Eat the Rainbow: Rainbow Bagels
I am still on my quest to try and eat as many rainbow foods as I can. I came across this recipe for sourdough bagels and decided to make them rainbow!
Similar to making rainbow pretzels, the process for adapting this recipe is similar.
- Make your dough
- Separate dough into smaller portions – 1 for each color
- Knead color into the dough
- After the dough rises, flatten each dough ball into a rectangle and stack them on top of each other
- Twist this stack into a log
- Separate the log into equal sections – 1 for each bagel
- Make a ball with each section and poke a hole in the middle
- Follow bagel boiling + baking directions
The recipe linked above for the sourdough bagels is amazing. This was my first time making bagels from scratch, and I was impressed with how well they came out.
I wish I had gotten more pictures but they were eaten so quickly!
Making rainbow bagels is definitely a time-consuming process – mostly kneading the color into the dough. It takes a long time to really get a uniform color. I haven’t tried it yet but I wonder if using food coloring powder and mixing it into the dough at the beginning would be more efficient. But after you make your rainbow dough, you still need to wait for the dough to rest.
This is definitely a fun activity to do with friends or family. It will no doubt make the process a lot more efficient, especially when it comes to the bagel boiling part. I don’t think making bagels from scratch is something I would do regularly but I could see it being a fun weekend project every now and then.
If making bagels from scratch isn’t your jam, here’s a possible alternative
- Get regular bagels and cream cheese
- Divide cream cheese into different bowls – one for each color
- Spread different cream cheese colors on bagel
- Optional: add sprinkles
Let me know if you try any of these and how it turns out!
