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A worm salt bagel filled with cream cheese
Kate Ramos

Worm Salt Bagels with Rajas Cream Cheese and Heirloom Tomatoes

Worm Salt Bagels are just what they sound like: chewy bagels made with worm salt or sal de gusano. Top with charred poblano chile cream cheese and tomatoes.
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Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings: 12 bagels
Course: Bread
Cuisine: Mexican-American
Calories: 245
Ingredients Method Nutrition

Ingredients
  

For the Bagels:
  • 1 3/4 cups warm water about 105-110°F
  • 1 7-gram package dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
  • 4 cups bread flour
  • 3 tablespoons barley malt syrup or brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon worm salt sal de gusano plus more for sprinkling on top
For the Rajas Cream Cheese:
  • 1 poblano chile
  • 8 ounces softened cream cheese
To Assemble:
  • Thick slices heirloom tomatoes

Method
 

For the bagels:
  1. Combine water and yeast and let sit 10 minutes or until creamy and dissolved.
  2. Combine flour, malt syrup or brown sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
  3. Add water mixture and mix on low with the dough hook attachment until combined. Increase speed to medium and knead 8 minutes. Check halfway through, if the dough seems dry add more water a couple tablespoons at a time, if it seems to wet add the same amount of flour. Dough should be slightly sticky but pull away from the sides of the bowl. It is better to have the dough too wet than too dry, you can always add more flour when you are shaping it into bagels.
  4. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise 20 minutes, it may not double in size—that's okay.
  5. Heat oven to 425°F.
  6. Fill a deep, wide pan with water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cover until bagels are ready. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and 1 more baking sheet with a wire rack. If you don't have three baking sheets, just put the wire rack on the counter.
  7. Remove dough from bowl and place on a clean work surface. Cut dough into 12 even pieces. and cover with a clean towel to prevent them from drying out. Take one piece at a time and form into a 9-inch long rope. Overlap the ends by 1 inch and pinch to seal. Stretch the hole in the middle to make it about the size of a quarter. Repeat with the remaining dough pieces then cover and let rest 10 minutes.
  8. Stretch 3 or 4 bagels to retain the quarter-sized hole and place into the simmering water. Simmer the bagels for 1 minute, then flip and simmer on the other side for 1 minute. Remove them to the baking sheet with a rack and sprinkle with worm salt. Repeat with remaining bagels.
  9. Transfer bagels to the parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes, rotate and bake 10 minutes more. Let cool 30 minutes before eating.
For the Cream Cheese:
  1. Char the skin of the poblano chile by placing directly over the open flame of a gas burner or under a broiler. Turn so all sides are charred. Remove to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap until cool.
  2. Remove the charred skin, stem, and seeds. Chop into small dice and mix into the softened cream cheese.
To Assemble:
  1. Cut bagel in half and spread with rajas cream cheese. Top with tomato slices and bon appetitos!

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 245kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 7gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 63mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3g

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