Ingredients

5 cups flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 tablespoon kosher salt;
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
2 tablespoons honey
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Directions

1. Mix 1 cup flour, yet and salt in a mixer. Add the water and honey and continue mixing until dough is smooth.
2. Add the remaining flour, in small batches and continue mixing.
3. Place the dough on a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Cover with a towel and set aside to rise 15 minutes.
4. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and shape each into a flattened ball.
5. Poke a hole in the center, then stretch and rotate the dough until the hole is 1-1/2 to 2 inches wide.
6. Place the bagels on a well-floured board, cover with another towel, and let them rise for 20 minutes.
7. Fill a large pan with about 3 inches water and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.
8. Add a few bagels at a time and simmer for 5 minutes turning once.
9. Remove the bagels from the water, drain on a towel, then arrange on an oiled baking sheet.
10. Brush each bagel with egg white and sprinkle with topping of your choice.
11. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
12. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees (F), until well browned.
13. Cool on baking racks.

Back in the 1980s, I was a staff officer of XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, NC. The state found iltsef with a building that needed to be demolished, a pretty big one - IIRC, it was a large obsolete school building. Somehow, the Corps' 20th Engineer Brigade managed to get the job. So they flew an exercise air assault out a demolition platoon out there and they blew the place down. They used flour bombs throughout. Flour bombs are actually simple to make. Ordinary flour is of course the main ingredient. When I learned to make them they key thing was using an igniter; we used powdered magnesium, which flashes very quickly. Mix it with the flour. Flour ignites as an "aerosol," when it is suspended in the air. You can't stick blasting caps into a bag of flour and get an explosion. When the flour-magnesium mix is suspended in the air, you ignite a flame source and whoom. (A Special Forces NCO told me that he always just left a lit candle on the other side of the room. When the "aerosol" got there, the magnesium powder lit and it chain reacted just.like.that.)One thing that makes flour bombs so good for demolition is that they are low explosives. If calculated correctly, the building simply crumples rather than blows apart. This is what the engineers did. And they have enormous "pushing" power. All in all, a very effective device.
Mar 31, 2014 (report abuse)