Bagel sandwich buns (Hole-less bagels)
Ingredients:
Bagel dough- 420 grams all-purpose flour (3.5 cups)
- 11 grams salt (2 teaspoons)
- 6 grams instant yeast ( 2 teaspoons)
- 13 grams dark brown sugar (1 tablespoon)
- 245 grams lukewarm water (1 cup + 1 tablespoon)
- cornmeal or semolina flour (for dusting)
Boiling process
- 6 cups water
- 2 tablespoons honey
Optional toppings
- 1 whole egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- toppings like shredded asiago cheese, poppy seeds, sesame seeds or everything seasoning
Directions:
Dough: mix and then knead all ingredients on medium in a stand mixer for 8 minutes. If you are kneading by hand, you're going to need to mix ingredients in a bowl and then knead for about 15 minutes until you get a smooth dough.
Form the dough into a ball and place it in a covered bowl in a warm place until it doubles in size which should be around 1 to 1.5 hours.
After the dough has doubled, remove it from the bowl and shape it into 8 equal pieces. I usually weigh each dough ball to keep them all a similar size.
Shape all eight dough pieces into balls and allow them to rest under a clean kitchen towel for 15 minutes.
While the dough balls are resting prepare a baking sheet with a piece of parchment that you have dusted with cornmeal or semolina flour.
After 15 minutes, carefully flatten each ball so it's more of a round disk shape than a ball shape. Place each disk-shaped dough on the dusted sheet pan. You should be able to get 8 bagel buns on a sheet pan in a 3 2 3 pattern based on the long side of a traditional sheet pan.
Cover the sheet pan containing all your shaped bagel bun dough with plastic wrap and allow them to rise for 30 to 45 minutes. At this point you can refrigerate the dough overnight if desired or you can continue with the recipe. If you choose to refrigerate the dough, cover all of the bagel buns with lightly greased plastic wrap so that they do not dry out in the fridge.
When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 450 degrees F (232 C).
Boiling: in a large skillet or pot add 6 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of honey. Bring to a boil.
Once the honey water is boiling, boil bagel buns 2 or 3 at a time for one minute per side, flip and boil for 1 minute on the second side, and then place back in its spot on the parchment-lined and dusted pan. Boil the rest of the bagel buns until they have all been through the boiling process.
Toppings? If you want to add toppings, whisk together 1 whole egg and 1 tablespoon of water. This is your egg wash. Paint each bagel bun dough that has already been boiled with the egg wash and then sprinkle heavily with your chosen topping. Continue with all the bagel buns that you wish to top.
Bake the bagel buns for 18 to 25 minutes or until you have achieved the level of browning that you desire.
Remove bagel buns from the pan to a cooling rack and allow them to fully cool before slicing.