My Sandwich Wednesdays became a tradition shortly after I started eat in my kitchen more than 5 months ago. Usually I choose the bread according to the toppings when I share one of my sandwich recipes but sometimes it’s the other way around. The first sandwich post on the 4th December started with a homemade bagel, a defrosted one as I like to bake them in big batches and fill my freezer with them. It’s so convenient to have them on hand, I just have to warm them up in the hot oven for a few minutes. The crust becomes a little bit more crunchy but the inside stays soft and as soon as I cut the warm bagels in half the sweet smell of homemade bread fills the air in my kitchen. That’s what happened on a cold day in early December, when I smelt the bagel I felt like butter fried leek, sweet tomatoes, hot red chili peppers and smooth cream cheese, the first eat in my kitchen sandwich was born!

Here’s the recipe I promised! One batch gives me 12 good sized bagels. Most of the time I use organic spelt flour type 630 which I prefer to use for my baking in general, for sweet and savory. It’s similar to wheat, the results don’t differ in taste or texture but it’s better for the body as it has much higher nutrition values. My extensive baking demands lots of flour therefore I prefer to go for good ingredients. Another nice side effect is that ever since I changed over to spelt flour a few years ago I lost 2 pounds! When I run out of spelt, I still use wheat without changing the recipes, also for the bagels and they look, feel and taste the same, delicious!

Sesame Seed Bagels

For 12 bagels you need

plain flour, wheat or spelt type 630, 700g / 1.5 pounds
dry yeast 1 package for 500g / 1 pound of flour
water, luke warm, 380ml / 13 ounces
sugar 2 tablespoons
salt 1 1/2 level tablespoons
sesame seeds, for sprinkling
sugar cane syrup or molasses 1 heaped tablespoon, for poaching the bagels

In a large bowl, combine the flour with the yeast, sugar and salt, add the lukewarm water (you might not need all of it). Mix with your dough hooks for a few minutes. The dough shouldn’t be moist and sticky at all, more on the dry side. Continue kneading and punching with your hands until you have an elastic and soft dough ball. Grease the bowl lightly with vegetable oil and put the dough back in. Cover with a tea towel and let it rise in the warm oven (35°C / 95°F) for 60 minutes. This works really well but make sure that your oven is set to top/ bottom heat and not to fan.

Take the dough out, punch it down and knead for 1 minute. Divide the dough in half and each portion in 6 for 12 bagels. Roll each piece into a round ball between your hands and shape into a thick rope. Connect the ends to a ring, sealing and pinching well. Place on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper and greased with vegetable oil, cover with a tea towel and let the bagels rise for 30 minutes in a warm place.

Set your oven to 260°C / 500°F top/ bottom heat. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.

Add the syrup to the boiling water and poach the bagels for around 30 seconds on each side turning them with a spatula or a slotted ladle. I boil 3 bagels at a time, they should swim freely. Put them back on the baking sheets, sprinkle generously with sesame seeds and bake for 8 minutes until golden brown.