handmade classic bagel: healthy lean bread without oil, butter, and sugar

I enjoy having bagels for breakfast/snacks, it’s delicious with many fillings. Such a unique healthy lean bread: No butter, no oil, no sugar!

The dough requires time-taking fermentation, and it totally brings the natural flavor of wheat. The most distinguishing part of bagel making is the boiling, it does make the bagel crust outside and chewy inside.

I really like this little bread originated from Poland and become spectacular around the world. Enjoy the bagel making with me!

this recipe makes 6 bagels, each is weighted about 90g.

item	weight	cups or spoons	weight % to flour
STARTER SPONGE
bread flour	180 g	1 + 1/4 cups	50 % (of all 360g flour)
water	200 g	4/5 cup	55 % (warm water, body temperature)
instant dry yeast	1.6 g	1/2 tsp	0.4 %
MAIN DOUGH
bread flour	180 g	1 + 1/4 cups	50 % (of all 360g flour)
honey	12 g	2 tsp	3.3 % (or 1 tbsp brown sugar, 12g)
salt	6 g	1 tsp	1.7 %
instant dry yeast	1.6 g	1/2 tsp	0.4 %
BOILING LIQUID
water	1000 g	4 cups
honey	18 g	1 tbsp	(or 1+1/2 tbsp brown sugar, 18g)
baking soda	5 g	1 tsp
TOPPING
egg white	30 g		egg white of 1 egg
sesame seeds	30 g
reference	1 cup = 250ml	1 tbsp = 15ml	1 tsp = 5ml

STARTER SPONGE

1. mix the yeast and water, give it a good stirring, add bread flour, mix them all together
2. have it covered and set aside
3. this starter sponge can be put in the room temperature for 1 to several hours, or in the fridge for overnight to 24 hours
4. here I have a bowl of 1-hour fermentation, and a bowl of overnight 15-hour fermentation for comparison

MAIN DOUGH

1. add the yeast, honey, salt, and flour into the starter sponge, mix them all together with a spatula and your hands
2. the key point is, keep mixing, don’t add any water if you think the dough is too dry in the beginning, don’t add any flour if you think the dough is too wet, either
3. knead the dough in the bowl and in the working surface, I knead the dough for 8-10 minutes, without adding any flour or liquid. Just kneading, all the ingredients will incorporate nicely.
4. no cooking spray needed, put it back to the bowl, have it covered and set aside, let the dough proof again for 1 hour to overnight
5. the longer time, the slower fermentation it goes through, the dough has more sophisticated and better flavor
6. when the dough size is doubled, use a scraper to deflate the dough,

this dough does take time, but worth it! now it’s ready to shape the bagels.

DIVIDING AND SHAPING

1. divide the dough into the portion you want, I’ve seen 70 grams each to 140 grams each, depends on your preference.
2. shape them into nice balls

here I have 2 ways to shape a bagel:

1. the first is the classic one: roll the dough into a rope, press one end and make it flat
   wrap it around your hand, overlap two ends about 5 centimeters (2 inches), and roll them together
2. the second way is simpler: just punch a hole in the middle, use your two fingers, circle around to make the hole bigger

cover with a clean kitchen towel, let the bagels rest for 15 minutes, and we’re going to boil the bagels~

BOILING

1. boil a pot of water, add honey, and carefully, add the baking soda
2. gently put the bagel into the pot. When the bagel is floating, it’s a very good indicator of a tasty bagel made
3. boiling time is also different, from couple seconds to minutes, the longer it boiling, the chewier bagel we have.
4. my preference is not too chewy, the boiling time I set is 30 seconds for each side, 1 minute in total. then let it dry in a kitchen towel, it’s ready for next step!

TOPPING

1. put bagels in a baking pan
2. stir and loose up the egg white, brush on the top of bagels
3. then add your favorite toppings, here I’m adding some sesame seeds and salt. they’re now ready to be baked

BAKING

1. preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (about 400 degrees Fahrenheit)
2. baking for 20 minutes

COOLING

1. let it cool down in a cooling rack
2. it’s ready to be served when cooled down