My hubby introduced me to one of his favorite snacks, cheese bagels, a long time ago. I have been working to perfect a bagel recipe off and on through the years. Once I figured out a good at-home bagel recipe, I began to tackle our bagel “problem”.
The only problem was that the cheese would melt through the hole and onto the bottom of the toaster oven. What a mess! My solution for that was to be meticulous in making sure no cheese covered the hole. This was time-consuming, and my children were not quite as meticulous as I am. 😉
The other way we like to eat bagels is as an egg sandwich. One day while making bagels, my hubby asked me if I could make them with no holes to keep all of that yummy goodness inside of the egg sandwich.
He’s a genius! He solved the cheese-melting-creating-a-terrible-mess problem AND made his egg sandwiches perfect!
I tried it and had to tweak the baking time a bit, but these are the result. I don’t make “regular” holed bagels any more!
These are perfect for egg sandwiches! You get the yummy bagel taste with no hole to lose half of your sandwich! AND, no melted cheese to scrape off of the bottom of your toaster oven!
- 1¼ cups water
- 4½ cups whole wheat flour, milled on pastry setting
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 4 quarts water
- Combine water, flour, sugar, salt, butter, and yeast in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer.
- Mix on low speed using the dough hook until well-developed, about 10 minutes. To ensure the gluten has fully developed, pull off a walnut-sized piece of dough. With floured fingers, stretch the dough: if it tears immediately, the dough needs to be kneaded more. You are looking for a thin translucent "windowpane" effect.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel, and let rise for 2 hours.
- Punch the dough down, place it on a lightly floured work surface, and use a dough scraper to divide the dough into 6 pieces. Shape each piece into flat round shape. Repeat with the remaining dough, and let the bagels rest for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425*
- Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large pot.
- Boil the bagels, three at a time, until they rise to the surface, about 1 minute, then gently flip to the other side, cooking for an additional minute.
- Remove the bagels with a slotted spoon and place them on the Silpat-lined baking sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the bagels begin to brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
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