Paleo Bagels

 

So it was my protein fast today and I had a bit of a craving for bagels (probably because 1/4 of my blood is Israeli) … So I just went ahead and made some Paleo Bagels… like you do! I remembered that I had some potato starch that was given to me rather generously from the lovely Molly over at Perfectly Paleo who I have promised to make some gnocchi for (and I will sorry Molly) but I couldn’t help but give it a go in my dough. Potato starch is renowned for making bread nice and doughy.

This has to be my best bread dough that I have ever made – you don’t have to turn this dough into bagels if you don’t want to, you could make a braided bread loaf, and I’m pretty sure these could even be turned into doughnuts with a little bit of tweaking. But anyways, yes, bagels…

I sat there and contemplated over a few ways of making this dough and it was a big scientific experiment for me, I used xanthan gum to add to the chewiness and also vitamin C to aid with the rise.  This dough kneads like real dough, it also rises pretty much like real dough which is a first for me – I managed to squeeze double the rise which I think is pretty amazing for a Paleo bread! This recipe will require you to boil the bagels first and then to plunge them into a cold water bath before baking – but it’s all worth it just to get that awesome bagel flavour and chew that we all love!

So hell yeah! I bring you gluten-free, grain-free and bulls**t free bagels!!!

Enjoy!

 

Makes: 6 medium bagels or 8-10 mini bagels

Preparation Time: 1 hour (plus 1-1.5 hr rise time)

Cooking Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

For the yeast mix:

60 ml boiled water
3 tbsp coconut sugar
90ml almond (or any nut milk of your choice)
1 tbsp dry active yeast

For the bagel mix:

1 cup Sukrin Almond Flour
3/4 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tbsp milled chia seeds
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp vitamin C
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp Himalayan pink salt
1 egg
1 tbsp coconut oil (plus 2 tbsp extra for kneading)
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

For the boiling mix:

Medium sized pan 2/3 filled with boiling water
1/4 cup raw honey
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Himalayan pink salt

Optional toppings:

2 tbsp poppy or sesame seeds

Method:

1. Firstly prepare your yeast mix. In a measuring jug pour in your freshly boiled water and stir in the coconut sugar until dissolved. Add your almond milk and mix well. Finally stir in your active dried yeast until fully dissolved and leave for 10 minutes until it forms a very frothy head.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine all of the bagel mix ingredients except for the egg, coconut oil, almond extract and apple cider vinegar. Stir the ingredients until everything is mixed thoroughly.
3. Pre-heat your oven to its lowest setting (50C usually).
4. Add in your egg, coconut oil, and almond extract. Stir your yeast mix and pour into the bagel mix. Now add your apple cider vinegar. Using a wooden spoon (or even a handheld whisk) mix until it forms a very tacky dough.
5. Oil your hands using the 2 tbsp of coconut oil that are remaining. Break a small amount off and work into the dough. Knead your dough repeating the coconut oil process until you have no oil left. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead on a clean and lightly floured work surface. Knead for around 10 minutes until you have a nice smooth dough.
6. Place the dough back into the bowl and cover with a damp towel or oiled cling film.
7. Turn your oven off and place the mixing bowl onto the lowest shelf of the oven and shut the door. Leave the dough to rise for at least 1 hour. If you feel that the oven is losing heat then turn it back on and heat it back up to 50C and turn it off again. You want to let the dough rise until it has roughly doubled in size. If after one and a half hours it is no longer rising don’t leave it to rise any longer as it probably won’t. If you want a more authentic bagel dough you can leave it overnight to ferment and then cook in the morning if you wish.
8. Once risen remove the dough from the bowl and knead on a lightly dusted surface for 10-15 minutes until the dough is silky smooth. Divide the dough into 6 pieces.
9.  Now it is time to place your pan of water, honey, bicarbonate of soda and salt onto the stove and bring to the boil.
10. Whilst the water is coming to the boil roll your pieces of dough into balls and shape into circles that are about 1″ thick. With a well greased index finger, push it through the centre of your dough circle and begin to spin it around onto the work surface. Flip sides and do the same until you have something that resembles a doughnut. You want the hole to be fairly large and the dough expands upon boiling. Repeat the process until you have made all 6 bagels.
11. Fill a large mixing bowl with very cold water. This is necessary to plunge the bagels into after boiling to help make them even chewier although you can skip this step if you wish.
12. Pre-heat your oven to 180C.
13. By now your water should be boiling. Lower 2 bagels into the pan as carefully as you can and set a timer for 3 minutes. Once your time is up flip the bagels using two chopsticks and boil for a further 3 minutes. Remove your bagels using the chopsticks and drop into your cold water bath. Repeat the process until all of your bagels are cooked.
14. Line and lightly grease a baking tray and place on your bagels. If you wish to top your bagels you can do with poppy seeds or sesame seeds, or anything else that takes your fancy that is!
15. Place your bagels into the oven and cook for around 10-15 minutes or until they are golden brown and the inner ring of the bagel is no longer tacky to the touch.
16. Serve toasted with lashings of butter and some smoked salmon!

 

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