I remember the first time I ate a bagel. It was 1982 and I was teenager from the mountains of Oregon on her first trip to the East Coast. I saw Amadeus on Broadway, I ate Cuban food for the first time, and I went to a wonderful outdoor marketplace that was populated by a fascinating mix of locals, Amish farmers, and Orthodox Jewish craftspeople. While the farmers hosted an auction of horse-pulled buggies and farm equipment outside, I wandered the home-goods end of the event, where I discovered a man making handmade bagels. He had a steaming pot of water at his elbow, and a big catering oven at his rear, and was hand-forming rings of wheat dough as he chatted to passersby. I got sucked in by the smell and bought a perfect bagel accompanied with a side of herby cream cheese. And then there were arias, and the heavens opened, and a great light shown down… which is to say, it was amazing!
I LOVE a really good onion bagel with a nutrition-packed seed topping, but these days I’m gluten-free. Have you ever tried a gluten-free (GF) bagel? Over the course of the last year, I have tried both GF bakery bagels and the store-bought versions. I cannot in good conscience call any of them a real bagel. A bagel should be dense, delicious, and chewy with a doughy middle and crisp exterior. Although the flavor can vary by personal taste, it should not have any weird back-of-the-palate aftertaste (I experience this when sorghum flour is involved). There also should not be a grainy texture, which can be a problem with rice flours. The bagel should hold up to the weight of toppings without being dry or tough, and it should not get soggy. Trying to create that ideal flavor, chew, and mouthfeel with non-gluten flours sounds like a super-challenge, but with this recipe and a stand mixer, you can whip up a delicious batch of bagels in an afternoon. They keep well at room temperature for a day, hold for two or three days in the refrigerator, and freeze and reheat well for longer storage.
I tried a plethora of non-gluten bagel recipes before I finally threw up my hands and created my own flour blend. As well as the proper taste, mouthfeel, and performance from my bagels, I wanted plentiful protein, good nutrition, and a wealth of vitamins and minerals. I wanted these GF bagels to be good, pure, healthy food that will perform in exemplary bagel-like fashion as edible plates for toppings.
I discovered that I could make an aesthetically pleasing bagel using the readily available gluten-free measure-for-measure or one-to-one style flours, but the texture was disappointing, the nutrition content was subpar, and the “bagels” practically dissolved on contact when introduced to butter or cream cheese. I started looking to high-protein flour blends and realized that the key to creating my ideal high-nutrition bagel with the right flavor, texture, and mouthfeel was to combine a keto-style flour blend with a good homemade baking blend made up of organic rice flours and starches. This baking blend rounds out the flavors, consistency, browning, and more. Combining buckwheat, millet, or sorghum flours with almond flour and coconut flour adds fiber, protein, and bountiful nutrition including magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and a slew of vitamins.
A quick note about sweet white rice flour for people who aren’t familiar with it... First and foremost, it is not interchangeable with regular white rice flour, nor is it sweet. It is also called “glutinous rice flour” even though it doesn’t have any gluten in it. The short form of this rice is what sushi is made from, which tells you something about it: it loves to bind things together! Also, sweet white rice flour is high in starch and adds moisture, giving these bagels a wonderful chewiness. However, it is easy to overuse; remember that a little sweet white rice flour goes a long way. You can find sweet rice flour in the Asian food aisle at most grocery stores.
Keeping these flours in your larder will take you a long way toward being a satisfied gluten-free baker and gourmand. You will also note that I list buckwheat, millet, or sorghum as the whole grain flour options. As mentioned above, sorghum leaves a weird back-of-the-palate flavor for me, but other people love it. My favorite flour in this category is a light buckwheat, but I also like millet flour blended with regular buckwheat.
I consciously created this recipe with measuring cups and spoons so that it is accessible to a wide variety of cooks. Most North American cooks don’t own a kitchen scale, and honestly, weighing everything down to the gram isn’t necessary to produce consistent, delicious results in most baked goods. I do own a nice kitchen scale, so I can reliably say that 10 grams of these gluten-free flours measures out to about one tablespoon of flour. One tablespoon is not going to make or break this recipe. For those of you who prefer a scale, I’ve included some approximate weights so you can customize your bagel recipe.
You probably already know this, but do not scoop gluten-free flours with a measuring cup the way you might with gluten flours. Always scoop with a spoon or other vessel and gently fill the measuring cup so you don’t compress the flour. Scrape your finger or a knife over the top to get an even measurement and add to the mixing bowl.
Finally: Because of the variety of flours in this GF flour blend, I add them ahead of time to the bowl of the mixer and use the whisk attachment to thoroughly blend while I gather my other ingredients. This gives me more consistent results.
Makes 8 bagels.
Ingredients
Directions
Pro Tips
Makes approximately 3/4 cup.
Ingredients
Directions
You may also enjoy:
Topics: Culinary, Recipes, Specialty Ingredients, Herbal Radio
Heidi is an award winning freelance writer with a passion for urban homesteading. She has been honored to receive a number of literary prizes including the esteemed Pushcart Prize and an Individual Artists Award in Creative Writing from the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is proud to have earned a certificate of completion for the Herbal Medicine Making Course at the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine. When she isn’t working in the garden, cleaning the henhouse, preserving food, crafting herbal formulations, or writing and editing content for really fantastic small businesses, you’ll likely find her with her nose in a book.
