Homemade Bagels and Almond Butter

I am pretty new to baking from scratch. I have always liked to cook, but baking just never interested me...until recently. About a month ago the kids and I started experimenting in the kitchen as a way to reduce the amount of processed foods we brought into the house (to be healthier and to reduce packaging waste). Then I learned of the Real Food Challenge and this really got me motivated to start making more snacks and breads in my own kitchen (aren't these blog challenges so much fun and motivating!)

For the Real Food Challenge my family committed to choosing one item at a time to replace with homemade and so far we have eliminated the following foods: store bought cereal/granola, granola bars, pretzels/crackers (we are not making our own yet, but have replaced this with other homemade healthy cookies and bars), bagels, and almond butter. Taking it one item at a time has proven to be very successful for us. My most recent creations have been bagels and almond butter so I am going to share these with you today.

My youngest daughter loves bagels. I was intimidated at first to make my own, but after some encouragement I gave it a whirl and on the third try, I finally figured it out! I would have been successful on the first try, however I was not aware of the different kinds of flours that needed to be used for different things. I started out using whole wheat flour and they turned out very hard, then I used white flour and they turned out flavorless and still hard, then I took the advice of a friend and used bread flour (I really didn't know there was such a think as 'bread' flour). I purchased some King Arthur Organic Bread Flour, and viola...yummy bagels! The recipe I used was from here and I am excited to start trying toppings next!

Almond butter is something I used to make, but then stopped for some reason. I eat it several times a week so is something I find myself buying quite often. By making my own all I need to do is buy raw almonds out of the bulk bin (using my own bag) and throw them in the food processor with some oil. It is so easy and I feel so much better knowing exactly where and how my almond butter is made! I use 1 cup of raw almonds and approx 1 Tbls of olive oil (adding more if needed) and grind up in the food processor until it is the consistency I like.

So, there is my Real Food Challenge update! I hope to have a few more homemade items to share with you next week!

Are you taking the Real Food Challenge? If so I would love to hear what changes you are making!

**Please visit our One Small Change Blog to read about some of our community members, starting with Chrissy**

Homemade Bagels and Almond Butter