Pastry Chef Attempts to Make Gourmet Bagel Bites

[Producer] Hey Claire?

Claire's not on the show anymore.

No, I'm good.

Let me just send this text.

She's taking this one off.

This is just gonna be me.

Claire, take a break.

Go get a coffee, for like three days.

Yeah.

I'll do this.

You're good.

Wait, hold on.

But now I want to text them.

They'll be the worst Bagel Bites ever.

[upbeat jazzy music]

So keep going.

[Claire yelping] [clattering]

Ow.

Ow.

Ow.

Something weird happened.

My knee feels weird.

All I did was stand.

Hey everyone, I'm Claire.

We're in the BA Test Kitchen, and today I am making

gourmet Bagel Bites.

[upbeat jazzy music]

I ate a lot of Bagel Bites as a middle schooler.

My sister and I would put the tray in the microwave

and go watch Saved by the Bell, or whatever was on TV.

The idea of just a pizza bagel in general

is something that feels really

like a thing you would make as a kid.

So I don't know.

Do I like the idea of a pizza bagel?

I have extensive bagel education,

both in eating and making.

Okay.

Let's, oh.

Sorry.

We could only get a couple flavors,

cheese and pepperoni, three cheese,

they look pretty good on the box.

Mini bagels with mozzarella, cheddar, Monterey jack cheeses.

I'm cool with three cheeses, I just don't want

those to be the three on a pizza.

I'm gonna look at cheese and pepperoni,

because this is the kind that I would eat as a kid.

Wow, they haven't changed much.

This is what they look like.

They come on this crisping tray.

Like, these bagels are kind of sad looking.

They're not, I mean, I don't even know

if you can really call them bagels.

They are very pale,

topped with sauce and cheese and little pepperoni bits.

Nine in a pack, which I remember well.

I feel like I used to eat

maybe not all nine, but a lot of them.

Okay.

I'll microwave it.

1100 watts, for two minutes 20 seconds on high power.

It's like, who knows how many watts

anyone's ever microwaving at.

All right.

Should I put these in the oven too?

[upbeat jazzy music]

This was a snack where you would burn the roof of your mouth

so bad if you didn't let them cool,

which we never did.

Some way I remember.

They did not lose all their toppings onto the tray,

which is an improvement.

That one's sliding off.

That one a little did.

Like that one has a lot of sauce, cheese,

more pepperoni, no pepperoni, dripping.

[Rhoda] Pretty chewy.

Not a very good bagel.

No, definitely.

It's so soft and doughy.

It's a terrible bagel.

We did bake some just as an alternative heating method.

At least in the oven, the pepperoni and the cheese

got a little bit of color.

The bagel gets better in the oven.

It's a little better.

I think maybe you should freeze.

Okay.

But oven's probably gonna be best.

Yeah. You know?

A bagel's a very specific thing, you know?

Oh, you went all in one.

Good for you.

It's not good.

I know, it's not good, and yet--

[Alex chuckles] It's kind of good.

You know, like-- And I do want more.

[chuckling]

So that's part of the criteria.

Must be able to pick up the tray with the Bite.

I don't think so.

I wish there was a little bit more

texture to the sauce.

[Claire] It's like a puree.

Puree.

[Claire] Are they exactly how you remember?

It's so much worse than I remember.

[Claire] Really?

It's almost like it's freeze-dried dough.

Like, it's so spongy and dense.

[Dan] You guys don't know anything.

[laughing]

I will not let you sit here and slander--

Do you guys love them?

I mean, I like-- Care for another one?

I really like the idea of a Bagel Bite.

[Cameraman] Dan's eaten like four today.

Yeah. Like, it seems

like a great thing.

Dan was quite excited about this.

So maybe I'll do three cheese plus pepperoni.

Should there be like a custom Claire flavor?

Oh yeah, so I wanted to do like

I think of it as sort of a 90's thing,

because that was when I ate it last.

