Cottage cheese bagels

• Good Culture 4% Cottage Cheese · The protein base
• Aromatics, salt, fat (full ingredient list ships with photography)

Method

1. 1

   The ratio is one cup flour to one cup blended cottage cheese, plus one egg

   One cup of self-raising flour, one cup of cottage cheese blended completely smooth, one egg worked into the dough. A pinch of salt. That is the base. The cottage cheese replaces the yogurt from the viral version and carries most of the 19g of protein. No yeast, no proving, no second rise.

2. 2

   Blend the cottage cheese until there is no curd left

   This is the step that separates a good bagel from a patchy one. Tip the cottage cheese into a blender or use a stick blender in a jug and run it for 30 to 40 seconds until it looks like thick cream. Visible curd means visible curd in the baked bagel, plus uneven protein. Do not skip this to save a washing-up job.

3. 3

   Use self-raising flour, or add baking powder yourself

   Self-raising flour is what gives these lift without yeast. If you only have plain flour, add two teaspoons of baking powder per cup and a pinch of salt. The dough will be sticky and shaggy, which is correct. Resist adding extra flour to make it tidy because that is what turns the crumb dense.

4. 4

   Shape with wet hands and keep the hole wide

   Divide the dough into four, roll each piece into a rope with damp hands, and join the ends into a ring. Make the centre hole wider than looks right because the dough closes up as it bakes. A pinched-shut hole gives you a bun, not a bagel.

5. 5

   Egg wash is not optional if you want it to look like a bagel

   Without an egg wash these bake up pale and matte. Brush the tops with a beaten egg before baking for the glossy chewy crust that reads as a real bagel. This is also the glue for seasoning. Everything-bagel mix, sesame, or poppy seeds all stick to a wet egg wash and fall off a dry top.

6. 6

   Bake at 200C for 23 minutes, no boiling needed

   Traditional bagels are boiled then baked. This dough is too soft to boil and does not need it. Bake at 200C fan for 23 minutes until deep golden and firm to a tap on the base. Lower and slower leaves the centre gummy, which was the main fault in early tests. Cool for ten minutes before slicing or the crumb tears.

7. 7

   Be honest about texture: this is a soft roll, not a New York bagel

   No two-ingredient dough gives you the dense chew of a boiled, malted, overnight-proofed bagel. What you get is a soft high-protein roll in a bagel shape, ready in 35 minutes with no proving. It toasts well, holds cream cheese and smoked salmon, and lands 19g of protein. Judge it on that, not against a proper bakery bagel.

8. 8

   Make-ahead: bake four, freeze three, toast from frozen

   The batch of four keeps two days in a sealed tin before going stale, so freeze what you will not eat fast. Slice before freezing, bag them, and toast straight from the freezer. Frozen and toasted is actually better than day-two fresh because the toast restores the chew the soft crumb loses overnight.