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Homemade blueberry bagels with a deep purple, glossy crust, fresh from the oven
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Blueberry Bagels

Homemade blueberry bagels made with reduced fruit puree in the dough, which turns the crumb purple all the way through. A night in the fridge, a boil in honey and baking soda water and a hot oven. Shape them round with a hole or tie them into little pumpkins.
Prep Time50 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Cooling the puree, rising and fridge time14 hours 15 minutes
Total Time15 hours 35 minutes
8 bagels

Equipment

  • Stand mixer with dough hook Strongly recommended: this is a very firm dough
  • Saucepan For reducing the puree
  • Fine mesh strainer Optional, to remove the blueberry skins
  • Pot, about 3.3 L (3½ qt) The wider the pot, the more you can boil at once
  • Spider strainer or a medium fine mesh strainer A little wider than the bagels, so you can lift them out whole without bending them. A slotted spoon works too
  • Baking sheet Lined with parchment paper
  • Kitchen scale
  • Probe thermometer Optional, to check 95 °C (203 °F) in the center

Ingredients

Blueberry puree

  • 300 g blueberries about 2 cups; fresh or frozen

Dough

  • 500 g bread flour about 4 cups, 13-14% protein
  • 180 g reduced blueberry puree ¾ cup; at room temperature, 18-22 °C (64-72 °F)
  • 125 g water ½ cup; at 20-22 °C (68-72 °F)
  • 6 g fresh yeast 0.2 oz; or 2 g (⅔ tsp) instant yeast
  • 10 g fine salt 1¾ tsp
  • 15 g honey 2 tsp
  • 10 g sugar 2½ tsp

Boiling water

  • 2000 g water 8½ cups
  • 27 g honey 1¼ tbsp
  • 5 g baking soda 1 tsp

For the parchment

  • 10 g sunflower oil 2 tsp: 5 g for the cold rest and 5 g for the baking sheet

For the pumpkin shape only

  • 8 pieces of cotton kitchen twine 80 cm (32 in) each
  • 10 g sunflower oil 2 tsp, to rub the twine
  • 8 short cinnamon sticks or rosemary sprigs, optional

Instructions

The blueberry puree

  • Cook the blueberries down. 300 g (about 2 cups) in a saucepan over medium heat, with no water at all, for 10 to 12 minutes, crushing them with a fork. It's ready when it thickens like a loose jam and the trail of the spoon takes a second to close.
  • Blend it. And if you want a smoother crumb and a more even color, push it through a fine mesh strainer to remove the skins.
  • Let it cool and weigh it. To room temperature, 18-22 °C (64-72 °F). You should have between 180 and 200 g (¾ to scant 1 cup). If it's over 200 g, give it a few more minutes on the heat.

The dough

  • Mix the dry ingredients. In the stand mixer bowl, with the dough hook, add the flour, salt and sugar. Mix for 20 seconds on speed 1.
  • Add the liquids and the puree. Dissolve the fresh yeast and the honey in the 125 g (½ cup) of water at 20-22 °C (68-72 °F) and add it to the bowl together with the blueberry puree. If using instant yeast, add it with the dry ingredients instead.
  • Knead on two speeds. 3 minutes on speed 1, until no loose flour remains, then 10 to 12 minutes on speed 2. Don't go above speed 2: with a dough this firm, the mixer walks and the motor strains. If that happens, stop for 5 minutes and continue. If you knead by hand, expect it to take considerably longer, with a rest or two along the way: this is a stiff dough.
  • Adjust the texture if needed. Every batch of puree is different. If at 5 minutes the dough looks cracked and won't come together, add water 5 g (1 tsp) at a time, up to 20 g (4 tsp). If at 8 minutes it's still stuck to the sides, add flour 10 g at a time: the fruit sugars can leave it a little sticky.
  • Check the dough. It's ready when it pulls away from the bowl as a smooth, firm ball. It won't pass the windowpane test, and it doesn't need to. Final dough temperature: 24-25 °C (75-77 °F).