You know, like Domino's veggie pizza?

[Alex] Oh yeah.

With kind of raw onion.

Raw onion.

And black sliced olives. Bell peppers.

Yes. From a can.

I want to compose it so there's one single

teeny-tiny slice of mushroom,

and maybe like the tiniest floret of raw broccoli.

Yeah. [laughing]

[Claire] I can put it on with tweezers, or something.

So my favorite pizza is really embarrassing,

but it's mushroom, olive, and pineapple.

[Claire gasps]

Ooh!

Can you make a tiny Bagel Bite?

If we can get some pineapple.

I have pineapple at home.

I'll make it for you.

I'll bring some pineapple.

Wait, I kind of like the idea,

what if I took everyone's pizza order?

Everyone gets their own flavor.

I like this idea.

Gaby, what's your favorite kind of pizza toppings?

In Argentina they like ham and pineapple.

[laughing] Oh, all right.

Sohla, remind me.

It was pineapple, mushroom, and what?

Black olive.

Oh black olive, nice.

I love black olives on pizza.

Oh my god. So good.

[Claire] Yeah.

I don't mind a little onion.

[Claire] Okay.

I love a good mushroom pie.

[Claire] Okay.

Mortadella, anchovy's not bad when they're good.

Do you want all of those things on your pizza?

No, these are all separate pizzas.

Oh no, I mean what's your one pizza order?

I don't, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Then I do half and half.

Mixed mushroom on half, and then the other half

[beeping] olives.

Maybe mixed olive.

Sopressata, basil, some extra Parm on top,

and some chile oil.

Okay, thank you.

Noted.

Chile, it's gotta have chile heat,

whether it's dry or fresh.

Calabrian?

Calabrian's great.

Okay.

Anchovy, baked.

[Claire] Okay.

On the thing. Okay.

Swimming.

Very thin slices of garlic.

Good sort of style.

Oh yeah, Polly's gotta shave the garlic

with a razor blade.

Right.

All right.

Time-consuming, but a very good technique.

Molly, what are you putting on pizza?

Roni!

Dat roni life.

If I'm a nice pizza place, mortadella because I know

they got the good stuff.

Yeah.

If I'm at a slice shop, pepperoni for sure.

Okay, well I'm gonna go with mortadella

because I'm probably already making a group pepperoni one.

You'll get to try it anyway.

Okay.

Are you making all red sauce?

Because I can see the mortadella being a good white pie.

Okay.

Like a ricotta, mozzarella.

Ooh.

Like garlic.

Okay.

[Molly] Maybe some castelvetrano olive.

Oh my god.

[Molly] And Parm.

[Dan] Frankly I'd like to see a white clam

and lemon Bagel Bites.

Frankly?

There's something disgusting about that.

All right, Dan gets to be on this list?

Clam pie.

You've got a lot of work to do, girlfriend.

I think the only tricky part is going to be

about done-ness of the bagel,

and then the rest of it is gonna be

just easy and fun.

The only thing I'm trying to recreate with Bagel Bites

is the dimensions and overall size.

All I have to do is measure the circumference of the bagel,

and then that's all.

Two inches.

All right.

Two inch bagel, that's all.

Yeah, the diameter.

What did I say?

Circumference?

I meant diameter.

There's no reason why the cheese needs to be

in tiny cubes like that, because they all melt anyway.

They're supposed to look like this.

So I wanna go for a proper bagel.

Good color, crust development,

and also little tiny blisters

so you get that really satisfying crunchy texture

when you bite in.

This doesn't have any of that.

Overall, I'm just gonna try to make a good bagel.

Time for my favorite part,

reading the ingredients.

Bagel halves.

Parenthesis, wheat flour, water,

contains less than two percent of the following,

invert cane syrup, yeast, salt, soybean oil, enzyme,

ascorbic acid, niacin, reduced iron,

thiamine, mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid.

