The truth is, these bagels are great any and every morning, but since Easter is this weekend, I couldn’t resist the tie in. But also, they’re really easy to make, and if you like to make breakfast a little special on the morning of a holiday without adding too much work to your already full day, this recipe is a good one. You can make the dough the night before, and then in the morning there’s just a couple steps before you’re eating wholesome, nutritious handmade bagels with your family.
You can also make these for Pasquetta morning! Are you familiar with Pasquetta, meaning “little Easter”? Pasquetta is celebrated in Italy, the Monday after Easter, and it traditionally features a picnic feast with hard-boiled eggs, salumi and cheeses, including Easter pies like Pizza Chiena (you can find my recipe for that here.) My mother has wonderful memories of traveling to la fontana vecchia as a teenager, a wooded, mountainside area near her childhood home in Southern Italy where an ancient fountain still streams with fresh water. Along with her friends, my father and his friends, some lunch packed in a basket and a fold-out box record player, they spent the afternoon dancing and eating and being young. The Monday following Easter Sunday, after all, is the first day after the resurrection, and for Christians, that’s certainly a day to celebrate. It’s a rare story of lightheartedness and joy in my mother’s pantheon of otherwise heavy and hard childhood memories, and I really do treasure it.
Personally, I love bagels. Yet, as with much of the bread bought at the store or the deli, I kept my distance from them for the most part; for me, einkorn and sourdough made bagels great again, and now I make these almost weekly and feel so good feeding them to my family. The long fermentation means they’re much easier to digest than standard bread, and the vitamins, minerals, nutrients and protein naturally found in einkorn gives them a nutritional boost. I like to smear them with some cream cheese and top that with sliced tomato, smoked sea salt, and even some pickled vegetables like cucumber or onion. Do that and now you’ve really got yourself a breakfast to write home about.
This recipe was requested by one of you, my lovely Substack subscribers, for which I am very grateful, so keep the requests coming! I love to hear from you.
If you like this recipe, and want to learn more about using sourdough and baking with einkorn, I’m planning a beginner sourdough workshop. We’ll meet via Zoom, live, for two hours, and I’ll take you step by step from feeding and taking care of your starter to baking your first no-knead artisan loaf. I’ll send you some of my own sourdough starter to get you going, along with an instructional booklet and pretty, hard-copies of the recipes. If you’re interested in learning more, let me know in the comments below or send me an email at dolores@bellafigurapodcast.com or DM me over on Instagram.
Happy Easter and Buona Pasquetta!
xoxo,
Dolores
__________________________________
Einkorn Sourdough Bagels
I make the levain the day before, around, say, 2 pm or so. That way, when 8 pm rolls around, it’s had plenty of time to become active, and I can prepare the dough using it. I mix together the dough, cover it still in the bowl with saran wrap, and then leave it in the fridge overnight to ferment. In the morning, I pick up at Step 2 (in the directions below.)
For the levain:
30 grams sourdough starter
130 grams warm water (at about 100 degrees)
120 grams all-purpose einkorn flour
Mix the starter and the water together in a bowl until smooth. Add in the flour and mix with a fork until you have a batter-like consistency.
Cover with saran wrap and let proof for six hours on the counter if your kitchen is warm. I proof my levain in the oven—with the oven OFF—with just the pilot light left on. You want the levain bubbly and active before using.
For the bagels:
Levain (from above)
177 grams warm water (at about 100 degrees)
2 teaspoons of maple syrup or sugar
540 grams einkorn flour, or 437 grams whole wheat einkorn flour
2 teaspoons sea salt
Toppings (optional). I like to use everything bagel seasoning.
1 teaspoon baking soda (to add to the pot of water later.)
Mix together the levain, water and maple syrup/sugar together until smooth. Add the flour and salt and mix with a stiff spoon or spatula. When you can’t mix it together anymore, use your hands to form the mixture into a ball. Knead the dough for two minutes or until the dough begins to stick to your hands. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof for 3 hours.
Divide the dough into 10 pieces for smaller bagels or 5 pieces for larger bagels. Roll each piece into a ball. Using your thumb, push a hole up and through the center of the dough. Smooth out the top of the dough. Repeat with each piece.
Cover with saran wrap or a linen towel and let sit for one hour.
Thirty minutes into that hour, preheat the oven to 500 degrees and place a baking sheet inside to preheat.
After the bagels have rested for a full hour, in a pot large enough to fit at least two bagels at a time, add enough water to fill half the pot and bring to a boil. Add the baking soda.
Carefully add two (or more, depending on the size of your pot) bagels to the boiling water at a time. Let them boil for about 30 seconds, then flip, and let them boil for another 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon or spatula, remove the bagels from the water and place them on a cooling rack. Add two more bagels to the water and continue the process.
Pour some of your topping into a shallow dish. While the bagels are still wet but cool enough to handle, gently dip the top of each bagel into the topping.
Remove the hot baking sheet from the oven and line with parchment paper. Add the bagels to the pan and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown on top.
Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.
They store very well for about three days in a ziploc bag (or reusable equivalent) or any tupperware type container.
Buon appetito!