Turkish Bagels with Gruyère

This is a recipe that comes from my pizza dough recipe! This is the most versatile dough! I used the bread machine to make the dough, using my custom setting for a knead and rise only. It was really easy to shape and I have included a video on how to do that! But we need to talk about the crispy outside, and the layers of cheese in the center. I cannot get enough of these! I ate one with breakfast 3 out of 7 breakfasts the week I made them! I stored them in a freezer bag and have just thawed them out and warmed them right up! They have been just as delicious from frozen to when I made them fresh!

And one last thing, gruyere is expensive. If you want a more budget friendly option, Kerrygold Dublinger is very similar is flavor profile. And honestly...you could just go completely ham and throw mozzarella in them, brush with Italian herbs and garlic and they would be amazing! So just go with your palette!

I also used kamut and hard white wheat for the dough and loved it! if you don't have kamut on hand, you can use just hard wheat without issues!

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Turkish Bagels with Gruyere

makes 8 bagels

Ingredients:

2 cups of warm water

2 tbs honey

1/2 TBS salt

1/3 cup olive oil

1 1/2 TBS instant yeast

4 1/2 cups of fresh milled flour (1 1/2 cup kamut grain, 1 1/2 cups hard white wheat grain-- add 1/4 a cup for extra grain for flour to dust)

Stuffing:

7 oz block of gruyere

8 tbsp of butter (softened)

Topping:

egg wash:

1 egg + 1 egg white

sesame seeds: optional

Directions:

Warm water, add honey and yeast to a glass cup or bowl. Let it get foamy.

Add 3 cups of flour, salt, olive oil to a large mixing bowl. Add the water yeast mixture. Mix with a dough hook until mixed well. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour to the dough and knead until it comes together and starts to pull from the edge of the bowl.

The more dry the dough, the more dense and tough it will be. Sticky = light and airy. Knead for 5-8 minutes to develop the gluten. Cover and let rise for an hour.

If you are using the bread machine, add all the liquid ingredients to the bread machine for the dough: water, honey, olive oil. Then add the salt, flour, and make a well in the flour and drop the yeast in it. Press start on the machine to start the cycle.

When the dough is ready, punch it down and dump onto a floured surface. Roll it a large dough ball and divide into 8 pieces. I use the pinch and tuck method. And shape each of the 8 pieces into another ball. Here is a perfect tutorial on how to do get the dough into a ball. Cover and let the dough rest 15 minutes.

Grate all the cheese, and set aside.

Great time to preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Dust your counter with flour and roll each dough ball into a circle that is about 6 inches in diameter. Take a tbsp of butter and rub it all over the dough. Sprinkle with about 1/4 cup of grated cheese.

Roll the dough into a log like you do with cinnamon rolls. Then, twist the dough in opposite directions of each other. So the left hand rolls the log down, and the right hand rolls the log up. This twist in the dough it what helps create some dimension. Don't worry, I have included a video. You got this, you can do it. It is just hard to explain in a written instruction! Easy when you see it!

Then you take that twisted dough and loop it into a circle. Use one end of the dough to wrap the other side and pinch it together. Again, hard to explain, easy when you see a video.

Make all 8 bagels the same way.

Make the egg wash by beating the egg and egg white together. Brush the dough and top with sesame seeds.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool and dig in!

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