Everything bagels!!!!
Are you even surprised? These have been on my to do list for the past couple of weeks, NAMELY because I've been wanting to try this Kite Hill vegan cream cheese for a long time. I couldn't commit for a while but my insta-friend (ha!) Kat convinced me to try it!!! No regrets - it was so good. I wasn't as big of a fan of the almond milk yogurt I tried but I loved this cream cheese!! Definitely a repeat purchase (but may look for it on sale).
I was looking for an easy recipe for these bagels that I could follow - one that was maybe a bit healthier, but still authentic....using only ingredients I had. Most recipes call for high gluten flour or bread flour, but since I didn't feel indulgent enough to invest in a whole bag, I decided to use all-purpose flour mixed with some Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour blend. I looked at some paleo/keto recipes but knew that they would be more dense than what I was looking for to trial run good cream cheese. Didn't want to risk the texture issue! I settled on this recipe in the end, as it seemed authentic with the boil then bake method. I later found Deb's recipe, which of course seemed the best and most detailed, and adopted the baking soda + malt powder method (subbing the latter for molasses).
Since the recipe called for grams, I used what I had left of the gluten free flour, then added the rest of the all-purpose flour to fill out. The dough came together nicely:
After an initial rise in the bowl, I shaped them into little balls, flattened and carved out the holes. I like the smaller holes so I sized them that way! After a quick (90s) boil and egg wash, they were DOUSED in the Trader Joe's everything seasoning and ready for a 30 minute bake. Guys, my husband doesn't like the everything flavor, but since he's gone, I went ALL IN.
The whole process was much easier than I expected, albeit a little wait time on the rise! Well worth it, though. I woke up around 8 and was brunching around 10/10:30. Good weekend or day off activity.
Post bake perfection.
Stacked.
Cutting into the first one...
Then adding the SHMEAR.
Next time I might have to go all out with the proper flour...stay tuned for results!!! But know that for now, you can make a pretty darn good bagel with just normal flour 🙂
