A recipe for making fancy bagels with basic dough 🥯

Put all the ingredients for the Polish starter into a cup and refrigerate overnight or leave at room temperature for 3-4 hours.

This is a well-fermented Polish starter; it has risen from the bottom to the top, meaning it's fermented successfully.

This Japanese-style toast bread flour is quite fragrant; it won't taste like steamed buns. I've also used Hetao high-gluten flour, which is also good; both have a protein content of over 14%. When making bread, choose flour with a high protein content. (This isn't an advertisement, just sharing an affordable and useful product.)

Put the dough and poolish into a bread machine and knead until smooth. If you don't have a bread machine, you can knead by hand. (If you didn't make a poolish, add 50g of flour and 50g of water to the dough. The picture shows my blueberry bagel; I didn't take a picture of the plain one, so ignore the blueberries.)

Color the kneaded dough according to your preference and knead the colored dough into the dough. If you don't like the hassle, you can make the plain ones, which will also look beautiful. I divided the dough into three colors, according to the amount of 85 grams of dough for one bagel.

Divide the dough into 85g portions, round them, and let them rest for 20 minutes. This recipe makes 10 bagels. When I made them, it was summer and the temperature was over 30 degrees Celsius, so the dough rose quickly. By the time I finished kneading the last red bagel, the first white bagel had already risen quite a bit and could be made immediately without waiting for further fermentation. If you are making a large batch, I suggest making them in an air-conditioned room or in winter, as the fermentation will be more stable.

While the dough is resting, prepare the milk crumb filling. Simply mix all the ingredients together. The butter is at the bottom; soften it before using. This one is made with purple sweet potato—it smells so good!

The method is the same as for matcha. If you're worried about the bitterness, you can adjust the matcha to 3 grams and add 3 grams more milk powder. (Matcha milk crisps are prone to bursting, so beginners shouldn't try this. If you do want to try, don't roll the dough out too thin, and make sure to pinch the edges tightly!)

The prepared milk crumb filling.

Do not knead the relaxed dough. Simply flatten and roll it out to about 15 cm long and 10 cm wide. Add the filling, which is heat-resistant chocolate chips, my son likes. If you don't have any, you can use other fillings such as red beans, dried fruit, or cheese.

Wrap the filling tightly, press the bottom thin, and then roll it up.

Pinch the opening tightly to prevent leakage. Roll out the tail, wrap the head around it, and make a circle. Remember to pinch it tightly too!

Let the bagels ferment for 20-30 minutes. Don't over-ferment them; they should be slightly light and airy. Once fermented, cook the sugar syrup.

The purple sweet potato milk pastry filling is wrapped up using the same method.

Beetroot powder makes such a beautiful color!

The fermented bagels puffed up a bit at room temperature in the summer 🤓

For the yellow mustard and pork floss filling, squeeze on some yellow mustard sauce, then add pork floss and ketchup, and wrap it up. (This photo was also taken when I made blueberry bagels. I substituted green wasabi for the ketchup because my husband wanted some. Follow the recipe; the picture is for reference only, ignore it.)

Blueberry bagels made in winter, even after 25 minutes of proofing, won't be as plump as those made in summer. This shows that temperature has a significant impact on dough, and you should adjust the fermentation time according to the temperature.

Cook the sugar syrup until it just starts to bubble, then turn the heat to the lowest setting. Place the bagel in the syrup and cook for 20 seconds on each side. Remove and drain.

Preheat the oven for 5 minutes. Drain the bagels, add your favorite decorations (I added oatmeal, sesame seeds, etc.), and then bake them in the middle rack of the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.

These bagels were made in the summer, and they're quite plump! 😂

Cross-section of purple sweet potato milk crisp filling.

These are blueberry bagels I made in winter, so they're not as plump; they're more like donuts.

The milk custard filling is so fragrant and delicious!

The black sesame milk pastry filling is also very fragrant; after eating one, I feel like my hair has grown longer! 🤣

I had a matcha milk shortbread in the middle of the night. Matcha lovers shouldn't miss it! I used Guizhou matcha powder, and it was really fragrant! It's just as good as Isuzu's, but much more affordable. However, matcha powder is slightly bitter, so don't put in too much!

If you can't finish them, seal them in a bag and freeze them to prevent them from getting tough. When you want to eat them, just thaw them! If possible, reheat them for a few minutes for even better results, making them taste just like they came out of the oven.