#retarding

You'd think with a mere 5 ingredients (plus toppings and to my distress, add-ins) bagels would be easy to make.  We already know that a real bagel is "water boiled", without which you may as well call your bagel a dense dinner roll.  But way before you get to the boiling step, there are two other simple-but-additional requirements: proofing and retarding.  Yeah, really.  

"Proofing" proves that the bagel has risen enough to move to the next stage of "retarding".   In short, you let your formed bagels rest (while the yeast works inside) - start with you're recipe's time suggestion and adjust to taste with subsequent batches.  To proof the bagels, take just one, and place it in a bowl of water.  If it floats you have your proof: the yeast has created air pockets inside the bagel that will give softer chewiness on the inside, even after they're boiled and baked.  (If it sinks let all the bagels rest more, then try proofing again.)

"Retarding" prevents the bagel from attaining a uniformly chewy texture throughout the bagel.  Once your first bagel is proofed, put all your raw, formed bagels in the refrigerator overnight. This "retards" the dough, preventing the outside of the bagels from rising as much as the inside.  This creates the denser exterior that stands in perfect contrast with the softer interior of a classic bagel.  Only after the appropriate retarding time - usually overnight in the fridge - can you water-boil your bagels.