Rising and shaping

  • Let it rise for 60 to 90 minutes, covered, at 22-24 °C (72-75 °F). It only grows by 30-40%. Go by volume, not the clock: your kitchen temperature matters more than any time we can give you.
  • Divide into 8 pieces of about 105 g (3¾ oz) and shape each into a ball. Flatten each piece into a disc, fold the edges into the center several times, turning the dough as you go, until the surface feels tight, then turn it over with the folds underneath. Let them rest, covered, for 15 minutes.
  • Seal the base. Fold again, pressing firmly, and close the underside with small pinches until there are no cracks or creases left. A well-sealed base keeps the bagel from splitting in the water.
  • Shape them, with a hole or as pumpkins. For the classic bagel, push your thumb through the center of the ball, put two fingers in and turn the dough like a steering wheel until the hole is 4 or 5 cm (1½ to 2 in), the same thickness all the way around. It looks like too much, but it closes up by almost half. For the pumpkin shape, skip the hole: rub the 8 pieces of twine with 10 g (2 tsp) of oil, tie each ball into 8 sections and knot it on top without pulling it tight.
    Hands tying baker's twine around a ball of purple blueberry bagel dough to shape it like a pumpkin
  • Transfer them to the baking sheet. Onto parchment brushed with 5 g (1 tsp) of oil, 3 to 4 cm (1½ in) apart.

Overnight in the fridge

  • Refrigerate for 12 to 18 hours at 4 °C (39 °F), covered. This is what gives the shine, the flavor and the chewy crust, so don't skip it.

Boiling

  • Preheat the oven 30 minutes ahead. 230 °C (450 °F) with top and bottom heat, or 210 °C (410 °F) with a fan oven.
  • Prepare the baking sheet. Line it with fresh parchment, brush it with the other 5 g (1 tsp) of oil and set it next to the pot, with the strainer and a timer.
  • Put the water on. 2000 g (8½ cups) of water in a pot of about 3.3 L (3½ qt).
  • Add the honey when it boils. 27 g (1¼ tbsp), stirring until it dissolves.
  • Add the baking soda little by little. 5 g (1 tsp), over medium heat: on a rolling boil it can foam up all at once. Wait for the foam to settle and skim off what's left.
  • Adjust to a gentle simmer. Small bubbles, no rolling boil, which knocks the bagels out of shape.
  • Take out only the batch you're boiling. Keep the rest in the fridge until their turn.
  • Boil for 45 seconds. Lower them in with the strainer. You can boil as many as fit in your pot without touching, leaving a little room around them. If they're tied, knot side up.
    Three blueberry bagels tied with baker's twine into pumpkin shapes, boiling in a pot before baking
  • Flip them and boil for another 45 seconds. Slide the strainer underneath and, if they're tied, never pull on the twine.
  • Drain and return them to the baking sheet. Let them drip over the pot for 5 to 10 seconds, then back onto the sheet about 4 cm (1½ in) apart. If the water has stopped simmering, wait for it to come back before the next batch.
    Purple blueberry bagels tied with baker's twine into pumpkin shapes, on parchment paper before baking

Baking

  • Bake at 230 °C (450 °F). 20 to 22 minutes for the pumpkin shape, and 16 to 18 for the ones with a hole, because the heat gets in through the middle too. All together, on the middle rack.
  • Check they're done. They sound hollow when tapped underneath, or read 95 °C (203 °F) in the center. Go by that and not by color: the crust is dark from the start.
  • Lower to 210 °C (410 °F) if they darken too soon. The fruit sugars make them brown faster. If they're very dark at 12 minutes, continue at that temperature until they pass the previous step.
  • Let them cool on a rack. 20 to 30 minutes before splitting them: while warm, the crumb is still setting. If they're tied, remove the twine after 10 minutes by snipping the knot and pulling slowly from one end.

Video

Notes

  • 300 g (2 cups) of blueberries give you about 180 g (¾ cup) of puree. If you end up with more than 200 g, it needs a few more minutes on the heat.
  • Frozen blueberries work just as well as fresh for the puree.
  • The puree has to be at room temperature before it goes into the dough.
  • Every batch of puree is different: if the dough looks cracked, add water 5 g (1 tsp) at a time, up to 20 g. If it stays stuck to the sides, flour 10 g at a time.
  • The hole closes up by almost half as the dough grows: stretch it to 4 or 5 cm (1½ to 2 in) when shaping.
  • The crust comes out much darker than the crumb. That's the baking soda in the boiling water, which darkens the blueberry pigment on the surface.
  • With a bigger pot you can use 3000 g (12¾ cups) of water, 40 g (2 tbsp) of honey and 8 g (1½ tsp) of baking soda, so you can boil more bagels at once.
  • For whole berries in the crumb, toss 80 g (½ cup) of frozen blueberries in 10 g (1 tbsp) of flour and fold them in by hand at the end of the kneading.
  • Use 100% cotton kitchen twine with no dye. Synthetic string can't handle the oven temperature.
  • For the ube cream cheese filling, the amounts are in the post, below the recipe.