Then topping, parenthesis cheese blend, bracket,

part-skim mozzarella cheese,

parenthesis cultured part-skim milk, salt, enzymes,

closed parenthesis, modified food starch, skim milk,

closed bracket, pepperoni made with pork and chicken,

bracket, pork, mechanically separated chicken.

So we are seeing the reappearance

of mechanically separated chicken.

AKA, pink slime.

Salt, contains two percent or less of pork stock, spices,

dextrose, lactic acid starter culture,

oleoresin of paprika, flavoring, sodium ascorbate,

sodium nitrate, BHA, BHT, citric acid,

closed bracket, closed parenthesis.

Sauce, parenthesis water, tomato paste,

invert cane syrup, modified food starch,

salt, methyl cellulose, citric acid, potassium chloride,

ammonium chloride, spice, yeast extract,

natural flavor, calcium lactate, closed parenthesis,

water, invert cane syrup.

I mean, it's a little bit of a pointless exercise

because I'm not going based on any of the ingredients

used in here.

It's still a good exercise, though.

I don't know that I really need to see how these are made,

but we'll go to the computer anyway

and do some research and just see what we can find.

Wonder if they boil the bagels, though.

I'd be very surprised if they did.

[Announcer] Now you can feel good about giving them pizza

whenever they want!

♪ Pizza in the morning ♪

♪ Pizza in the evening ♪

♪ Pizza at suppertime ♪

♪ When pizza's on a bagel you can eat pizza anytime ♪

It just occurred to me that they really are trying

to market it as breakfast.

Because it's a bagel.

Today is really about the dough and the bagel itself.

It is a yeasted product,

so it's a little bit of a process, of letting it rise,

and then with bagels you have to boil them.

For this episode, I'm actually going to use

a different baker's bagel recipe, and that baker

is Peter Reinhart, who's a very well-known master baker,

author of many bread cookbooks.

All the other toppings and stuff I'll do later,

like tomorrow, or I don't know.

It's, I got it.

[upbeat jazzy music]

All right, I'm gonna grab my ingredients.

454 grams of unbleached bread flour,

kosher salt directly with the flour,

two tablespoons of water to proof the yeast.

Just wanna do that to make sure the yeast is alive.

It usually is.

I will let that sit until I start to see

the mixture foam a bit.

Also, bagels come from an eastern-European

baking tradition, and they have a malty flavor,

and that comes from barley malt syrup.

It is similar in flavor to molasses.

Look at how thready it is.

It's really, really thick,

and it really needs a lot of agitating

to get it to dissolve,

and it goes both in the dough

and in the liquid used for boiling the bagels.

So bread making, even though it's a lot of steps,

it's easy.

You just dump everything together and mix.

So now I'm gonna start kneading by hand.

Sorry, get rid of my gross hair rubber band.

So now I have a dough that is not at all sticky.

It's firm but still soft,

so I'm gonna leave this here covered

and let it rise, maybe around an hour or so.

What?

An hour.

[laughing]

[Dan] There's nothing else?

[Chris laughing]

Nope, just gonna walk away.

Yeah.

All right, I was told I have to make the sauce now.

Tomato paste.

What?

Olive oil, garlic, canned tomato,

a pinch of red pepper flakes, and some basil.

Cook everything on the stove

and then let it concentrate

and slowly kind of roast and dry out in the oven

for an hour.

Let's look at this dough.

I would say that that doubled.

You can see when I poke it

that this dough is proofed.

Now, we're gonna move into the forming stage

and make the bagels into their round shape,

but first I'm gonna pull the tomato sauce

out of the oven.

Oh my god, it's perfect.

There's no liquid,

it's all just tomato solids.

Looks very good.

I'm gonna let this cool

and then I'll puree it.

Before I start dividing this,

I'm gonna prep my baking sheets

and grab some cornmeal for dusting.

So I'm going to form pretty close

to two inch circles with the dough.

