Cinnamon-Raisin Bagels with Berry Pistachio Mascarpone

Claudia Brick — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 07:58:07 +0000

Chewy, golden-brown bagels, studded with raisins and warmly spiced with cinnamon, hot and crispy-edged when toasted and smeared with a creamy, tart smashed berry mascarpone, dripping and melting off the edges. Jump to Recipe

I could not believe that I had never made my own bagels before.

Dumbfounded by how much better these were than any store-bought bagel I had ever eaten. So much better. 100000x better. The depth of flavour, yeastier and more cinnamon-malt-like (in a good way), packed with more raisins, a crisper crust with a softer and chewier interior, speckled with small air-holes.

And then that topping. That topping is like heaven. Seriously. Less tangy and sweeter than cream cheese, given a hint of lemon, imbued with swirling fresh berries, and topped with the crunch and nuttiness of pistachios. We had difficulty in sticking to a single spoonful. Sticky fingers were forgotten in the rush to consume mouthfuls of the stuff, melding with the hot, crunchy edges of cinnamon bagel. Not a drop, a smear, was left on a plate. (But no, you don’t have to put quite as much on as there is in the photo.. well, you can. And you will enjoy it. But you don’t have to.)

Afterwards, I had numerous friends and family members informing me that this was the best bagel they had ever experienced. I agreed. And I couldn’t believe how wrong my previous perception was – that bagels were hard to make, impossible to get right, a huge effort in kneading and shaping and proving and boiling and baking. Because yes, you do have to do all those things – but it is really not hard, after the first time is not insanely time-consuming, and it yields 16 bagels (which freeze extremely well) and are a million times better than any bought from a store (even a high-end, gourmet bagel making store – at least in my experience).

The berry mascarpone will keep in the fridge for a few days, for you to whip out and coat your bagels with at whim. The bagels are a Peter Reinhart recipe (barely adapted from Smitten Kitchen): please do not be put off by the length of the recipe – much of it is notes to help you along.

You can either start the day (or evening) before and make the bagels the next morning, or start early in the morning and make the bagels that night. I chose the first option just for convenience (and because the bagels use up a whole lot of fridge space!). This was my timeline: make the sponge before dinner, and leave it for 2 hours while dinner happens. Afterwards, make the dough – this is easiest with a strong stand mixer and dough hook (as the dough is very stiff compared to other bread doughs) but can be done by hand. Divide it into pieces, rest them for 20 minutes, shape into bagels, rest them for 20 minutes. Check with the float test to see if they are ready for the fridge. Leave in the fridge overnight.

The next morning (or whenever you are ready to bake in the next 2 days), it will take around an hour total to boil the bagels and bake them for 10 minutes in the oven. AND YOU’RE DONE. Just like that, the house is filled with cinnamon-bread smells and sixteen hot bagels are on your counter. Success. And it is way cheaper than buying those same bagels, which from gourmet bagel makers in Auckland are around $12 for 6 – so 16 would cost you $32 – while these homemade ones cost a fraction of the amount + a little time and effort. So worth it. Trust me.

As a side note, there has been a bit of a debate lately about Montreal vs New York style bagels, with Montreal style being apparently chewier and crisper, slightly sweeter, do not traditionally contain salt and are baked in a woodfired oven. New York bagels are known as being fluffy and doughy, larger beasts that are sandwiched with thick layers of flavoured cream cheese. However, according to many sources, New York bagels as we know them have experienced a decline over the last 50 years with commercial mass production and were formerly much closer to a Montreal style in terms of chewy and crispiness. So, these bagels are a New York style, being poached in a alkaline water (that’s the baking soda), including malt (or honey) as a sweetener, and being oven baked rather than woodfired, but not as they are currently churned out in many 24hr bagel stores in NYC – no, these are MUCH better.
(Read HERE for more on this)

(Although, I also added honey to the boiling water just for that extra flavour, which is more traditionally a Montreal style thing – so I guess these bagels take the best of both worlds!).

I also made a savoury sesame version of these bagels the day before (yes, it was a big bagel making weekend), and may or may not put up that recipe this weekend. Just currently debating whether I wait until I can remake them with a more interesting topping (decisiveness is not my strong point when it comes to food), so if you have a preference or would really like to see them let me know! BUT in the meantime, make these cinnamon raisin bagels with berry pistachio mascarpone. You will not regret it.

