This recipe is my dairy free version of the Weight Watchers dough that uses Greek yogurt and self rising flour. I’m not a fan of self rising flour, because it has both baking powder and salt already added, and you can’t control the ratio and most self rising flour is bleached. Each large bagel is only 4 Weight Watchers smart points. Looking for less points? Divide the dough into 8, smaller portions for only 3 points each. See below for more nutrition facts.
I also followed suit with my friend Biz, over at MyBizzyKitchen, and added yeast to my recipe in order to give it a more bread like flavor than the plain flour in the original WW recipe. So, it’s not really just two ingredients, but you could make it two ingredients rather easily.
I will be writing up a post soon with more detailed instructions on the “why” certain things work and the ratios I used to create this recipe. Even if you’re going to use the Greek yogurt + flour recipe you’ll be able to use my math to simply modify the original recipe to make a better pizza crust, sandwich bread, buns, etc. I assume more people would start with bagels, because they are great for meal prep!
A Better Bagel
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup soft Mori-Nu silken style tofu
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp instant dry yeast
Instructions
Puree the soft tofu and vinegar in a blender or food processor. Whisk together the rest of the ingredients. If using a large food processor, add all the dry ingredients and turn on for 1 min, until it forms a ball inside the food processor. If mixing by hand, pour the pureed ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl and mix with a heavy spoon until combined. Pour out onto a floured surface and knead until dough is smooth and not sticky to the touch. You can also use a stand mixer.
Place dough into a lightly oiled glass or plastic bowl, cover, and let rise for 30-45 minutes. The dough should nearly double in size.
Divide dough into six equal parts: approximately 90-100 grams each. Roll each into a ball, place on parchment lined baking sheet, cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven on to 425 F.
Using your thumb poke a hole in the dough ball and gently stretch into a ring shape. You don’t want the hole to be too wide though. Place each shaped dough back onto the parchment lined baking sheet, cover, and let rest for 30 min. This will make your bagels less dense than if you baked then right away.
*Typically bagels are boiled before they are baked. You can skip this step, boiling gives them their chewy texture and helps them puff up even more when baking. To give them a darker exterior add 1 tsp baking soda to your boiling water, and 1 Tbl molasses for a shiny crust and even more flavor. Boil each bagel for one min on each side before transferring back to your lined baking sheet.
Bake for 15-17 minutes. Transfer bagels to a wire rack to cool. Store in an Ziploc bag or airtight container for up to a week on your counter. Refrigerating bread dries it out too much.
Tips
Want toppings? Brush the tops of your bagels, before baking, with egg whites or aquafaba then add toppings. If boiling your bagels you don’t really need to brush anything on because toppings will stick to the tacky dough.
You can skip the yeast and rising time, but your bagels will taste more like flour. Why? Yeast is a living organism that metabolizes the wheat and converts them to alcohol and carbon dioxide. Yeasted dough has a more complex flavor and a darker, more golden appearance when baked.
If you’re not using yeast I’d suggest using 2 teaspoons of baking powder to give them more rise. Don’t substitute baking soda because that’s an entirely different ingredient that depends on more acid for activation.
Active Dry Yeast and Instant Dry Yeast are different products and can’t be easily substituted for each other. Active Dry needs to be “activated” by soaking it in water to remove the outer shell of the yeast granules. Plus, there’s some other components that I’ll talk about in my upcoming pizza recipe.
You can also add in a teaspoon to a tablespoon of liquid barley malt for added flavor.
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