I'm just not sure what weight of dough.

So I'm gonna try doing 1 1/4 ounces.

1.25.

So I'm thinking that the best way to form these

is to form them as a snake

and wrap it around a finger and roll over it

into a loop where the ends meet to seal

with a very small hole, because they will rise a bit

and that hole will kind of close up.

Cute little bagel.

They're a little bigger, but oh well.

Think that'll do.

I'm going to go ahead and portion all the dough

and then I'll start forming them one by one

in a little bit of an assembly line.

Whoa, I'm getting real good.

[Dan] Have you ever had a tuna melt on a bagel?

[Claire] A tuna melt on a bagel?

[Dan] Are you into it?

Wait, what?

Dan.

What nonsense is this?

I like a tuna melt on sliced bread.

What?

Tuna melt.

Oh, I love-- Abomination.

Oh. Whoa.

I love a tuna melt. Me too.

Abomination. Oh my god.

You don't like a tuna melt?

Does that really stun you?

I love a tuna melt.

Canned fish-- With American cheese?

Chris is not allowed to participate

in this debate then.

What is the bread you want for a tuna melt?

Something like this.

Sliced bread. Yes.

Not a bagel. That's not,

not a bagel!

That's too much going on.

Yeah.

I would guess we have 20 or so mini bagels,

therefore around 40 Bagel Bites we'll be able to make.

Look pretty good.

To chill these overnight, I'll just go oil side down

overtop of the bagels

so then they don't dry out, a wet towel,

and then another sheet tray overtop

to make sure it's sealed.

I think it was Andy who said that he wanted

a little more texture in the sauce.

[clattering]

Oops.

[yelps]

Oops.

So food mill will smooth everything out

and break it down without making it a puree.

So it just forces the mixture through the disc

with these holes in it.

It's actually upside down.

All right.

Oh shoot.

So you can see what's left is the flesh.

Okay.

This just goes into a pint container

and into the fridge.

We'll use it when we assemble everything.

But when I come in tomorrow, I'm gonna focus on

cooking the bagels.

I'm excited to play with the toppings

and to make them look really cute.

But it's a lot of toppings, I mean that part's

gonna be kind of a lot of work.

Mushrooms for Brad, Dan needs his clam pie.

Cut little tiny handkerchief mortadella for Molly.

It's a lot.

You know what?

I'll get all the ingredients ready for people

and everyone can assemble their own.

Yeah, pizza party.

I think it'll be more fun.

I'm covered in cornmeal.

It's just getting worse.

[upbeat jazzy music]

Look at Andy's pore-less skin.

Truly incredible.

He really looks like that in person, too.

This is in the January issue.

He looks so great.

Andy, how do you like your pizza?

You should frame it.

My mom will.

Yeah.

He loves it.

Put it right there.

I got a little excited this morning when I woke up

because I remembered that I get to come into work

and make bagels.

So that's gonna be my first step today

is boiling and baking the bagels.

So these have been resting overnight.

They did expand a little bit from the yeast

because there's little tiny bubbles,

so that's a good sign.

My guess is these are gonna pass the float test.

They look like little mini bagels, don't they?

So I'm gonna take this guy.

So the bagels floats, which means there's air

in the dough, so the bagels won't turn out overly dense.

That means these guys are ready to cook.

I'm gonna turn that on.

There's a two-step cooking process for bagels.

First, you boil it in a solution of water

and enough barley malt syrup to get the color

of strong black tea, couple tablespoons.

And then you bake them.

So now I'm gonna preheat the oven.

Well, maybe 450.

I don't have a baking stone at home

so when I make bagels, I don't bother with this stuff

and I just do it on a sheet tray,

but it's just a raw piece of porous stone.

It absorbs some moisture and gives you

a really crisp bottom.

I don't know, I just know it helps the bread.

I need my cornmeal

just to prevent sticking.

