Bumpy Bagels

It seems like only yesterday that bagels first hit Irish stores. Growing up the only type of bread I knew of was sliced pan, French stick, soda bread and occasionally the odd pitta bread, but even they were a rare commodity!

Well I can’t be sure exactly when bagels first hit our shop shelves, but one of the first gourmet bagel companies, and in my opinion the best, itsa bagel, opened its first store in Dublin over 11 years ago.

I was a big bagel fan for quite some time, plain cinnamon and raisin toasted or a bagel towering high jam packed with of the fine goodies on offer from itsa bagel…the signature gourmet veggiewas always a firm favourite!

Anyway, enough digressing…I haven’t had a bagel in years…quite literally. For two reasons…during the height of my eating disorder I wouldn’t have dared touch something purely carbohydrate based and over the last couple of years my stomach hasn’t been able to tolerate anything with wheat or gluten. I’m yet to come across any wheat free bagels on the shop shelves and with a serious bagel craving I figured it was about time I attempted to make my own. Having seen Chelsey’s blueberry bagel’sI was inspired to get bagel making.

There were two attempts, the first of which was far from successful. The dough seemed dry and very heavy but I decided to leave it to rise and see the experiment through to the end. The dough didn’t rise and I should have probably given up at that stage but proceeded to roll them, boil them, and bake them and then proceeded to eat one straight from the oven. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t all that good. I left the remaining three to cool for an hour and when I returned they had turned rock hard…

Never one to be defeated I decided to give it a second whirl, sure isn’t that what all the extra time you have over the holidays is all about. This time instead of using plain gluten free flour which I’d opted for the first time I went down the spelt route; half and half actually as I figured using purely wholegrain spelt might be a little on the heavy side. A good helping of cinnamon and more water than before…I placed the slightly sticky dough in the warm oven to rise and this time it doubled in size. I kneaded the dough a little before sectioning in to four rounds and poking a whole in the middle. I flattened them out a little by pressing down with the palm of my damp hand. In hindsight I probably could have made them a little smoother had I put a little bit more effort in to kneading but sure the whole point was to create quick and easy bagels and what really matter was final taste test.

I boiled each bagel for a couple of minutes and baked in the oven for a further 20. They smelt delicious, had browned just enough and felt soft to the touch. With dinner only around the corner I waited my patience until the next morning to give one a try. Absolutely perfect! I was very impressed with my efforts and so glad I didn’t give up after the first attempt!

I toasted the first bagel and sandwiched grilled peaches and mozzarella in the middle…absolutely delicious! Can’t wait to give my next batch ago, I’m thinking something sweeter next time round.

Bumpy bagels…well at least I couldn’t ever be accused of having bought them!

Bumpy Wholegrain Cinnamon Bagels (adapted from Clean Eating Chelsey)

 Print this easy peasy recipe

Servings – 4  bagels

Preparation Time – 1 hour 10 minutes

Cooking Time – 28 minutes

Ingredients

• 120g (1 cup) gluten free all purpose flour
• 120g (1 cup) wholegrain spelt flour
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1 tbsp dry active yeast
• 200ml (2/3 cup & 2 tbsp. warm water)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. olive oil

Directions

1. Mix together dry active yeast and warm water (I added 1/3 cup (85ml) of cold water to 1/3 cup + tablespoons of boiling water). Set aside for 5-15 minutes until a forth forms and you can hear the yeast and water fizz.
2. Meanwhile mix together spelt flour, plain flour, xanthan gum and cinnamon and salt.
3. When the yeast is done proofing whisk in olive oil before adding the wet ingredients to the dry in a food processor/mixer; process using your dough hook for 3-4 minutes or until the dough comes together in a ball.
4. Place the dough in a bowl and set aside some place warm to proof/rise. The dough should double in size. I, like Chelsey, placed mine in the warm oven (turned off) for just over an hour.
5. Remove dough from bowl and place on a flour surface. Knead for a couple of minutes; or longer if you want smooth bagels, before dividing the dough in to four rounds. Poke a hole through each round and pull the dough outwards to form a bagel. Flatten slight with the palm of a damp hand for a wider bagel (better for filling with lots of goodies).
6. Preheat oven to 200C (400F). Place the bagels one at a time in to a pot of boiling water and boil rapidly for 2 minutes each.
7. Place the boiled bagels on a non stick baking tray and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack.