Blueberry bagels and the breadbaking mojo
I can’t resist sneaking downstairs a little ahead of time and am greeted by the delicious smell of freshly baking bread in the oven. Now that still doesn’t mean that they’re good, but I have high hopes and when I peek into the oven my heart makes a happy jump. Yes!! They look beautiful, brown and perfect! Well maybe a tiny bit oversized but still if that is the worst that can happen who really cares? You know how I am around bread and yeast and it’s not as if I haven’t had any help along the way. Most recently Esmee gave me a look into her kitchen and showed me that baking bread is really not as scary as I thought it was. I think – maybe – that last day put me over the edge. The edge of finally getting into the breadbaking mojo.
Earlier this week I made a sweet focaccia but since I sort of winged the recipe, creating my own version, it needs some work. It was good, but far too dense. I’ll be reworking the recipe later when I have other flour as the one I used had yeast already incorporated and well, quite frankly; it didn’t work. We still ate all the bread and we enjoyed it. (well, ok truth be told; I enjoyed it and Tom suffered in silence.. 
) I made this sweet focaccia for the new challenge that Lisa from Parsley Sage and Sweet, Lora of Cake Duchess and Jamie from Life’ a feast came up with called Twelve Loaves. Given my less then perfect history with bread this was THE perfect opportunity to get my bread baking mojo and see here, one week into the challenge and I baked a delicious batch of bagels. Now who would have thought…
Bagels are originally Jewish and have been made since the 17th century! Ultimately I think it is New York that made the bagels famous.
See those pics above? You can almost see that the dough is too dense already.
Ok on to my bagels. I was thinking of what to bake after the focaccia misfortune and as luck would have it I bought a new cookbook called One More Slice
Decision made. I was going to make fruity bagels for the twelve loaves challenge. As anyone who bakes bread on a regular basis can tell you, it all comes down to having good ingredients. Well that’s not really different from cooking really, so I bought some nice flours online from De Zuidmolen. And they arrived just in time for me to start making my lovely bagels. It was fairly easy really. The dough is not too sticky so easy to handle and the only thing I will have to get better at for next time is the size of the bagels. Funny enough the ‘little’ ones I made, thinking they would be tiny turned out to be the perfect size and the ‘normal’ ones were really big. What I didn’t know was that they puffed up quite considerably when I put them in the boiling water. O well, I’m sure Tom wouldn’t mind getting a rather oversized bagel to eat. In fact, I am pretty sure he will like these better then the sweet focaccia (he’s not into sweet bread really)
I might be making the sweet bagels next time with another fruit as the blueberries were fairly large compared to the bagels so it was hard incorporating them properly without bursting them straight away and then I ended up with not enough blueberries in the dough. I also think adding a little more sweetness into them for next time will make them even better. I had mine with creamcheese, bananas and cinnamon and they were delicious but a little more sweetness would make them perfect.
See above that there is not enough fruit in there? Now on to the recipe. Now this is the basic recipe with the addition of the blueberry version of a bagel, but it is easy to adept it to your own taste. I made sesame, poppyseed and rosemary bagels at the same time. just divided the dough and added different ingredients into them prior to rising.
Blueberry bagels
Yield: 12
Prep Time: 2 hrs
Cook Time: 25 min
Total Time: 2 hours and 25 mins
This recipe makes enough for 12 fairly large bagels or 15 smaller ones
Ingredients:
- 25 gr fresh yeast or 7 gr instant yeast
- 500 ml lukewarm water
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tbsp liquid honey
- 750-850 gr all purpose flour (good quality flour)
- eggwhite to put on top of the bagels
Directions:
- Crumble the yeast (if using fresh) and dissolve this into the water. Add the salt and the honey.
- Add the flour in small amounts at the time and knead for about 5 minutes in a foodprocessor until smooth and firm.
- Cover the bowl with a clean teatowel and leave to rise for about 50 minutes until the volume has doubled.
- Put the dough onto a flour covered surface and knead a little. Divide into 12 portions
- Make each portion into a circle and make a hole in the middle with your fingers. Twist the bagel around your finger and turn (swinging your bagel around the hole in the middle) to smooth out the form.
- Put the bagels on a baking tray covered with baking paper, cover with a clean teatowel and leave to rise for another 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180 C. Bring a large pot of water to the boil.
- Cook the bagels, a few at the time, for about 1-2 minutes on each side.
- Put the bagels on a teatowel to drain and then transfer them back onto the baking tray with baking paper.
- Brush with the eggwhite and bake the bagels in the middle of the preheated oven for about 25 minutes
To make the blueberry bagels you need about 100 gr of blueberries. Add the blueberries to the dough as soon as you mixed it all before starting the first rise.
Follow the process the same way.
Recipe by Leila Lindholm
These blueberry bagels are made for the Twelve Loaves Challenge ; Baking from Scratch!
Appetizer
Asian
Bread
Breakfast
Desserts & other sweets
Healthy
Simone,
They look amazing. Bagels are hard to make so your mojo is working very well indeed I would say!
My favourite bagel is from a tiny deli in NYC. A smoked salmon slab served on a garlic onion seeded bagel with raw onion and mustard leaves. Deeeeeelicious. Gorgeous photos. xx
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 10th, 2012 at 23:13
One of my favorite bagels is one with creamcheese and salmon too. Just love that. Guess what we had on our bagels the other day? That gorgeous package of smoked fish I took with me from Ireland!
