The date is 2058 – the year the history annals will know as the Great Bagel Famine. In this year widespread grain shortages, striking artisan bakers, and growing intolerance in the general population lead to a vast drop in bagel production. The industry is truly disrupted, with magical dough rings and lox-caper vehicles disappearing off the shelves of the ever dwindling number of gourmet NYC delis. Clean water increasingly cannot be spared for the luxury of boiling non-vital foodstuffs. Diners turn to alternative crackers and breads made from nuts and scarce starches, when they can be gotten.
To 8-year old Abigail, the bagel famine is a travesty. She has grown up listening to the stories of her grandmother, who came of age during the golden ’90s – a time of largesse, when bagels abounded and NYC delis enjoyed preeminence as street corner landmarks throughout the city. Abigail remembers her grandmother’s story of the first time she tried a bagel with salty, smoked lox and fresh cream cheese. It was still the best thing she’d ever eaten, Gran would say. Abigail plans to run away to the city the first chance she gets, go up to one of those deli counters and order the exact same bagel sandwich from a gruff NYC deli man with a beard. She’s run the scenario over in her mind a hundred times.
But now, it is not to be. The reporters make the announcement over live eye-cam, heralding the end of the bagel era, with strict new quotas and penalties on anyone who violates their allowed ration – one bagel a decade. Abigail bursts into tears upon hearing the news. It’s bad enough that she has to live in an energy-efficient pod in the center of Connecticut when she wants to live in a farmhouse in the countryside or a flat in the West Village; now her chances of realizing her very first dream are shattered too.
Abigail lies on her bed for awhile, moping. Frustration gets the better of her, and she makes her way into the tiny, space-conserving kitchen. There, she takes out every single pantry item, staring at them for a good minute. She is sure the solution lies hidden in the ingredients before her – it has to, because that is their entire food allotment for the month, unless she tries to procure it on the dark web – no easy task for an 8-year old.
Abigail quickly downloads every single report and recipe she can find on bagels – many of which she already possesses in her data file, having obsessed over the topic for some time. She reviews them quickly, researches the alternatives, and sets about experimenting. By the time her parents come home, the kitchen is a Jackson Pollock mosaic of spilt flour and spattered water, the 250 square foot apartment toasty from the oven – but there, sitting on the table, are four spherical rings, crusty brown on the outside, stretchy, with an open crumb.
Abigail looks from the bagels to her parents and smiles at them. They smile back.
“Now, if we only had some cream cheese,” says Dad.
Abigail quickly downloads all of her cream cheese files.
“Leave it to me, Dad,” she says. “I’m on it.”
[Click here for the sequel, Abigail Scours the Dark Web for Fish, & Cream Cheese Alternatives]
- 1 c Otto's cassava flour
- ¾ c tigernut flour (I've used both Govinda's and Gemini's, Govinda's yields a better texture/requires closer to 1 c water)
- ½ c tapioca flour or arrowroot starch (optional)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ⅔ tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tb grassfed gelatin
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tb olive oil
- ~1-1.5 cups water
- 2 tsps apple cider vinegar
Alternative recipe- ½ c Otto's cassava flour
- 1 c boiled cassava
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tb olive oil
- 2 tsps ACV
- 1 pot of boiling water (w/ 2 tsps salt added)
- optional toppings: dried onion/garlic, poppy/sesame seeds (non-AIP/re-intro)
- alternative 'cream cheese'
- For the full recipe, check out Best of Flash Fiction Kitchen, available here.
Bagel bottoms
This post has been shared on Phoenix Helix’s Paleo-AIP Roundtable.
Hi Julie, The stars aligned and for once I actually had all ingredients on hand at same time AND had the free time to make this recipe. So I did use a different Cassava flour (unsure of brand as I get it in bulk through a friend) everything looked good until they hit the boiling water and they started coming apart. The dough wasn’t sloppy when I made them and actually even rolled in my hand. Anyway I still baked them up anyway and they tasted good even if they resembled rock pieces not bagels. What do you think my problem could have been? Too much water? Do you bloom your gelatin in the water or add to dry ingredients? (which is what I did) So I will experiment again. I made domestic man’s Fish Balls and had them with capers and the bagels. I thought it was a darn good combo. Thanks for your awesome recipeness as usual.