I remember the first time I ate a bagel. It was 1982 and I was teenager from the mountains of Oregon on her first trip to the East Coast. I saw Amadeus on Broadway, I ate Cuban food for the first time, and I went to a wonderful outdoor marketplace that was populated by a fascinating mix of locals, Amish farmers, and Orthodox Jewish craftspeople. While the farmers hosted an auction of horse-pulled buggies and farm equipment outside, I wandered the home-goods end of the event, where I discovered a man making handmade bagels. He had a steaming pot of water at his elbow, and a big catering oven at his rear, and was hand-forming rings of wheat dough as he chatted to passersby. I got sucked in by the smell and bought a perfect bagel accompanied with a side of herby cream cheese. And then there were arias, and the heavens opened, and a great light shown down… which is to say, it was amazing!
I LOVE a really good onion bagel with a nutrition-packed seed topping, but these days I’m gluten-free. Have you ever tried a gluten-free (GF) bagel? Over the course of the last year, I have tried both GF bakery bagels and the store-bought versions. I cannot in good conscience call any of them a real bagel. A bagel should be dense, delicious, and chewy with a doughy middle and crisp exterior. Although the flavor can vary by personal taste, it should not have any weird back-of-the-palate aftertaste (I experience this when sorghum flour is involved). There also should not be a grainy texture, which can be a problem with rice flours. The bagel should hold up to the weight of toppings without being dry or tough, and it should not get soggy. Trying to create that ideal flavor, chew, and mouthfeel with non-gluten flours sounds like a super-challenge, but with this recipe and a stand mixer, you can whip up a delicious batch of bagels in an afternoon. They keep well at room temperature for a day, hold for two or three days in the refrigerator, and freeze and reheat well for longer storage.
I tried a plethora of non-gluten bagel recipes before I finally threw up my hands and created my own flour blend. As well as the proper taste, mouthfeel, and performance from my bagels, I wanted plentiful protein, good nutrition, and a wealth of vitamins and minerals. I wanted these GF bagels to be good, pure, healthy food that will perform in exemplary bagel-like fashion as edible plates for toppings.
I discovered that I could make an aesthetically pleasing bagel using the readily available gluten-free measure-for-measure or one-to-one style flours, but the texture was disappointing, the nutrition content was subpar, and the “bagels” practically dissolved on contact when introduced to butter or cream cheese. I started looking to high-protein flour blends and realized that the key to creating my ideal high-nutrition bagel with the right flavor, texture, and mouthfeel was to combine a keto-style flour blend with a good homemade baking blend made up of organic rice flours and starches. This baking blend rounds out the flavors, consistency, browning, and more. Combining buckwheat, millet, or sorghum flours with almond flour and coconut flour adds fiber, protein, and bountiful nutrition including magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and a slew of vitamins.
A quick note about sweet white rice flour for people who aren’t familiar with it... First and foremost, it is not interchangeable with regular white rice flour, nor is it sweet. It is also called “glutinous rice flour” even though it doesn’t have any gluten in it. The short form of this rice is what sushi is made from, which tells you something about it: it loves to bind things together! Also, sweet white rice flour is high in starch and adds moisture, giving these bagels a wonderful chewiness. However, it is easy to overuse; remember that a little sweet white rice flour goes a long way. You can find sweet rice flour in the Asian food aisle at most grocery stores.
Keeping these flours in your larder will take you a long way toward being a satisfied gluten-free baker and gourmand. You will also note that I list buckwheat, millet, or sorghum as the whole grain flour options. As mentioned above, sorghum leaves a weird back-of-the-palate flavor for me, but other people love it. My favorite flour in this category is a light buckwheat, but I also like millet flour blended with regular buckwheat.
I consciously created this recipe with measuring cups and spoons so that it is accessible to a wide variety of cooks. Most North American cooks don’t own a kitchen scale, and honestly, weighing everything down to the gram isn’t necessary to produce consistent, delicious results in most baked goods. I do own a nice kitchen scale, so I can reliably say that 10 grams of these gluten-free flours measures out to about one tablespoon of flour. One tablespoon is not going to make or break this recipe. For those of you who prefer a scale, I’ve included some approximate weights so you can customize your bagel recipe.
You probably already know this, but do not scoop gluten-free flours with a measuring cup the way you might with gluten flours. Always scoop with a spoon or other vessel and gently fill the measuring cup so you don’t compress the flour. Scrape your finger or a knife over the top to get an even measurement and add to the mixing bowl.
Finally: Because of the variety of flours in this GF flour blend, I add them ahead of time to the bowl of the mixer and use the whisk attachment to thoroughly blend while I gather my other ingredients. This gives me more consistent results.
Makes 8 bagels.
Ingredients
Directions
Pro Tips
Makes approximately 3/4 cup.
Ingredients
Directions
You may also enjoy:
Topics: Culinary, Recipes, Specialty Ingredients, Herbal Radio
Heidi is an award winning freelance writer with a passion for urban homesteading. She has been honored to receive a number of literary prizes including the esteemed Pushcart Prize and an Individual Artists Award in Creative Writing from the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is proud to have earned a certificate of completion for the Herbal Medicine Making Course at the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine. When she isn’t working in the garden, cleaning the henhouse, preserving food, crafting herbal formulations, or writing and editing content for really fantastic small businesses, you’ll likely find her with her nose in a book.
