Homemade Bagel Bites
Bagel bites were like 25% of my diet between the ages of 10 and 20 but I haven’t eaten them much since. I thought it would be fun to recreate them with good ingredients for a Sunday project this past weekend. I actually haven’t done homemade bagels in a while and it was great revisiting them now that I have more bread baking experience, plus making super mini versions of anything is always enjoyable for me. In the end, the bagel bites tasted just like I remembered, but much better since they were made with fresh ingredients.
Tiny little bagels. The recipe I used as a jumping off point is for 8 bagels. I halved the volume and made 16 bagels out of it, so these are about 1/4 sized bagels. Is that math right?
Like any good bagel, you need to boil them before baking. After they come out of the water you sprinkle with some toppings. I used poppy, sesame, coarse salt, and pepper.
These came out awesome! I saved a few I might make sliders with later this week.
Top with sauce, cheese, meat, and oregano and toss ’em in the oven again. I used sopressata cause I had some on hand and it is my favorite salami, but feel free to use pepperoni or any other thin sliced salami for this.
Just like with store bought bagel bites, I literally could not stop eating these and had to force myself to leave the room. Everything I remembered, but even better!
I adapted the base bagel recipe from here.
Homemade Bagel Bites
A homemade version of my favorite childhood snack, bagel bites.
Servings: 16 bagel bites
Ingredients
BAGELS
- 3/4 cups water
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sesame seed
- 2 tablespoons poppy seed
- 1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
TOPPINGS
- 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups finely grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
- 2 ounces sopressata or other thin sliced salami
- dried oregano
Instructions
- Microwave the water for about 30 seconds until it is about 100 degrees. It should be hot to the touch but not burning your fingers. I like to think of it as the temperature of a hot tub. Not sure if that is weird or not.
- Mix the yeast and sugar into the water and allow to sit for 10 minutes until the yeast is bloomed.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt. Pour in the water mixture and stir until a thick dough is formed. Pour out onto the counter and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth.
- Place into an oiled bowl, turning the dough to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and put in a warm location for about an hour until doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 475, put a large pot of water on to boil. line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and put another piece of parchment on the counter. Line a plate with paper towels. Mix the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, pepper, and salt in a bowl.
- Roll out the dough into a log and cut it into 16 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Allow to rest for about 10 minutes.
- Lightly flour your finger, and one by one, form a small hole in each ball. I actually used two of my fingers to make the holes slightly bigger, but be gentle at this step so they stay uniform and don’t rip. Allow the formed bagels to rest another 10 minutes on a piece of parchment paper.
- In batches of 4, boil the bagels, about 1 minute per side. Strain and place on the paper towel lined plate. Immediately sprinkle with the sesame seed mixture. Then place on the parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining bagels.
- Bake for about 10 -12 minutes until browned on top and cooked through.
- Slice the bagels in half. Spread each bagel half with a very thin layer of crushed tomato, then top with both cheeses, a few ripped pieces of soprasatta, and a sprinkle of dried oregano. Line them up on a baking sheet and return to the oven to cook about 7 minutes until the cheese is melted and just starting to brown. Serve.
Everyone knows it’s not a Bagel Bite unless it has the square pepperoni pieces. I had the deli department at my local store cut me some thick slabs of their deli pepperoni and I cut it into small squares. It was glorious on my homemade bagel bites.