Vegan MoFo Day 4: Pumpkin Bagels

Bagels!! I worked in a bagel store for about seven years, so can someone explain why it is that I have never tasted a pumpkin flavored bagel? Actually, I'm not sure that I've even seen one. Did we sell them in our store and I just thought I wouldn't like them? I don't know. All I know is that when I saw that beautifully orange pumpkin puree staring at me, the thought of pumpkin bagels walked into my brain and I've been thinking about it ever since. I started with the basic bagel recipe in Vegan Brunch and then made some pumpkin-y adjustments. I added pumpkin (obviously) and some spices, changed the sugar to brown sugar, decreased the water a bit, and used half whole wheat flour. They came out fantastic, even if I don't know what they're technically supposed to taste like.

Pumpkin bagel balancing is a lot easier than rock balancing.

Pumpkin Bagels

1 to 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (depending how much water your pumpkin has--I ended up using 1 1/4 cups)
1 packet dry active yeast

1 cup pureed pumpkin
3 tablespoons sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon allspice

Mix the yeast into 3/4 cup of the water in a small bowl. In a separate larger bowl mix together the other ingredients. Add the yeast and more water, as needed (trying really hard to resist a need/knead pun here) so that the dough is not crumbly and not very sticky. Knead for at least 10 minutes. You can do this by hand or use the dough hook on a stand mixer or use the kneading setting on your bread machine. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set it aside to rise for about an hour.


Put a large pot of salted water on to boil and preheat the oven to 425 F. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and poke a hole through the center. Gently stretch the hole out to make a bagel shape. If you want to make mini bagels, divide the dough into 24 pieces instead. Once the water is boiling, add three of the bagels (or as many as you can fit without them touching too much). Simmer for one minute on each side. Remove the bagels and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat for all the bagels. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Let them cool at least 5 minutes (or as long as it takes to chase a kitten around the house and get him to pose with the bagels for a picture) before eating.

Makes 24 kitten-head sized mini bagels or 12 larger bagels. Or some combination of both