Bagels with cinnamon raisins, sesame and poppy seeds

Bagels, can it be more American? 😉 I know this is not a Scandinavian tradition. But as I have been writing about before when it comes to the Scandinavian cuisine, we are very much influenced and taken other food cultures into our own.

I LOVE bagels. I do! I think it is because you can’t find New York style bagels anywhere else than in USA and therefore it gets so special when I get one. So, since we have lived in USA now for more than one and a half year, my bagel consumption has increased tremendously. 😉

I can of course not bake bagels like they do at my favorite bagel place in the world; Murray’s Bagels Chelsea NYC. If you are in NYC, go there! Before I left Murry’s last time I was there, I asked them if I could have the recipe. 🙂 I couldn’t. But with that said, I think this home made bagel recipe is almost as good, that means they are GREAT! These bagels have a crispy crust and a soft and thick inside, just like they should. What I also love with baking my own bread is that I know exactly what kind of ingredients are in there. Try this recipe, it’s not as hard as you think!

Ingredients (16 bagels):

• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 750g (approximately 7 cups) flour (bread or all purpose flour)
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 cup lukewarm water
• 3 1/2 tbsp golden syrup (I use this one)
• 1 egg white
• 2 tsp cinnamon, 3 tbsp raisins, 2 tsp white sesame seeds, 2 tsp black sesame seeds, 2 tsp poppy seeds

Use a stand mixer. Add half of the flour and all yeast and salt into the bowl.

Heat the water to lukewarm and add the syrup into the pan with water. Now add the water mixture into the bowl with flour and start mixing. Add more and more flour until the dough start to get off the sides of the bowl. Mix for another 5-10 minutes. Let the dough ferment for 30 minutes in the bowl covered with a kitchen towel.

Place the dough on a baking board and divide it into 16 equal sized pieces. I normally use a kitchen scale. If you want to bake cinnamon raisins bagels, now add the cinnamon and the raisins into four of the balls. Then follow the next step, as for the other balls.Roll each piece to a ball, flat it out a bit and then use your thumbs to make a whole in the middle. Pull towards the sides so the whole gets a bit bigger. Place each bagel on a baking board to ferment another 30 minutes. Cover the bagels with a kitchen towel.

Pre heat the oven to 425ºF.

Use a big saucepan and add a lot of water and heat to boiling temperature. Add 4 bagels at the time into the hot water and let boil for 2 minutes on each side.

Place the boiled bagels on an oven tray covered with parchment paper.

Whisk the egg white and brush the egg white over the bagels.

Sprinkle four bagels with white sesame seeds, four bagels with black sesame seeds and the last four with poppy seeds.

Bake all bagels in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until they get a golden color. Let them cool down.

The bagels that are not eaten the first day can be kept in the refrigerator. Take them out the day you want to eat them, toast them and enjoy!