Pumpkin Bagels

These are made with the Marina di Chioggia squash and almost any winter squash can be used for the “pumpkin” ingredient. 

Yield:

8 Bagels

Ingredients : 

Sponge 

1 teaspoon instant yeast

2 cups white flour

1 ¼ cup water at room temperature

Dough

½ teaspoon instant yeast

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 ½ cup flour 

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon brown sugar, honey or molasses

To Finish

1 tablespoon baking soda

Cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting

Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or other favorite bagel toppings like ‘everything’ mix

Make the sponge

1. Stir the yeast into the flour in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. 

2. Add the water and stir until it forms a sticky batter (like pancake batter.)

3. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 2-3 hours or until doubled in size and bubbly. 

Make the dough

1. In the same mixing bowl, add the additional yeast and stir. 

2. Add the flour, salt, brown sugar (or honey or molasses) and pumpkin puree.

3. Mix on low speed with the dough hook if using a mixer or stir until the ingredients form a ball. 

4. If using the dough hook - mix for 10 minutes. If by hand, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. The dough should be firm but pliable and smooth. If the dough seems too sticky, add more flour little by little until you achieve this. If it is too dry, sprinkle sparingly with water and knead in until its firm, smooth and elastic. 

Divide the dough

1. Divide the dough into 8 even sized portions and roll into a ball. They should weight about 4.5 oz each if you are using a scale. Mini bagels can be made by halving each of these portions. 

2. Roll into a ball, place them on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with a towel and let rest for 20 minutes. 

Shape the bagels.

1. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment and mist lightly with spray oil. 

2. Poke a hole in the ball of dough with your thumb and gently rotate around the inside of the hole to wind it to approximately 2 inches. Try to avoid thick and thin spots in the bagel round. 

3. Place each of the shapes pieces 2 inches apart on the sheet pans. Mist very lightly with spray oil and cover with more parchment or plastic wrap. If using more parchment paper, cover this with a towel. 

4. Let rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. 

5. Place in the refrigerator overnight or until ready to bake the bagels. A minimum of 8 hours and up to 2 days. 

Bake the bagels. 

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F or as high as your oven goes. 

1. Bring a large, wide pot of water to a boil with the baking powder. 

2. Drop as many bagels as comfortably fit into the boiling water. They should float within 15-20 seconds. Leave in the pot for 1 minute and then turn over and leave for another 1 minute. 

3. Meanwhile, sprinkle the parchment lined baking sheets with cornmeal or semolina flour. 

4. Using a slotted spoon, remove from the pot and place back on the prepared baking sheet. 

5. Repeat until all bagels have been boiled. 

6. If topping with sesame seeds or other toppings, sprinkle them on now. 

7. Bake for 5 minutes in the oven, 1 sheet in the top rack, 1 on the bottom. 

8. After 5 minutes, rotate the pans by placing the sheet pan on the top rack on the bottom and the bottom sheet pan onto the top. Lower the heat to 450 degrees F and finish baking for 5 more minutes. 

9. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack completely before cutting. 

Store at room temperature in a bread bag, plastic bag or airtight container for 3 days or you can freeze these for several months.