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I love that smell too! A heavenly and welcoming fragrance that makes you feel at home…
Those bagels look very tempting! This speciality is sooooo delicious.
Cheers,
Rosa
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 10th, 2012 at 23:12
Absolutely true. Nothing beats the smell of freshly baked bread!
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Wow, Simone..you went above and beyond and your blueberry bagels are outstanding and gorgeous! Your bread mojo is reaching some serious heights here! I’m dying to ‘schmear’ some cream cheese on them, although they are undoubtedly perfect without! I’m so glad you baked with us!!
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 10th, 2012 at 23:12
I’m glad you guys started the whole twelve loaves challenge. one month and I’m already loving it!
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I LOVE bagels, and these blueberry beauties look absolutely divine!! What a great choice! And there’s nothing wrong with a nice, big bagel!
Really great baking!!
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 10th, 2012 at 23:12
In the meantime we have actually eaten the big ones and you’re right; there was nothing wrong at all with having a large bagel!
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I also live with someone who doesn’t enjoy sweet breads.. I stil find it unbelievable that he doesn’t like them. Your bagels turned out really well! I would love to try baking them someday, but even though I love baking and am not generally afraid of doughs and yeasts, I am a little bit afraid of baking bagels. I usually save having them for when I am eating out for breakfast. Saludos!
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 10th, 2012 at 23:10
O but you should try them Anneke; they’re actually very easy to make. I guess part of me making them was due to my lack of knowledge about bagels I guess.
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They look wonderful! Last time I made bread I was about 10, I think haha! Need to get the right equipment so I can experiment with your recipe!
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 10th, 2012 at 23:09
O you don’t need much equipment at all to make these bagels other then an oven and a pot to cook the bagels in!
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I have never made bagels. Stunning! I have made pretzels boiled and then baked. They were fun. This I need to try! Bravo!
V
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 10th, 2012 at 23:08
See I have never made pretzels! Funny enough pretzels are something you can’t really buy here Well not the larger ones you would get in the US. Maybe I gotta try my hand at pretzels next!
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Your bagels look and sound great. Just curious–are they chewy? Chewy, say, like a piece of country sourdough bread? My problem with most bagels is that they’re overproofed and end up too soft. They look too big and have no texture. I love that you boil them first, which seems right, just wondering about the texture. Thanks. Ken
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 10th, 2012 at 23:07
Hey Ken. Yes they are a bit chewy once freshly baked. I’m not sure if I would compare it to sourdough bread as that is also chewy but in a different way. I think they were quite good. Once frozen and defrosted, I toasted them before eating and that possibly made them even better. I would say a lot of texture!
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Beautiful bagels, Simone! I think there are enough blueberries…I think they look perfect and fluffy. Dreamy and wonderful for breakfast. So thrilled you baked along this month for Twelve Loaves!xx
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 10th, 2012 at 23:05
Thanks so much Lora! I loved making these (and will definitely be doing more of them soon!)
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Your blueberries bagels look perfect. Glad to know they chewy. I love a chewy bagel with lox and cream cheese.
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These are so perfect!
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Oh those bagels look sooo gooood !! Can’t wait for our new house and kitchen to finish to start cooking and baking again !
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Whoohoo! You go girl! They are looking great!
For the blueberry bagels: You could take a strip of dough, flatten it, put the blueberries in, fold it, pinch the seam en form it in to a bagel. That will work.
One thing: I’m afraid there is no need to come over again to bake some bread?
hahahha
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Simone
I love bread as much as you do, but I dare not bake it very often. I would blow up. I know a couple of boys around here who would kill for their blueberry bagels (their favorite breakfast). But alas, they are skinny and can afford it. haha.
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 13th, 2012 at 07:49
I truly think that bread fits into any diet without making you blow up..
but then I think it grew up in a nation of bread lovers. I just cannot imagine going without!
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Simone,
Your bagels look sooo delicious! I also like mine toasted with cream cheese…but bananas would sure kick them up a notch. Thanks for the ideal.
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 13th, 2012 at 07:50
You should really try it with bananas Robert! I love a little sweet touch to them!
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Waw! Your blueberry bagles rock my taste buds, dear Simone! They look utterly tasty!
A good & tasty bagel is worth gold!
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 13th, 2012 at 07:50
Thanks so much Sophie!
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Making these! Oh wow, Simone, these are fantastic! Perfect bagels, perfect texture and outside! Perfect! And with fresh blueberries? I am going crazy! Gorgeous! When can I visit? So so happy you baked with us for Twelve Loaves! xo
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 13th, 2012 at 07:56
Thanks so much Jamie… Loved baking along too. Can’t wait to see what next month will bring along!
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Love these blueberry bagels, I haven’t tried yet, King Arthur flour guys always says that we need to use high gluten flour to make it chewy. I will try soon. Your photo makes me want to try them with little bit cream cheese on the top.
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Simone (junglefrog) — August 13th, 2012 at 08:02
I don’t know if my flour was high in gluten but they were sure chewy!
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Beautiful Blueberry Bagels! I am glad you are getting you bread baking mojo and can’t wait to see what else you can come up with!
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You did a wonderful job on the bagel.
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Well done Simone! I’m glad you’re conquering your bread fears…the bagels look fantastic. I look forward to seeing your sweet focaccia recipe.
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Ooooooo this looks great!!!!!
I just decided to go Paleo, so no bread of bagel for me…
But this makes me re-think it
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