Mini Homemade Bagels Filled with Feta Cheese

Some of you may remember that I relocated into a new apartment a few months back.  After we relocated, lots of things happened, I needed to travel for a while, and I’ve never really had the chance to enjoy the new place. 

The new apartment doesn’t have a proper kitchen but, lucky me, it has a combined microwave and oven, and my challenge is to see what I can do with it.

So finally, after a few hectic months, the other day I was in the mood to bake something. 

The below recipe has only a few ingredients that we most of the time have in our pantry, and it is easy to make. 

In Romanian, I call them “covrigei,” but I can’t find a proper translation in English for them. They are not really bagels but are alike, and is the most similar word that I could find to describe them. 

Because I wanted to make these “covrigei” small, it took me a longer time, but otherwise, with the quantity of the ingredients mentioned below, you’ll be able to do 4 giant bagels.

And the most important, you can bake them in a combined microwave and oven, with the fan cooking option. 

Never miss a recipe:

Now let’s see the ingredients to make around 18 pcs covrigei or 4 big ones:

• 250 g flour
• 125-130 ml warm water
• 20 ml of extra virgin olive oil
• A pinch of salt
• 5 g baking powder
• 200 g well-drained feta cheese
• 1 egg yolk + 2 tablespoons milk + sesame seeds (for brushing the bagels)

Step-by-Step Directions on how to make these Homemade Bagels Filled with Feta Cheese

Put the flour in a bowl, add the salt and baking powder, and mix. Add water and olive oil and knead for about 2-3 minutes until you get a homogeneous dough. Wrap it in plastic food film and let it rest on the kitchen table for 30 minutes.

Put the feta cheese in a sieve and let it drain for 30 minutes.
After resting, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces if you want to make 4 big bagels or into 36 smaller pieces if you’re going to do 18 mini bagels.

Working with 2 at a time, roll each piece on the table lightly dusted with flour in a long and narrow sheet. Put the feta cheese, crumbled, on the entire surface of the sheet. Seal the edges of the sheet well, then roll it so as to obtain a string. Braid the filled strings two by two, seal the ends, and put the bagels in an oven tray lined with baking paper. Brush each bagel with the egg yolk and milk mixture and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake the bagels filled with feta in the preheated oven to 180°C for 30 minutes. Enjoy them!

It felt so good to be with my hands in the dough again or how we say in Italian “con le mani in pasta”. I don’t know why, but kneading a dough it makes me feel good 😊 And they also look pretty 🤩 Not sure if that’s the reason why they disappeared so fast, or because are simply too good 😉

Note:

If while kneading the dough, you feel that is too hard or too soft, just add a bit of water or flour accordingly.