Gluten-Free Bagels At Last
Cue the fanfare. Listen to me loud and clear all you GF folks out here. You can have a real New York style bagel, with that tooth resistant chew that you have been missing for so long. Bagels were my one lost love. I do fine, great even, with GF pastas and breads and sweets, but bagels? Nope. It was an unresolved quest until I met Karen Morgan and read her new book, The Everyday Art of Gluten-Free. During our interview the subject got around to bagels and she implored me to try her gluten-free bagel recipe. I did and that’s when the angels started singing. Make these. Now. The one caveat is that while the instructions say you can use a Silpat or parchment paper to line your baking sheet, I found that the wet, boiled bagels tended to stick to the parchment paper. The Silpat solves that issue. Load up on cream cheese and salmon and get ready. Check out her classic French Boule and our full book review.
Excerpted from The Everyday Art of Gluten-Free: 125 Savory and Sweet Recipes Using 6 Fail-Proof Flour Blends
I like a bagel you can sink your teeth into and tear, and that’s what I’ve gone for in this recipe.
- 3 cups (336 g) Bread & Pizza Blend
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon gluten-free active dry yeast
- 2⅓ cups (270 g) Bread & Pizza Blend, plus more for dusting
- 2 tablespoons powdered milk
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2½ teaspoons gluten-free active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
- 4 tablespoons (½ stick / 56 g) unsalted butter, cold and diced
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
- Make the sponge: In a large bowl, combine the Bread & Pizza Blend, eggs, yeast, and 2½ cups (600 ml) lukewarm water. Mix with a wooden spoon until well blended and thick. Cover and refrigerate the sponge, to let the yeast develop slowly, for at least 3 to 4 hours. I like to go 6 hours for the best flavor.
- Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the Bread & Pizza Blend, powdered milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt, yeast, and pepper until they are combined. Remove the sponge from the fridge and sprinkle this mixture over the top, being sure to cover as much of the sponge as possible. Cover the bowl with plastic and return it to the fridge to proof overnight (at least 8 hours).
- Using a wooden spoon, stir the dry mixture into the sponge, continuing until the mixture is too thick to stir. Transfer the dough to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or to a food processor fitted with the S-blade) and mix on high for 3 minutes. Add the butter and continue to mix on the lowest speed until you can no longer see lumps of butter, about 1 minute. The dough should be sticky.
- Dust your work surface with Bread & Pizza Blend. Turn out the dough and knead it until it’s smooth. Using a scale, divide the dough into eight equal sections. Roll each of these into an 8-inch (20-cm) rope, about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. Bring the ends of each rope together to form a circle (bagel shapes!), joining and sealing the ends with a bit of water.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat mat.
- In a saucepan wide enough to accommodate two or three bagels, combine the baking soda, sugar, and 1 quart (960 ml) water. Bring the water to a moderate boil and use a wide, flat skimmer to lower the bagels into the water in groups of two or three. Boil the bagels for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. The bagels will puff up significantly and the dough will darken a bit on the underside.
- Using the skimmer, transfer the boiled bagels to the prepared baking sheet. Bake them for about 20 minutes, until the bagels are raised, firm, and golden. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
- The bagels will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or frozen in a sealed bag for up to 1 month.
There is sugar listed 2x on the ingredients list. 2 TBL and then later 1/4 c. Is this correct? Is there a special reason?
They are used in two different places in the recipe….once in Step 2 then again in Step 6