Growing up in New York City, I had easy access to fresh bagels. The bagels have a chewy texture thanks to the high-gluten flour and New York City tap water (the second factor is probably urban myth). They are also made fresh daily in batches, so many times I’d have a bagel just out of the oven.
My grain-free, gluten-free bagels are crunchy on the outside, tender inside, and have a soft bite. You can go all out with the Everything bagel topping, choose a one or two toppings, or just brush each bagel with a light egg wash. Store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator for a few weeks or freeze for a few months.
This bagel recipe is grain-free and gluten-free using almond flour, and also works well with other grain-free flours like cashew flour. I've played around quite a bit with almond flour, cashew flour, and coconut flour, and making a bagel with them is an interesting endeavor.
While not like the super chewy bagels made with all purpose flour, there are a few things I really love about this recipe: It has a crunchy outer crust, it's tender inside, and it tastes great with everything bagel topping that I get at Trader Joe's, or just a few toppings, or just a light egg wash.
The two tricks I've found to baking a bagel using almond flour: Use dripped yogurt (Greek-style yogurt) or Farmer cheese, and add your favorite toppings.
If you're in a rush or don't want to drip your yogurt, you can use yogurt that is not dripped. The bagel will be mostly tender throughout but then you can toast the bagel to get a crunchy crust.
In any case, this bagel using almond flour makes a great sandwich and toasts well. Feel free to load it up with sandwich fixings or some classic bagel fixings. And it goes great with my cured salmon recipe in my cookbook, Cooking for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.
To make this lactose-free use yogurt fermented for 24 hours. I haven't tested it yet with dairy-free yogurt but I think it will work. Let me know if you try it!
I also haven't tested it yet with other nut or seed flours, but readers have had success using cashew flour as well. And, read my recipe notes to make this bagel dairy free!
You can learn how to make dripped yogurt in my cookbook, Cooking for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, or go to this post on my website on How to Make Yogurt.
Bagels {grain-free}
Ingredients
- 1 large egg white (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1 cup Farmer cheese or dripped yogurt (aka Greek yogurt)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 3 cups blanched almond flour or use cashew flour or other nut flour
- Extra egg whites for egg wash, or save the egg yolk for egg wash
Toppings
- everything bagel mix
- poppy seeds, sesame seeds, Kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C or gas mark 5).
- Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat.
- Whisk the egg white in a bowl to add air to it, and then add the dripped yogurt and whisk to blend.
- Add the baking soda and apple cider vinegar and blend well with a spatula.
- Add the almond flour and salt and blend well with a spatula.
- Break up the dough into 6 parts. Roll a ball of dough into a long cylinder and then bring both ends together to form a bagel. This will make 6 bagels, however if you want 4 larger bagels then roll the dough into 4 parts.
- Place the bagels on the parchment paper and wash each bagel with egg whites. You can also use the egg yolk plus some water as egg wash.
- Sprinkle toppings on each bagel and bake them for 25 minutes or until the bagels are golden and firm.
- Cool. Store sealed in the refrigerator or freezer.
Karen Gebhart says
This was easy to make and really delicious -thank you
Hi Karen, great to hear!
Eyeida says
So good! Thank you for the recipe!
Erica says
Thanks, Eyeida! Good good to hear!
Lexie says
Could I substitute with cashew yogurt?
Erica says
Hi Lexie, yes, you can! see my recipe notes and the comments
Diane says
I make these bagel almost every week.
Im lazy and just form them into buns using a jar lid lined with plastic wrap. Makes about 9 buns.
Great toasted with almond butter or avocado.
Thank you for great recipes!
Erica says
That's so great! Someone else mentioned they bake these as rolls and slice them in half for sandwiches. Brilliant 🙂
carole says
Can i use a almond butter instead of almond flour?
Erica says
I haven't tried it, so not sure. Let me know if you do try it.
Helny says
What kind of cheese can I used or yogurt (scd legal ) ? Where I live I can’t find farmers cheese
Erica says
Well-dripped yogurt will work. The less moist the yogurt, the better.
Ania says
Is it possible to use yoghurt made of almound milk?
Erica says
Yes. Almond milk yogurt tends to have more liquid in it so definitely drip some of the liquid out.
Adele Tate says
How do you make almond milk yogurt please?
Erica says
Hi Adele! You can find it in my cookbook for SCD, or you can find other recipes online as well. You'll want to make sure it's dripped because almond yogurt tends to be on the wet side. I removed your email from the message, fyi.
Kel says
Just made these for the first time! So Yummy! Thank you. Do you know if Everything Bagel Seasoning is SCD legal?
Erica says
Great to hear! I'm not sure if they're legal but you ask someone in the customer support area or call them. To be safe you can make your own mix. I know that SCD folks say Penzeys spices online has SCD legal spices.
Jen says
These are delicious. My scd yogurt is thick (I add gelatin when I make it) so I didn’t drip it. The dough was a little wet so I added just a tablespoon of coconut flour, which did the trick! Thank you so much...these really helped quell my ongoing bagel craving!
Erica says
Thank you! Always good to hear 🙂 And good to know a bit of coconut flour can be added.
Emily R says
These are AMAZING! I'm making my second batch now. I used Nancy's probiotic cottage cheese in lieu of the farmer's cheese. I bought it on sale and don't like the taste but I thought it might work and it does! I mixed everything in a blender. The batter was a little wet the first time so I just added more almond flour. This time I did 2.5 almond flour and .5 oat flour. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS RECIPE! I love slicing and toasting them and topping with butter or avocado!
Erica says
Thanks! The dough will be a bit wet if you don't remove excess moisture from the yogurt or cheese, but the bagel still comes out great, just more tender. And you can toast it to make it crunchier. Love your mix of flours. You can definitely experiment with flour subs as well.
Katie says
Can you please clarify what you mean by “dripped yogurt”?
Erica says
I explain it in the post and link to a recipe for it. It is yogurt that has had the excess liquid dripped out of it.
Colleen Johnson says
Love! Thank you so much.
Erica says
Thank you!
Jo says
Is it 339kcal for the whole recipe?
Erica says
That's for 1 bagel. Bagels made with all purpose flour are around 250 calories.
tulips says
Looks great and easy, I will get some Mexican Queso Fresco available at any supermarket. I am assuming a Farmer's cheese is just a fresh cheese...Thanks
Erica says
Farmer's cheese is a fresh cheese but it has live cultures (like yogurt) that react with the baking soda to make the dough rise a bit (not much though).
Kellie says
The ingredients says 1 large egg white 2 tablespoons? Does that mean 1 lg. Egg plus 2 tablespoons of additional egg whites or 2tablespoons of what?
Erica says
Thanks, I clarified the instructions. 1 large egg white = 2 tablespoons