Two bagel recipes, one GF

Road warrior foodie moms, how do you handle it? Sometimes our pace in life puts our values in conflict. I get sick of packaged food dominating our meals and snacks, but can you imagine if even packaged food was a difficult option?

Some of my friends don’t have to imagine. Those with celiac disease must eat a gluten-free diet. You’d be amazed by the ways gluten sneaks into packaged food. Finding appropriate, tasty, well-priced options is challenging, especially for those who live in rural areas.

According to one of my GF friends, this is especially true of bagels. She is a road warrior mom of the highest order. One of her tribe needs her to travel a long way, and she’s going. She wants to be prepared, especially for breakfast. She spotted a recipe for GF everything bagels, and thought it would be a fantastic, portable choice to freeze and take. She knows I love to get my food nerd on, so she invited me to help with a test batch.

wheat bagel dough

The Pre-Test Batch (Gluten-y)

Before making the GF bagels at her house, I made a regular batch at mine. I wanted to be able to compare the doughs. I use a modified version of Beth Hensperger’s recipe from her amazing “The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook” (My modified version appears as the first of two recipes at the end of this post).

The dough was lovely: heavy and elastic. The challenge? I suck at dividing dough evenly, and I excel at over-flattening the dough balls. No matter. The bagels tasted great.

GF everything bagel dough

The Test Batch (Gluten-Free)

With this experience fresh in my mind, I headed to my friend’s house. We reviewed the GF recipe together, as well as her preferences. She likes the “everything” of the everything bagel (poppy seeds, sesame seeds, onion, and garlic) in the dough, so we tweaked the recipe to suit her taste (this appears as one of two recipes at the end of the post). We were careful not to increase the salt in the dough, as salt retards the growth of yeast. While the recipe called for a mixer with dough hooks, we decided to give a bread machine method a try.

We discovered that the dough was a little dry, and added water a little at a time until all dry ingredients were absorbed. We also used a rubber spatula to help during the initial knead.

Gluten vs. Gluten-Free Prep Notes

• Compared to a standard dough, the GF dough does not have the same visible rise. I think this is due to the differences in density. 
• After you divide the standard dough, you poke a hole in each dough ball with your finger, then leave it there and spin it, expanding the hole. It’s fun. The elasticity causes the hole to close a little as the dough rests. The GF dough was dense, but soft. No spinning! Just form the hole with your index finger, and it holds.
• The standard bagel recipe calls for boiling the bagel in salted water for about 7 minutes. The original GF version uses canola oil in the water, not salt, and the suggested boil time is only about 30 seconds. My friend and I upped that time to about a minute. 
• The standard bagel recipe uses an egg wash after the boil but before baking, and then you sprinkle each with your topping(s) of choice.  With the GF bagels, we buttered the tops of the boiled dough and sprinkled them with salt. 
• After 20 minutes, the GF bagels smelled great but were not browned. We moved them up a rack and let them back for about 10 additional minutes. (This was more in keeping with the time in the original recipe. We let them cool for as long as we could stand it, and then split one. Delicious!

Recipes

Regular Wheat Bagels
(Modified from the Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook)
Yield: 16 bagels
1 cup water
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
2 cups bread flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon gluten
2 teaspoons fine kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoons SAF yeast or 2 1/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast
***
3-4 quarts water
2 tablespoons fine kosher salt
1 egg yolk beaten with 2 tablespoons water for glaze
Seeds for garnish (sesame, poppy, caraway, or fennel)

1. Place the first eight ingredients (water, eggs, flours, sugar, salt, gluten, and yeast) into the bread machine pan according to manufacturer’s instructions. Place pan in the bread machine, select the dough cycle, and press start.
2. After about 2 minutes, check to see if the dry ingredients are being absorbed into the liquid. Add water a tablespoon at a time as needed, pausing after each addition.
3. Allow the dough to go through the entire dough cycle. When cycle is complete, empty the dough from the pan onto a prepared surface.
4. Divide dough into 16 equally sized balls. Stick a finger into the middle of each ball to form a hole. Spin the dough on your finger to expand the hole (it will shrink a bit as the shaped dough rests). Allow dough to rest as you prepare the water. No additional rise is needed.
5. While the dough rests, bring three or four quarts of water to a boil and add remaining salt to it. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheet with parchment paper.
6. With a slotted spoon, lower 4 bagels one at a time into the boiling salted water. Boil for 4 minutes, then flip the bagels in the water and boil an additional 3 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and place on lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining bagels.
7. Place desired seed garnish on a plate. Brush tops of bagels with egg yolk/water mix and then dip in garnish. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the bagels are golden brown. Cool before serving. Serve the same day you bake them, or freeze for up to one month. (Hint: you can slice before your freeze them.)

Gluten-Free Everything Bagels
(Modified from http://delightglutenfree.com/gluten-free-bagels)
Yield: One Dozen Bagels
2 cups warm water
5 ½ cups all-purpose gluten-free flour blend with a one-to-one ratio (we used King Arthur brand)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
1/4 teaspoon powdered dried garlic
2 packets active quick-rise dry yeast
***
2 quarts boiling water
2 teaspoons canola oil
Melted butter
Kosher salt for sprinkling

1. Place the first nine ingredients (water, flour, sugar, salt, flavorings, and yeast) into the bread machine pan according to manufacturer’s instructions. Place pan in the bread machine, select the dough cycle, and press start.
2. After about 2 minutes, check to see if the dry ingredients are being absorbed into the liquid. Add water a tablespoon at a time as needed, pausing after each addition.
3. Allow the dough to go through the entire dough cycle. When cycle is complete, empty the dough from the pan onto a prepared surface.
4. Divide dough into 12 equally sized balls. Stick a finger into the middle of each ball to form a hole. Allow dough to rest as you prepare the water. No additional rise is needed.
5. While the dough rests, bring two quarts of water to a boil and add canola oil to it. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
6. Poach bagels a few at a time in simmering water for 60-65 seconds. Remove from the water and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
7. Bake for 18-30 minutes until the bagels are golden on top. Cool before serving.

How do you handle your food challenges?