I love baking projects that you do overnight

and then bake the next morning

because it's such an exciting reason to get out of bed.

That's true.

These boil about 30 seconds a side,

and then these just all go in.

Look at how cute they are.

All right, so it's been about 30 seconds

so I'll flip them all over.

You can see that they've taken on the darker color.

[timer beeping]

Now these go into the ice bath to cool off.

They feel good.

They feel like bagels.

The holes have kind of tightened up.

Okay, so they're twice the size

of a regular Bagel Bite, but that's okay.

I always think how much I wish Bagel Bites were bigger.

[upbeat jazzy music]

All right, we're all right.

Get in there.

Okay.

[timer beeping]

[upbeat jazzy music]

We think they're done.

Look at how cute they are.

You can see that they didn't get much bigger.

Oh, mother [beeping]

I just touched the thing.

I'm fine.

It's just a light burn.

All right, so here's the bagels.

This guys had a little blister.

That's okay.

Oh my god, this one too.

Ow.

And this one too,

which is just really strange.

I've never had that happen before with bagels,

but overall, they look really, really, really good.

Ow.

All right, I'm gonna go over here and take a photo

because they're so cute.

I just wanna point out

a sign of a well-made bagel

is that it has all these little tiny

crunchy air pockets.

What if we do--

They seem a little hard.

They do seem a little hard.

Okay, I'm gonna go over here with my bagels.

Do you know what a crusty bagel?

It feels like it's all crust,

I'm just saying.

Don't hate me.

But like, if you're gonna do that and then cook it again.

I don't feel good about that criticism,

and I don't appreciate it.

Chris just doesn't get a pizza bagel anymore.

[laughing]

Sorry, Chris.

[Alex] It is really good.

[Chris] Oh, that's delightful.

[Alex] But--

[Chris] It's gonna be baked to death

[Alex] Do you want pizza on top of this?

A lot of texture.

It needs to taste like less,

I think. Like less what?

It can't be this crusty.

It's so good with cream cheese.

Should we just eat these for breakfast?

The only problem they're having

is that it's too good,

but that's a great problem to have.

It is, yeah.

I think you can comfortably just move on.

Yeah, but the problem with that

is then I gotta do something again.

If you just did the same exact thing

and frankly baked them a little bit less,

you might just be there.

Almost like half-baked I feel like these need to be.

[Chris] Yeah.

[Claire] Damn it.

So maybe I was right in the first place.

[Claire sighs]

All I did was make bagels,

because that's what I know how to do.

I just really like bagels.

And I really like making bagels.

[Dan] This might be one of the best bagels

I've ever had.

Thank you.

So, okay fine.

I guess what I'm hearing is

I have to make the dough again

and try another time.

If I was, well.

[groans] Okay.

I promise I'm gonna make more dough.

But first, I'm really into the idea

of making tuna melts.

So now I'm making snacks.

I need this.

It's making me feel like this is still for a reason

and these bagels, we're still gonna enjoy them.

Plus it's just more fun to do this

than it is to make the dough again.

I love, love, love

bread and butter pickles.

It's a little QP, whole grain mustard,

couple dashes of hot sauce

and lemon juice.

Okay, now in go.

Delicious.

Forget the Bagel Bites!

We're going with freaking tuna melts on mini bagels.

I love it.

You wanna eat a mini?

I will eat one of these for sure.

I'm starving.

I haven't eaten anything all day.

Good.

My god, your timing is good.

Oh my god, Andy.

You're on another level.

That wasn't me.

Someone-- [Brad laughing]

You've got great skin.

Look at your teeth.

I haven't had white teeth like that

since I was four years old.

Well, I'm sure the photo people

did some stuff to it too.

No Andy, just ride with it.

You look great, bud.

Don't let these people bring you down.

Let's take a look at the bagel, real quick.

Nice bubblage.

Thank you, it's a well-made bagel.

Oh. Well-made.

Not up for discussion.

