Cinnamon Crunch Bagels

Step 1

In the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine water, yeast and honey, stir to combine, then let sit until foamy, about 10-15 minutes. Once foamy, gradually add in salt, cinnamon, 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of white whole wheat flour with the mixer on low speed. After 5 minutes or so, if the dough is still sticky, add the remaining bread flour and white whole wheat flour a 1/4 cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for 3 minutes longer and then knead in the white chocolate chips and knead until evenly distributed. Remove the dough from the bowl (it should be thick and stiffer than most yeast breads) and knead a few times with your hands, forming it into a ball. Some of the white chocolate chips are going to want to fall out, just push them back in.

Step 2

Brush a large bowl with oil. Place the dough inside, turning to coat. Cover the bowl with a wet towel or plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in size – about 1 hour.

Step 3

Once doubled, punch down the dough and place on your counter, using a little more flour if needed to prevent from sticking. Divide dough into 13-15 balls. Sometimes I use my scale to weigh the dough and then figure out how big each piece should be, but for these bagels I just eyeballed it and ended up with some larger bagels and and some smaller. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Step 4

Working with one piece of dough at a time, shape it into a ball and then use your fingers to poke a hole in the middle. Gently stretch the dough until the hole is about 2 inches big. Place the bagel on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough. Cover the baking sheet lightly with plastic and let the bagels rise for about 15-20 minutes.

Step 5

While the bagels rise, melt the butter for the topping. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients for the crunchy topping (brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon). Don't mix the dry ingredients with the butter.

Step 6

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. When the bagels are ready, lower two or three at a time into the water. Boil for 3 minutes then flip to the other side and boil for 1 additional minute. Using a slotted spoon or spider strainer, remove the bagels from the pot letting the water drain. Transfer to the second baking sheet you prepared. Continue until you've boiled all of the bagels.

Step 7

Once the bagels are all boiled, brush each bagel with butter and then generously sprinkle cinnamon sugar. Try to clump the cinnamon sugar together so some of it will get crunchy (I did not use all the cinnamon sugar, I had about a 1/4 cup left).

Step 8

Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the bagels are golden brown and the cinnamon sugar has hardend. Allow the bagels to cool. Slice, toast, eat whole, slather with butter or cream cheese!