Boiled bagels with everything bagel seasoning

Put the warm water in a bowl, add the honey and the yeast, stir and let the yeast bloom a few minutes.

Add the salt and five cups of bread flour; knead, adding more flour by feel, until smooth, elastic and just barely sticky. The drier the dough, the taller the bagel.

Cover in the bowl and rise until doubled, about an hour.

Roll into a snake, snip with scissors into 12 roughly equal pieces and roll each into a ball.

Optionally let the balls proof 20 to 30 minutes for a smoother surface.

Dust baking sheets with flour, cornmeal or both. Pinch a hole in each ball and stretch it much wider than wanted, since it snaps back and puffs.

Proof on the counter about half an hour, or covered in the fridge overnight to two days for better flavour.

Heat the oven to 425F or 220C convection; 450 without a convection fan.

Bring a wide pan of water to a rolling boil with a big squeeze of honey.

Boil the bagels two minutes per side; longer boiling gives chewier bagels and a thicker crust. Keep them moving so they do not stick, and top up the water.

Lift out with a slotted spoon onto a rack so the bottoms steam dry.

Dip or brush each bagel with egg wash and scatter on the topping over the rack.

Mix the everything seasoning: coarse salt, dried onion flakes, dried garlic flakes, sesame seeds, poppy seeds and caraway.

Arrange on parchment-lined sheets, plain bagels and topped bagels on separate trays.

Bake about 20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway, until as brown as wanted and hard when tapped; under-bake slightly if freezing.

Rest before eating; when cool, bag and freeze. Thaw an hour on the counter or reheat from frozen five or six minutes in a tabletop convection oven.