[Claire] No.

I got American.

Does anyone have a problem with that?

[Brad] I'm not a big American cheese guy.

For a melt, I feel like you want American.

[upbeat jazzy music]

There, I think they're done.

Tuna melts for all.

Mm, they smell good, don't they?

Lunchtime.

This is the most delicious lunch in the world.

I call bull [beeping] on Chris.

I mean, it works with this.

[Claire] It works.

It works.

They're a little crusty.

It wasn't the worst thing in the world

that I have to remake the bagels.

American cheese?

Mm! American.

My girl!

Hate American cheese.

Dilly Manilly!

Come on, on this?

I would have maybe got a little provolone.

All right, Brad.

Here, let's leave one for Chris.

Can you put this on Chris' station, Brad?

Dan gets the last one.

Thank you for letting me do that.

So now I can focus on making the dough.

[upbeat jazzy music]

This is just the exact same dough as yesterday.

This stuff is so crazy.

Most of the changes that I am going to make

will happen during the boiling and baking process.

Oh, and I'm gonna make them smaller, too.

That was the other thing.

I'm gonna make them smaller.

Do you wanna knead it for a while?

Yeah, I'll knead it!

Oh great.

Let me help! Fantastic.

I'm gonna wash my hands.

Okay, great.

This needs a little elbow grease.

Some Brad Leone elbow grease.

You just tell me when to stop.

Okay, keep going.

[Brad] All right, you got it, boss.

[Claire] You're doing great.

You got it boss!

So what we're doing here is building some gluten structure.

Right Claire?

[Claire] Doing great.

Thanks, Claire.

Making videos for Bon Appetite.

[Claire] That looks so good.

That looks perfect.

Great.

You did a just really great job.

All right.

Oh, a little oil huh?

Yeah, I like--

Are you creating a perfect atmosphere.

Yeah.

How come cornmeal?

[upbeat jazzy music]

It's proofed.

It's filled with air.

I'll do the same thing as yesterday

but smaller portions of dough.

I think about three quarters of an ounce..

These are like the teeniest tiniest little pieces.

I'm just gonna keep forming these tiny little bagels

til I get to the end.

I had like 21 or something last time.

I think I'll have a bit more like,

so if I did, hold on.

Four, 40%, if I'm making them 40% smaller,

I'm trying to do math.

How many more am I gonna have?

21.

[chuckling]

I don't know.

I can't do that math.

Sorry.

Why don't we just tell you when we get there?

I'll have more.

All right, how many I got?

Five, 10, 15, 20,

plus 12, 32, 34.

[upbeat jazzy music]

Get these into the fridge so they can proof overnight.

All right, for the rest of the afternoon

I'll just try to do some prep for the toppings

so that tomorrow after I make the bagels

I can quickly get them topped and into the freezer.

I'm being blinded.

Seriously, you're right in front of the light.

Jeez.

No, don't!

No, don't throw that.

[laughing]

Dan, stop!

Stop, it fell on the floor!

Dan!

Dan.

Ooh!

[upbeat jazzy music]

[Claire] I would say most ingredients, we're leaving raw

on the pizza.

I really dislike green bell pepper.

A couple people requested pineapple,

Sohla and Gaby.

Moving onto mushrooms.

I want them to look like that classic mushroom

cross-section.

I'm using the mandolin and I'm gonna go really, really thin.

Look, I'm gonna do florets like this.

[Alex] Wow.

The cutest.

Just the cutest little Bagel Bite.

Yeah, exactly.

This is for mine.

Veggie Supreme?

1992, baby.

1990s veggie.

How's it going?

This cheese is quite warm.

This is turning into like a,

you don't wanna feel this.

[Claire] I'm just grating the Parm.

We're doing both of these?

Yeah.

Oh, you only did that one?

Keep going.

[laughing]

No, Delaney!

No, no, no!

Keep grating, please help me!

I'm just breaking it up

so it doesn't all clump together.

