutes, so you have time to train dogs. Work on some freestyle moves:


Put in the second batch to boil. Do a little herding practice. (Away to me!)


Put the ginormous boiled bagels on the cornmealed pan and put them in the oven. Note: I put cornmeal on the shopping list and Greg came back with "coarse" cornmeal. Manly cornmeal! I did not know there was more than one kind. Definitely use a fine ground corn meal. Otherwise, it's a lot like little rocks on the bottom of your bagel until you scrape them off into the sink with a knife.


Go ride your bike for a 30-minute steady state interval. Sweat profusely. Remember, the harder you ride, the more bagels you can eat!

Remove bagels from the oven and arrange them artfully on a plate, inspired by the last 30 minutes of cycling while watching the Food Network. Oooooh! Pretty!!!!


Serve with some green tea and a veggie omelet. Full disclosure, I did not make the omelet.


The bagels were delicious! So much better than the ones you can buy in Utah, and the cinnamon and raisins were a nice addition. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

With much appreciation from:


Mary-Ann again: Once I stopped laughing, I realized that I was suddenly VERY hungry for bagels!! Guess what I will be serving at my American Idol party this week? Well, only one person besides me comes so it is not exactly a party -- but I will be making and serving bagels, and now that you know that maybe we will have a crowd!!

Thanks, Elizabethanne! Not only is she Ace Puppy Namer, but I am sure you will agree that she is one clever baker!

Sunday Morning Addition!!!!

My goodness! We have started something! Just got these photos from my daughter, Nicole, who was inspired by the Poodle Bakery and made her own bagels -- she reports that they are "delicious and huge!"



She also shares a photo of her baking assistants -- looks like Noah has a new gig :)


Okay, who is next??? Send me your pictures and review :)