Bread Machine Bagels

I have a new-found love to share with you--BAGELS! I was looking at new recipes today (thanks so much for the Taste of Home magazine Mom, I love it) and found a recipe for pizza bagel, but there was no bagel recipe. So I looked through a couple cookbooks and finally on-line and found this gem. I've always thought making bagels would be difficult, but it's not and it's so fun. I have also not been getting enough "grains" in my diet, so this is a great way to add some. I got this recipe on allrecipes.com, but I made a few alterations that I will note in parenthesis.

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 cups bread flour (I used 1 cup wheat flour and 2 cups white)
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 quarts boiling water
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon cornmeal (I didn't have this and it still worked just fine.)
1 egg white
3 tablespoons poppy seeds (use whatever topping you want, I'll give suggestions at the end)

Directions:
1. Place water, salt, sugar, flour and yeast (the ingredients from the top section) in the bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough setting.
2. When cycle is complete, let dough rest on a lightly floured surface.
3. Cut dough into 9 equal pieces, and roll each piece into a small ball. Flatten balls. Poke a hole in the middle of each with your thumb. Twirl the dough on your finger or thumb to enlarge the hole, and to even out the dough around the hole. Cover bagels with a clean cloth, and let rest for 10 minutes (I let mine rest for about 30). Meanwhile, during the last 12 minutes of resting, in a large pot bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar.
4. Sprinkle an ungreased baking sheet with cornmeal. Carefully transfer bagels to boiling water. Boil for 1 minute, turn bagel and boil 1 more minute on the other side. Drain briefly on clean towel (the briefly part is key, I left mine a little too long and bits of dough were left on my towel). Arrange boiled bagels on baking sheet. Glaze tops with egg white, and sprinkle with your choice of toppings.
5. Bake in a preheated 375 degree F (190 degrees C) oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until well browned.

At the end of step 4 it says to put on your choice of toppings. I did some olive oil/dried basil (I mixed the 2 ingredients in a small bowl and brushed them on) on a few of them and cinnamon sugar on the others. I think I may do all cinnamon bagels next batch and put a tablespoon of cinnamon in the dough mix and then the cinnamon/sugar on the top. Another fun idea would be to put dried cranberries or blueberries in the mix. I read a review of someone who added fresh blueberries and they said it didn't work out very well so she's going to do dried next time. Another idea is cinnamon/raisin. Again, another reviewer said she added the raisins to the warm water and added them that way (not sure why until I try it myself). Just be creative on toppings. I did the basil so I can make bagel pizzas and thought that would be yummy. Enjoy!