By Lynne Cotton, Personal Trainer

When I lived in Alaska, I made my bread every week, I just couldn’t pay the $5 per loaf.  Making bread is pretty easy.  It’s the waiting around for the bread to rise one or two times that’s the hard part.  So, when I ran across a recipe promising a bagel that only required 2 ingredients, no rising, no boiling and a bit of a nutritional boost, I had to try it.

Although bread flour is recommended for a “chewy” texture, I decided to use what I had.  This meant I needed to make my own self rising flour too.  

I decided not to use the stand mixer and mixing the flour and yogurt was pretty simple.  When the dough was someone combined.  I dumped it out on my floured surface to knead the dough.  It took about 2-3 minutes to get the dough smooth and elastic.

I cut the dough ball and divided into 8 equal-ish portions and proceeded to form the bagels.  I watched Jennifer Garner make bagels earlier this week and saw her poke and spin the dough to create the bagel shape. You can also use your fingers to make a hole and just stretch it out.  

Once I had my bagel shapes made, I brushed them with the egg wash.  I wasn’t sure how much they would expand, so I left a good amount of space between the bagels.  I happened to have everything bagel seasoning, so I tried 4 with the seasoning and kept 4 plain.

I baked them in the oven for the first 22 minutes (rotating the baking sheet halfway) and when I put them back in at the higher temperature to brown, it did take a little longer than the 3-4 minutes.  

Overall they looked pretty good.  But how did they taste?!?!

I cut it in half and it definitely didn’t have that chewy, bagel texture.  I buttered one side and spread cream cheese on the other and I served it with a side of scrambled egg and cucumbers.  It was soft, fresh bread, but I didn’t really get the bagel vibe.  The next day, I toasted the bagel to see if it would make a difference.  It was better toasted.  Was it as good as a bagel shop bagel??  No, but the fact that I could make them in my own kitchen in about an hour from start to finish was nice.  The added nutritional bump from the Greek yogurt added some protein which is also a nice little perk.  I’ll bag them up and put them in the freezer.  On the days I don’t feel like having eggs for breakfast, this will be a nice change up.

**I don’t believe in eliminating foods from your diet, so it is important to find simple swaps you can make with some of your favorite foods.  Sometimes, you have to try a few different things before you find “the one swap” that works best for you.  I will try these again with bread flour to see what kind of a difference this makes.  

Bagel dough: 
2 cups self rising flour
2 cups nonfat Greek yogurt (strained thick yogurt is recommended)
**to make homemade self-rising flour combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt.

Toppings:
1 large egg
Pinch of salt
1 tsp water
Toppings for bagels: everything bagel mix, cheese, sesame seeds, etc (all optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease parchment paper lined baking sheet.
2. Combine flour and yogurt in a large bowl until mixture becomes a rough dough.  Dump on floured work space and knead dough until smooth and elastic.  Dusting with additional flour as needed.
3. Divide dough into 8 equal parts and shape each portion into a ball of dough.  Poke finger through the center of the ball dough and spin the dough ball to create the bagel shape.  Gently pull/shape dough until a uniform sized rings (I missed this part as seen in photo).  Flour hands and board as needed.
4. Arrange bagels on a baking sheet.  Mix the egg, water & salt to create an egg wash.  Brush mixture on each bagel.  Sprinkle desired toppings for bagels.  They do not puff up much, but leave about 2” between bagels.
5. Bake 20-22 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway.  Remove from the oven and increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.  Return bagels to oven for another 3-4 minutes until golden brown.

Nutrition Information:
Serving size: 1 bagel
Calories: 151
Carbohydrates:  24g
Protein: 9g
Fat: 1g
Saturated Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 25mg
Sodium: 27mg
Potassium: 110mg
Fiber: 0g
Sugar: 1g

Guest Author