Homemade Cinnamon-Raisin Bagels with Berry Pistachio Mascarpone

Peter Reinhart Cinnamon-Raisin Bagels (barely adapted from Smitten Kitchen) with a berry pistachio mascarpone topping Prep time: 1 hour + 2 hours sponge rising time + overnight in fridge Cook time: 1 hour Makes 16 bagels

Course Breakfast

Author Claudia Brick

Ingredients

Sponge

1 tsp instant yeast
4 cups high grade flour (bread flour)
2 1/2 cups water , room temperature

Dough

1 teaspoon instant yeast
3 3/4 cups high grade flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar
2 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon honey , brown sugar, or malt syrup
2 cups raisins , rinsed with warm water to remove surface sugar, acid and wild yeast and patted dry

To cook

1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon honey

Berry Pistachio Mascarpone

200 g good quality mascarpone
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup berries , fresh or frozen & thawed
pistachios , roughly chopped

Instructions

First day: To make the sponge, whisk together the flour, instant yeast and water in a large bowl until smooth and gloopy, similar to a thick pancake batter. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 2 hours, or until it becomes foamy and bubbly. It should rise to double its size and collapse when the bowl is tapped on the bench.
For the next steps you can either use dough hook on a stand mixer or do it by hand.
To make the dough, stir the additional yeast into the sponge mixture. Add 3 cups of the high-grade flour, cinnamon, sugar, salt and honey. Stir (or mix on low speed with dough hook) until it forms a ball. Slowly work in the remaining 3/4 cup of flour to stiffen the dough. In the last 2 minutes of mixing, add the raisins and stir to mix through.
Transfer the dough to a counter and knead for at least 10 minutes by hand, or 6 minutes using a dough hook. By this point it should be firm and stiff but still smooth and stretchy. All ingredients should be fully incorporated. If it seems too dry and rips, add a few drops of water and continue kneading. If it seams tacky or sticky, add a little more flour until it is smooth and satiny, but no longer sticky.
Divide the dough into 16 even pieces (around 95 grams each) and form into balls. Cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
Line 2 baking trays or tins that will fit in your fridge with baking paper and mist with cooking spray. To shape the bagels, roll into a long ‘sausage’ shape (~20cm long) and wrap around your fingers to form a circle, sealing the ends firmly. Try to make the bagels as evenly round as possible. The other way of shaping them is just to poke a hole in the middle with your thumb, widening it to approximately 5cm across.
Place the bagels 3-4 cm apart on the baking trays. Mist lightly with cooking spray and cover loosely with plastic war (or slip inside a plastic bag). Leave the bagels at room temperature for 20 minutes.
To check whether the bagels are ready to be retarded in the fridge, use the float test - fill a small bowl with cool-room temperature water. Place a bagel in the water- if it floats within 10 seconds of being dropped into the water, they are ready to go into the fridge. Pat the bagel dry, cover the pan, and place all the bagels in the fridge overnight or for up to 2 days. If it doesn’t float, return it to the pan and leave at room temperature, checking every 10-20 minutes until it floats within 10 seconds.
Second day: The following day (or when you are ready to bake the bagels), preheat the oven to 260°C. Bring a large pot of water to the boil (preferably with a wide diameter), and add the baking soda and honey to the water.
Remove the bagels from the refrigerator. Gently drop as many bagels as comfortably fit in a single layer into the water (I could fit 4 in my pot at a time). They should float within 10 seconds. After 1 minute 30 seconds, flip them over and boil for another 1 min 30 sec. If you like very chewy bagels, boil for 2 min each side, while if you don’t like them chewy, boil for 1 min each side. I found that 1 minute 30 was my favourite! They will increase in size during the boiling process.
As you boil the bagels, place them back on the baking trays. When they have all been boiled, place the baking trays in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes, then rotate 180° (so they cook more evenly). Reduce the oven temperature to 230°C and continue baking for 5 minutes, or until the bagels are a light golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes. Serve with the berry mascarpone (see instructions below) and extra chopped pistachios. Smear on a fresh or toasted bagel and enjoy!
The bagels keep in an airtight plastic bag for a few days, and also freeze very well in an airtight bag - just pull out early to defrost (or microwave briefly), cut in half and toast.

Berry Mascarpone

Gently mix together the mascarpone, lemon zest and berries. Smear onto a toasted bagel and scatter with chopped pistachios.

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