Before I left for New York City earlier this year, a friend of mine told me to try the onion bagels. After tasting one, I was hooked. I’m not an onion loving person, I pick them out of salads and off sandwiches, but deep fried and topping a bagel, suddenly they appealed to me.
When I returned home, I searched for a recipe on how to get the onions crunchy like the ones I’d had on my bagels. I was so surprised to read, that you just deep fry thin slices of onion in cooking oil until they are golden. They crisp up once cooled and you can crush them to make a great topping.
These are not just for bagels, you can top soups and salads with them for a great crunch or just as a snack.
I’ve added them to a loaf of bread to create a wonderful flavour and great crust to enjoy as a side dish for soup or as most South African this year are in favour of…. braaing.
5ml salt
4 cups all purpose flour
10g instant yeast
350ml milk
60g soft butter
2 eggs
1 onion, thinly sliced and deep fried till golden
250ml grated cheddar
In a large bowl, combine flour and salt and butter. Rub butter into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs.
In a jug, combine milk, yeast and eggs. Mix well.
Add milk mixture to flour and combine with a wooden spoon.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes.
Return to a clean bowl and cover with clingfilm. Allow to double in size in a warm area of the kitchen or leave overnight in the fridge.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface , flatten out dough, top with most of the onion, leaving some for the topping and knead into the dough for about 2 minutes.
Shape into an oval and place on a greased baking sheet.
Brush with a little milk and place left over onions onto the top of the loaf, top with cheese and allow to prove for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
Place loaf into oven. After 10 minutes, turn the oven temperature down to 180 degrees celcius. If the onions are showing signs of burning. Tear off a sheet of foil and cover the top of the loaf loosely.
Bake for a further 25 to 30 minutes, know on the underside of the loaf, a hollow sound with signal that it is baked through.
Remove form the oven and cool on a cooling rack. Slice and serve with lots of butter.
