Bagel Bombs

September 6, 2021

Continuing with our trend of sharing breakfast recipes on our website, we thought we’d share today one of our more popular and unusual items, one that was inspired by something I saw on one of my visits back to New York City (my hometown) over the past decade. These are our famed “bagel bombs”, which take the work out of slathering cream cheese on your morning bagel by baking it right inside. While they may seem a bit challenging to make, in practice they aren’t that bad, especially if you have any experience making Chinese dumplings–the wrapping process is very similar!

Everything Bagel Bombs

Inspired by Momofuku Milk Bar, NYC and The Amateur Gourmet

Ingredients:

For the Cream Cheese Plugs:

250 grams cream cheese (plain not low-fat)
Greens from 1 bunch of green onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

For the Dough:

1/2 tablespoon coarse salt
Around 250 grams plain flour
1/2 teaspoon active dried yeast
185 grams water room temp
Neutral oil

For the “Everything” Mix:

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 tablespoons white sesame seeds
4 teaspoons black sesame seeds
4 teaspoons poppy seeds
2 tablespoons dried onions
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 egg

Directions:

Make the Cream Cheese Plugs:

Put the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream it on medium speed, until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the scallions, sugar, and salt and paddle briefly to incorporate. Taste to adjust.

Scoop the cream cheese on to a parchment-lined cookie sheet in 15 or so even lumps and freeze until rock hard, 1 to 3 hours.

Make the Dough:

Stir together the flour, salt and yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer using the dough hook like a spoon. Continue stirring as you add the water, mixing for 1 minute, until the mixture has come together into a shaggy mess.

Engage the bowl and hook and have the machine mix the dough on the lowest speed for 3 minutes, or until the ball of dough is smoother and more cohesive. (If it just looks like a big wet mess, add some more flour until it begins to look more like a ball.) Then knead for 4 more minutes on the lowest speed. The dough should look like a wet ball and should bounce back softly when prodded.

Brush a large bowl with oil and transfer the dough into it. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough proof at room temperature for 45 minutes.

Make the Everything Bagel Mix:

Mix together the salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried onions, onion powder, and garlic powder. This will keep for several months, so don’t worry if it looks like it’s too much.

Preheat the oven to 150C. Punchdown and flatten the dough on a smooth, dry countertop. Use a dough cutter to divide the dough into the same number of pieces as you have cream cheese plugs. Use your fingers to gently stretch each piece of dough out into a disc around 5 centimetres wide (you can make these whatever size you like, just make sure there is a good ratio of dough to cream cheese).

Put a cream cheese plug in the center of each dough circle. Bring up the edges of each round and pinch to seal so that the cream cheese plug is completely contained, then gently roll the ball between the palms of your hands to ensure the bomb has a nice, round, dinner roll-y shape. Arrange the bombs several centimetres apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Whisk the egg and 1/2 teaspoon water together and brush a generous coat of egg wash on the buns. Sprinkle a heavy even coating of the bagel mix all over the bagel bombs–every possible inch, except for the bottoms, should be coated.

Bake the bagel bombs for 20 to 30 minutes. While in the oven, the bombs will become a deep golden brown and a few may have cream cheese explosions. Continue baking until you see this happen! Bagel bombs are best served warm out of the oven–or flashed in the oven later to warm and serve. If you can’t finish them all right away, once they are cool, wrap them well in plastic and store them in the fridge for up to 3 days.