Do-it-yourself bagels

It's easy to dismiss bagels as a why-bother sort of baking project.

After all, it has been many years since the best bagel outside New York was frozen and bagged. The proliferation of excellent bagel shops has left few corners of this country starved for quality specimens.

But exceptionally good bagels are so easy to make. With just a bit of planning and a stand mixer (or some particularly muscular arms) fresh bagels can be on the breakfast table in about 20 minutes.

Mind you, that 20 minutes comes after about an hour of mostly painless effort the night before. But what a small price for deli-style bagels hot from the oven without having to schlepp to the bagel shop.

While recipes for bagels abound, Johnson & Wales University baking instructor Peter Reinhart perfected the technique for getting that deli taste and texture at home in his book, "The Bread Baker's Apprentice."

Don't be daunted by the 15-hour start-to-finish time. You do nothing for nearly 14 hours of that.

Here's what you need to know:

Flour

The chewy nature of bagels means they need a flour with a high gluten (protein) content. The best are special flours milled for bagel shops. Reinhart suggests asking to buy several pounds from your local shop.

Failing that, unbleached white bread flour works just fine. No bread flour? Testing of Reinhart's recipe with regular all-purpose flour produced wonderful bagels. Whole-wheat flour (including white whole-wheat flour) did not work well. Reinhart says he is working on a recipe specifically for whole-wheat bagels.

Water

New Yorkers will argue that real bagels are made with real New York water.

"That's the myth they've spun really well," Reinhart says. "New York just happens to have really good water. But I don't think that's the difference" between an acceptable bagel and an exceptional one.

He does suggest using bottled spring water if your water is heavily chlorinated or particularly hard.

Malt

Bagel shops add barley malt syrup to the dough because it adds a subtle — but important — flavor. The syrup, which resembles molasses, is widely available at natural foods grocers, many supermarkets and online.