Grate the jalapeños. Using a fine paddle grater, grate jalapeños into a bowl or liquid measuring up on top of a kitchen scale until you have 100 grams of grated jalapeño. The seeds will collect on top of the grater; for spicy bagels, sweep all or some of the seeds into the bowl, for mild bagels keep the seeds out of the bowl. Set aside any excess grated jalapeños to use in the egg wash later.

**Wearing gloves is strongly encouraged for this step! If you don’t wear gloves, wash your hands extremely well with soapy water immediately after grating and please DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EYES.**

Make jalapeño water. Add the lukewarm water to the jalapeños in the measuring cup and stir well. Set aside.

Combine dry ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer whisk together flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Use an extra coarse grater to grate 50 grams of medium cheddar cheese into the bowl and mix well to distribute the cheese evenly and coat it with flour.

Add the jalapeño water. Pour the jalapeño water into the center of the dry ingredients. (If you’re in a humid environment, hold back about ⅛ cup water and add it only if needed.)

Mix. Use a spatula to mix the dough together until it’s lumpy and starts to clump together, evenly distributing the liquid as best as possible. Then place the bowl in the mixer with the dough hook attached. Mix on low-medium speed until the dough comes together in a messy ball.

If the dough hasn’t come together after 3 minutes, sprinkle additional ½ teaspoon water onto any dry bits in the bowl and let the mixer run for another 30-45 seconds. Repeat again only if needed. The goal is to get the dough to come together while adding as little water as possible.

Knead. Once the dough has come together on the dough hook, increase the speed to medium and knead for 3-5 minutes until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and is smooth and slightly tacky to the touch.

If the dough suddenly seems too wet or is sticking to the bowl, dust in flour 1 tablespoon at a time. If it still seems dry or like it’s tearing instead of kneading smoothly, dip your fingers in water and flick a few water droplets onto the dough as it kneads.

Rise. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let rise 1 hour in a warm spot (72-75°F) until just about doubled in size. When you press a finger into the dough the indentation should fill back in just slightly.

Punch down. Punch the dough down in the bowl to knock any large air bubbles out of it. Cover and let rest an additional 10 minutes.

Divide and shape. Use a kitchen scale to divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. On a clean, unfloured counter, shape each one into a ball; Stack any smaller pieces on top of the biggest piece. Gently flatten the dough against the counter, then tuck the edges up into the center, flip the dough over so the seam side is down, and cup your hand around it in a claw shape. Keep your pinkie on the counter and move in tight circular motions to build tension on the top of the dough and smoosh the edges together underneath.

If that doesn’t work for you: After flipping the dough over, cup your hand around the dough and, with your pinkie on the counter, pull your hand straight toward your body. The dough will tighten up into an oval shape. Rotate 90° and repeat to pull the oval into a circle shape. Repeat as needed.

Rest. Cover the dough balls with a damp paper towel and let them rest for 10-15 minutes so the seams underneath have time to seal up.

Preheat the oven and water bath. While the bagels rest, preheat the oven to 420°F. Fill a wide, straight-sided skillet with about 3″ of water and bring to a low boil. Line a sheet pan with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

Poke the holes. Dust your hands lightly with flour. Poke your thumb through the bottom of each bagel round, pushing any edges or seams into the center. Gently squeeze to stretch (don’t tear!) the bagels until the hole in the center is about 2X the width of the bagel sides.

The bagels will shrink slightly when they boil and bake, so if you prefer a bigger hole, stretch them again right before you boil them.

Boil. Working in batches, boil the bagels 1 minute per side. Use a wire spider to remove the boiled bagels to the prepared sheet pan.

Top. In a small bowl whisk together 1 egg and 1-2 teaspoons grated jalapeño. Brush each bagel with the egg wash, top with thinly sliced jalapeños, and use a medium sized paddle grater to grate an abundance of cheddar cheese on top of the bagels. Carefully scoop any cheddar that falls onto the parchment paper back on top of the bagels if you can.

Bake. Bake the bagels for 20 minutes at 420°F.

Cool. Let bagels cool on the sheet pan 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.