Bagels are a dense and chewy breakfast and lunch favorite. The chewy texture associated with bagels comes from wheat gluten, the protein found in wheat flour. Understanding how gluten works can help you to bake a perfect bagel at home, integrate other flavors into bagels or replicate the taste and texture of bagels without wheat or gluten.
Wheat Gluten
Gluten is a combination of two proteins: glutanin and gliadin. When wheat flour is mixed with liquid, these two proteins form gluten. Gluten provides elasticity and rigidity in yeast breads like bagels, trapping air bubbles in the dough as it rises. The more you knead the dough, the stronger the elastic gluten fibers become, creating a chewy bread or bagel dough.
Types of Flour
Bagel recipes often call for bread flour, but may use all-purpose flour. Bread flour has higher levels of gluten than all-purpose flour. Some recipes may recommend that you add a small amount of vital wheat gluten to the dry ingredients in your bagel. Vital wheat gluten is especially helpful in whole-wheat or multigrain bagels, because it increases the strength of the dough and produces a chewier bagel with a higher rise.
Developing Gluten
While bread flour, all-purpose flour and whole-wheat flour with additional gluten can all produce delicious bagels, you do need to make a relatively stiff dough. Expect the dough to be difficult to knead, whether you opt to knead by hand or using a stand mixer. For the best bagel, knead until your bagel dough is smooth and stretchy. Taking the time to knead the dough thoroughly allows the gluten to fully develop.
Gluten-Free Bagels
While gluten provides the chewiness associated with bagels, you can experiment with gluten-free bagels using alternative flours if you're unable to eat wheat or gluten. Use your favorite all-purpose, gluten-free flour blend or gluten-free bread recipe. You will need substantially more xanthan gum or another binder than is typical for gluten-free breads. Adding 1 to 2 tsp. of fruit pectin may help to provide a texture closer to a wheat bagel.
References
- Baking 911: How Baking Works
- King Arthur Flour: A Dozen Simple Bagels
- "Gluten Free on a Shoestring: 125 Easy Recipes for Eating on the Cheap"; Nicole Hunn; 2011
- "The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread"; Peter Reinhardt; 2001
