Cottage Cheese Protein Bagels

Two things cause it: cottage cheese that was not blended, and overworked dough. Curds do not dissolve in the oven, so they leave heavy lumps through the crumb; blend the cheese to a completely smooth paste with no grains visible. The second cause is kneading past three minutes, which builds enough gluten to make the crumb tight. Stop as soon as the dough no longer sticks to your hands.

Use 250 g plain flour with 2.5 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt, sifted together so the powder is evenly spread. Uneven powder makes the bagels rise lopsided. Mix and use it straight away, because a dough left standing spends its lift before it reaches the oven. Wholemeal flour works for up to half the total, beyond that the dough dries out.

The dough holds together without one; replace it with 2 tbsp of thick yogurt. The yolk wash is harder to skip, since without it the tops stay pale and the topping will not stick. Brush with milk or melted butter instead and you get a lighter crust that still holds the seeds. Add two or three minutes to the bake, as the dough runs slightly wetter.

Scatter it onto a freshly brushed surface and press it down with your palm. Brushed with yolk and seeded immediately, sesame and poppy seeds glue themselves on as the bagels bake. The common mistake is seeding bagels that have already cooled, when the dry surface holds nothing. Press the topping in before the tray goes into the oven.

They keep up to three days in an airtight container at room temperature. Splitting and freezing them works better: the halves go straight from the freezer into the toaster with no thawing. Fresh ones need three or four minutes at 160°C. The microwave turns them rubbery.