Cheddar Cheese Bagels
Chewy and soft, slathered in cream cheese, and sprinkled with a little Trader Joe's Everything but the Bagel seasoning and the spot is HIT. The key ingredient: bread flour.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 tbsp Instant yeast Dry active yeast will work, too, but make sure to bloom it first.
- 1½ cups Warm water ~115°F / 45°C
- 1 tbsp Light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp Kosher salt
- 4 cups Bread flour no substitutions
- ½ cup Shredded cheddar cheese plus more for sprinkling
For boiling and baking
- 1 tbsp Honey
- 1 tbsp Kosher salt
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 Egg white
- Additional shredded cheese for sprinkling
Instructions
- In a large bowl or stand mixer bowl combine yeast, warm water, brown sugar, kosher salt, and bread flour. Either by hand or with a dough hook, combine and fold in cheese. Carefully watch your mixer if using it to mix the dough, and only use it until dough comes together into a ball, about 5 minutes.
- Bread flour has a higher protein content than all purpose flour, so the dough will become very strong. If using a stand mixer, the dough will overpower your mixer if kneaded for too long. After the dough is formed, knead it by hand. This step is critical. Knead for about 5 minutes.
- Pinch the dough into two parts. Continue pinching the dough in half until you have eight equal pieces of dough. Knead each one and roll into a ball.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place four balls of dough on each pan, spreading them apart equidistantly. Flatten the ball gently with your hand so it's about the 4" in diameter. Using a chopstick, the end of a spatula, or your finger, push a hole in the center of the dough that goes all the way through. You might need to lift up the dough to get a clean hole. Dampen paper towels and wring them out. Gently place the moistened towels on the bagel dough to cover them loosely.
- Preheat your oven to 175°F / 80°C. Once it reaches that temperature, turn off the oven. Place both pans in the warmed oven. Allow dough to rise for one hour.
- Once dough has risen, you can prepare to boil it. In a large pot (preferably large enough to hold four bagels) add honey, salt, baking soda, and then fill half way up with water. Bring to a boil.
- Preheat oven to 425°F / 220°C.
- Boil bagel dough in batches, 2-4 at a time. Boil for one minute per side. Return the boiled dough to the parchment-lined baking pans.
- Once all dough has been boiled, brush with egg white and top with more shredded cheese. Bake for 20 minutes on the middle rack. Only bake one pan in the oven at a time.
- After baking, allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool for another 10 minutes. Then you are free to slice, toast, slather with butter or cream cheese, and EAT IT.