It’s been a little while so here is recipe I’ve been working on for…a little while. I’m surrounded by bagels quite often nowadays and never really had the thought to make them at home. But after a few attempts, there was a deep satisfaction that came with making my own bagels and playing with different flavors and textures. No two bagels are the same and nor should they be.
I received my delivery of White Sturgeon Caviar from Island Creek and kept thinking about different ways to showcase such a special product. Island Creek not only have amazing oysters and an admirable sustainable seafood program in general, but also incredible caviar that rivals anywhere else in the world. But as I was falling asleep one night I had the idea to have them on bagels so I obsessed over this recipe for a week until I got it right.
Now I hope you will give it a try! And also if you’re cautious or have never had caviar, I can’t think of a better introduction.
Necessities
Stand mixer with dough hook
Parchment paper
Nonstick spray
Rimmed baking sheets
Large pot or high walled saute pan
Ingredients
600g bread flour (split into 200g & 400g)
310g room temp water
10g salt
7g active dry yeast
2 tbsp barley malt syrup
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp baking soda
Sesame seeds or poppy seeds
8oz cream cheese, softened to room temp
1 cup chopped scallions
Recipe
Preferment
Combine water and yeast in a bowl or container. Whisk to dissolve. Add the 200g bread flour and mix to combine. Cover loosely and lit sit at room temperature for 4 hours, or 1 hour then in the fridge overnight. The mixture should more than double in size and become very active.
Mix
Combine preferment, 1 tbsp each malt syrup and honey, and the remaining 400g bread flour, and salt in a stand mixer with the dough hook attached. Mix on medium low speed until combined but still shaggy, let sit for 10 minutes. Turn on mixer to medium low and allow to mix for at least 10 minutes. You want it to be a firm dough, similar to play dough or a pasta dough. Remove and knead on the counter a few times to smooth it out. Spray bowl with nonstick spray, place in dough, cover and let rise for 1 - 1.5 hours.
Shape
Once doubled, dump onto a clean countertop. Use a bench scraper and divide dough into 8 equal pieces, around 118 - 120g. Keep dough pieces covered when not using because they will develop a skin. Flatten the dough slightly and gently roll into a 3 inch log. Repeat with all 8. Let rest for 5 minutes, covered. To shape, take a small log and roll out into a 7-8 inch log, starting with the middle then rolling out the edges, lightly tapering. Wrap the dough around your hand and overlap the ends by 2 inches. Then with the overlapped side on the palm of your hand, roll to seal the edges. Adjust to make it even then place on a sprayed parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat. Cover with greased plastic and place in fridge overnight for the best results.
Boiling and Baking
Boil water in a large bot or high walled saute pan. Add malt syrup, honey, and baking soda. Remove bagels from fridge. Bagels should have not quite doubled in size but still have puffed up. Take each bagel and boil for 30-45 seconds each side, using tongs to flip. Remove and place back on parchment sheets, topside facing up. Add flaky salt and desired toppings at this point.
Preheat oven to 515 degrees. Or as high as it goes! Place near the top if using a gas oven with bottom heat. Bake bagels for 16 minutes, rotating halfway through. Remove and let cool completely.
Topping
Mix cream cheese and scallions. Slice bagel in half and toast. Spread a generous amount of cream cheese and then add dollops of White Sturgeon Caviar from Island Creek.
Devour!
PS. Bagel can freeze nicely and be thawed to enjoy for a couple of weeks.
