Orange Scented Chocolate Chip Bagels

I sing this song in the car almost every day. It might’ve replaced Kelly Clarkston’s Since You’ve Been Gone in the sing-in-the-car-way. Both are about love gone wrong though, so they have so much in common. What I’m trying to say is that, I know that I’m feeling ok based on whether I sing in the car or not. That’s how I figure out how I’m doin’. And nothing gives me a reason to sing more than carbs and chocolate for breakfast, ya know?

These bagels are pretty dreamy. Subtly orange with melty dark chocolate? Hell to the yes. And the more I make bagels, the less I feel overwhelmed by them. Ok, it is a two day process, but that kinda makes it easier. Day one is mostly rising, ya know? That dough needs it’s alone time. Day two is just a boiling and baking extravaganza. Easy breezy.

Oh! Last summer I made Strawberry Bagels with Honey Cream Cheese. I need to revisit those FOR SURE.

P.S. Don’t forget to pop over and like the Echoing Good Facebook page to bid on some goodness! You see, I’m participating in an online bake sale where all of the proceeds go toward Echoing Good. My Honey Shortbread Fries + Strawberry Jam will be up for bid.

Orange Scented Chocolate Chip Bagels (makes 22-3 oz. bagels)
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen via here and here

Ingredients:

sponge  –

• 1 t yeast
• big pinch of sugar
• 4 cups unbleached bread flour
• 2 1/2 cups water, room temperature

dough –

• 1/2 t yeast
• 3 3/4 cups unbleached bread flour
• 2 3/4 t salt
• zest from 1 orange
• 1 T maple syrup
• 1 1/2-2 cups chocolate chips

for finishing –

• 1 T baking soda
• cornmeal (for dusting the baking sheets)
• cream cheese, jam, or butter to serve

Directions:

1. Day one: make the sponge. Whisk yeast and a big pinch of sugar into water, in the bowl of your stand mixer. Set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add flour, whisking or stirring until it forms a smooth sticky batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the mixture becomes foamy and bubbly and has swollen to near double in size.
2. Make the dough. In the same bowl, add the additional yeast to the sponge and stir. Then add the salt, orange zest, and maple syrup. Slowly add 3 cups of flour and chocolate chips to the mixture. Stir or mix on a low speed with a dough hook until the ingredients form a ball, slowly working in the remaining 3/4 as needed to stiffen the dough.
3. Knead by hand for 10 minutes or 6 minutes by machine. The dough should be firm, stiffer than your average bread dough, but still pliable and smooth.
4. Immediately divide the dough into twelve 4.5 ounce pieces for standard bagels or twenty two 3 oz pieces (like I made here). Form the pieces into rolls. Cover with a damp towel for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line two baking sheets with parchment paper and mist lightly with cooking spray.
5. Shape the bagels. Poke a hole in the center of a ball of dough and gently rotate your thumb around the inside of the hole to widen it approximately 2 inches in diameter or 1 inch for the smaller guys. Place each of the shaped pieces 1-2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Mist the bagels very lightly with cooking spray and cover lightly with plastic wrap. Let the pans sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes. Refrigerate overnight, or for a few hours.
6. Day two: (the following day or when you are ready to make the bagels), preheat the oven to 450°F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add baking soda.
7. Remove bagels from the refrigerator  and gently drop them into the water, boiling only as many as comfortably fit. (They should float.) After 2 minutes flip them over and boil another 2 minutes. (If you like your bagels a little less chewy boil and boil only 1 minute on each side.) While the bagels are boiling, sprinkle the same parchment-lined sheet pans with cornmeal.  Sprinkle the bagels with coconut as they come out of the water.
8. When all the bagels have been boiled and topped, bake for 5 minutes then rotate the pan and then bake 5-7 minutes or until golden brown.

Yay! Click HERE for a printable pdf of the recipe above.

The chips jumped for their lives out of the dough. Feel free to use less!