The Sweet Dough French Toast & 'The Weezer'
Chapter 1 — Making the Bagels
The Sweet Dough French Toast bagel bridges the old-school Jewish tradition with the American comfort breakfast—an enriched, cinnamon-spiked rebel in a world of lean doughs. Split it open, spackle it with scallion cream cheese, and load it with thick-cut bacon, crumbled chorizo, and soft-scrambled eggs, and you have 'The Weezer.' It is a heavy-hitting, structurally complex masterpiece of pork fat, sharp cheddar, and sweet malt that demands the meticulous timing of a Sunday morning line cook to assemble properly.
Before you start
Soak the cedar bagel boards.
Soak wooden cedar boards in water for 15 minutes prior to baking to mimic the humid, steam-injected environment of a commercial deck oven and maximize initial oven spring.
Ingredients
- high-gluten flour800 g
- warm water336 g
- whole eggs64 g
- dark maple syrup48 g
- unsalted butter32 g
- light brown sugar32 g
- kosher salt16 g
- ground cinnamon8 g
- diastatic malt powder8 g
- instant yeast6 1/2 g
- barley malt syrup2 tbsp
- egg white1 large
- water1 tbsp
- granulated sugar2 tbsp
- ground cinnamon1 tbsp
- thick-cut applewood smoked bacon2 strips
- Mexican chorizo2 oz
- large eggs2 large
- sharp cheddar cheese1 slice
- scallion cream cheese1 1/2 oz
Method
- 01
Mix the autolyse and develop the gluten network.
In the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer, combine the warm water, instant yeast, malt powder, and brown sugar, letting sit for 5 minutes until slight foaming occurs. Add the high-gluten flour, kosher salt, and 8 g of cinnamon, mixing with the dough hook on low for 3 minutes until a shaggy mass forms. Add the beaten whole eggs and maple syrup, knead on low for 4 minutes, then add the softened butter piece by piece. Increase the speed to medium-low and knead for an additional 8 to 10 minutes until the stiff dough passes the windowpane test.
- 02
Ferment the bulk dough and shape the bagels.
Turn the dough out, shape into a tight boule, and rest in a lightly oiled covered bowl at room temperature for 1 hour. Punch down the dough and divide it into exactly twelve 112-gram portions. Roll each piece into a tight, seamless ball against the counter, then poke your thumbs through the center and stretch outward, rotating like a steering wheel to create a 2-inch hole.
- 03
Retard the dough overnight in the refrigerator.
Place the shaped bagels on baking sheets lined with parchment paper lightly dusted with semolina flour. Cover the trays tightly with plastic wrap or heavy-duty proofing bags and immediately transfer to a 38°F refrigerator. Leave them completely undisturbed for 16 to 24 hours to develop lactic acid and micro-blisters.
- 04
Boil the cold bagels in a heavily malted bath.
Preheat your home oven to 450°F with a baking steel or stone on the middle rack, and bring 5 liters of water mixed with the barley malt syrup to a rolling boil in a wide stockpot. Remove the bagels directly from the refrigerator and drop them 3 to 4 at a time into the boiling malt bath. Boil for exactly 45 seconds, flip with a slotted spoon or spider, boil for another 45 seconds, and transfer back to the parchment-lined tray.
- 05
Bake the French Toast bagels until deep mahogany.
Lightly brush the freshly boiled, still-tacky bagels with an egg wash made from the egg white and 1 tablespoon of water, then sprinkle heavily with a mixture of the granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. Bake directly on the hot stone or on soaked cedar boards for 18 to 22 minutes, rotating halfway through. Cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing to allow the dense interior crumb to set.
- 06
Execute the meats for the sandwich build.
On a cast-iron skillet or flat-top griddle heated to medium-high, cook the thick-cut bacon until structural crispness is achieved. In the same pan, grill the chorizo until the fat renders and the edges crisp. Remove the meats and drain excess grease, leaving a thin sheen of hot pork fat in the pan.
- 07
Soft-scramble the eggs in the residual pork fat.
Lightly whisk two large eggs and pour them onto the hot griddle over the residual fat. Using a spatula, immediately fold the eggs inward to create a wet, glossy soft scramble. Gather into a tight mound roughly the circumference of the bagel and instantly top with the thick slice of sharp cheddar to melt.
- 08
Assemble and compress the final sandwich.
Slice a bagel evenly and use a flat knife to spackle both halves edge-to-edge with the scallion cream cheese. Lift the cheesy egg mound onto the bottom half, lay the crisped bacon horizontally across the cheese, and spoon the grilled chorizo evenly over the bacon. Crown with the top half, press down firmly with your palm to compress the structure, wrap tightly in deli foil, and slice perfectly in half down the middle.
Notes
Observe the scoop protocol for those who request it.
While controversial to purists, hollowing out the soft interior of a bagel is an authentic facet of modern shop operations. Swiftly use your thumb and forefinger to hollow out the soft, doughy interior of both the top and bottom halves, leaving a rigid shell to house excessive wet ingredients.