Thanks Tanya! Yes I added the gelatin to the dry (no blooming), the boiling part hasn’t been an issue for me (did you add salt to the water?), so I’m guessing it comes down to the different brand of cassava flour (unless different water quality could also play a role). Anyway thanks for the feedback and trying the recipe!
Hi! What is the “cream cheese” topping made of exactly? Looks delish!!:D
Hi Svetlana! You can find the recipe for the ‘cream cheese’ here: https://www.flashfictionkitchen.com/cream-cheese-paleo-aip/ 🙂
Hi Julie,
Your culinary creativity leaves me incredulous! Thank you for sharing these awesome recipes. And your writing is fun. I never read the recipe preamble unless it’s your blog.
Aw thanks Drew! Very nice of you to say. Good luck with your food & health journey, and thanks again for reading!
I’m making these tomorrow but I’d like to make them vegan so I’m gonna use agar powder instead of gelatin. I’ll let you know how they turn out!
Okay great, I hope it works! I don’t think the gelatin is necessarily a super vital ingredient in this recipe, so hopefully it won’t make too much of a difference.
Hi Julie! Do you think I could replace the Gelatin with an egg (have you tried?), usually things don’t turn out when I don’t include a binder. I’m more reactive to Gelatin than egg – go figure!
I haven’t tried with eggs, but it’s worth a shot! You might get more volume/rise with an egg (the gelatin is more to get the chewy texture).
OMG OMG OMG!!!! I made a double batch of these this morning. Rather than fuss by making them into bagel shapes I just rolled them into 1.5 inch little balls and they came out amazing!!!! I have tried out a lot of AIP recipes and this is the first one to ever come close to the consistency of a bagel. Harder on the outside and deliciously chewy on the inside! I think the consistency would also be great for pizza dough so I’m going to play around with this. For one batch I topped them to make them everything bagel holes. For the other batch I made cinnamon raisin bagel holes. I added about a teaspoon of cinnamon and one small snack size package of raisins to the dough before forming the holes. Both flavors are amazing even without using any spread. Coconut oil seems to be a good option for a spread on the cinnamon raisin ones! Thank you so much for this recipe! It was easy and delicious and I will definitely be making them again soon!
COULD I USE ALMOND FLOUR AND/OR COCONUT FLOUR INSTEAD OF THE OTHER FLOURS?
You could try almond flour instead of tigernut…coconut flour is not my favorite and would be hard to substitute without changing the quantities of everything else, but if those are the main two you have you could experiment a bit.
I have tried many AIP baked breads/pitas/buns and this is BY FAR my favourite so far (I’m not a huge fan of coconut or plantain, so the struggle is real). This was pretty simple to make AND the bagels turned out perfectly. That texture! I topped mine with a dash of sea salt and dehydrated garlic. Yum! I’m already looking forward to my lunch tomorrow (Hel-lo, bagel sandwich!).
Do you think they would freeze well? I’d like to make a double batch next time and freeze half.
Yup I’ve frozen them before, would say they freeze similar to ‘regular’ bagels 😉
So if I don’t have tiger flour I add everything listed on alternative list? If I don’t have tiger nut flour I’m not gonna run out to get cassava to boil?? Do you still use the whole recipe PLUS ALL THIS? Very confusing.
Alternative recipe (for those w/o access to tigernut)
½ c Otto’s cassava flour
1 c boiled cassava
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 tb olive oil
2 tsps ACV
Hi Trina – if you don’t want to try the whole cassava method but don’t have access to tigernut, you could try subbing tigernut with another flour (a nut flour, ideally, if you tolerate them, or you could try another AIP flour like coconut or plantain), or tinker with the original recipe with a couple AIP flour mixes and see what works best.
Have you added yeast to this recipe? How much would you use?
I just made these and they are fantastic! I had only one that fell apart in the water, but it’s in 4 large pieces so that’s my taste test ones. Tried it with the cream cheese I made yesterday. So lovely! Thank you for sharing your recipes and the stories! I think I remember reading in one of the comments about adding salt to the water. I guess I’ll try that next time. Can you tell me if it’s a small amount or should the water taste salty like when you cook pasta or potatoes? Thanks again!
Hi Tonya, I’d try a teaspoon or two of salt in the water, not sure how much of a difference a bigger amount would make but feel free to experiment! Sometimes the bagel dough can be compressed more to help with the staying together 🙂 Glad you liked the recipe!