But this is expertly grated cheese, truly.

Delaney, I can't pay you money,

but I will pay you in slices of mortadella.

I think I'm gonna cut,

I'm gonna use a little cutter

and cut circles of it.

And I'm gonna try to get some of the fat

in each circle so that I have--

[Alex] That's cute.

I do love mortadella!

Who doesn't love mortadella?

[Alex] Those are cute.

So cute.

This is the Sopressata.

For Andy-bo-bandy.

It's an apple corer.

And now I can--

I'm getting into that.

Right?

Teeniest, tiniest--

So good!

That is classic.

Cute.

Yes.

This is now pepperoni,

and I want this to look like the original Bagel Bite,

so I'm going to cut it into tiny cubes.

Fine dice.

Okay, so two things left.

One, open the clams

for a white clam pie.

Open them on the stove with some garlic,

a little white wine, and olive oil,

and red chile.

So I'm just gonna add a splash of wine.

I can hear them hissing.

Oh yeah.

Smells so good.

Like, incredible.

This is gonna be the best one.

So I'm going to finely chop some parsley.

I wanna add a little bit of lemon zest.

I'm gonna take this off the heat

because I'm gonna take the clams out of the shells

and chop everything together.

This mixture will kind of absorb this clam liquid

which is what I want.

It's really strong, salty.

It's delicious.

I guess I gotta kind of cook the anchovy,

Calabrian chile,

and paper thin slices of garlic

for Chris' pizza,

just so that they don't have

such a raw flavor.

The garlic doesn't have any color on it yet

so it's just sort orf lightly sweated.

I kind of have created like a garlic chile oil paste.

Here's my stack of all the prepped toppings.

Low moisture mozzarella, our cooked tomato sauce,

black and green olive, thinly sliced canned pineapple,

very thinly sliced white mushrooms,

finely grated Parm, circles of mortadella,

Sopressata, and fine diced pepperoni,

tiny florets of raw broccoli,

slices of raw green bell pepper,

our clam mixture,

and garlic Calabrian chile anchovy oil.

I feel good about tomorrow.

I think, I'm glad I ended up making the bagels over

because I'll really be able to control

the level of done-ness now.

But tomorrow should be fun.

It'll just be assembly.

All these are gonna go in the fridge,

and then we come back tomorrow and make Bagel Bites.

[upbeat jazzy music]

All right, so these are not floating

which means these just have to sit out

at room temperature for a little bit longer

so that the yeast has a chance to come alive.

The only concern would be timing

because we are on a schedule.

But that's all right.

I'll probably put them in here on proof

but with the door open, because sometimes

it gets too hot on the proof setting.

Probably put in a half to a third as much

of barley malt syrup.

I want it to look like iced tea I think

instead of a really strong brewed black tea.

I'll just go ahead and finish prepping

any last ingredients for toppings

while I wait for the dough.

For example, I am pulling off the teeniest,

tiniest, newest leaves from the basil plant.

It's definitely not gonna freeze well.

You can't freeze basil leaves.

I mean, one thing you could do is fry them.

I'm just gonna, for splatter.

Here we go.

I actually love the look of fried basil.

It is like stained glass.

Pretty, right?

What else was I gonna do?

Thinly slice some red onion and some garlic.

I actually wonder if it might be better to use a shallot

instead of red onion.

I just want the whole thing to kind of be

on a smaller scale.

I actually really, really like raw garlic on pizza.

What am I gonna do about Gaby's ham?

We have prosciutto, I guess I'll prep the prosciutto.

Jesus, Dan.

My god.

Working in a restaurant gave me

better hand-eye coordination.

I would like catch things as they fell

off of counters and stuff.

Okay.

I think Gaby was the only one who requested ham.

All we have left to do is check on the bagels

and start to cook those.

They are so cute.

I can't stand it.

I do love them.

Oh yeah.

So, they pass the float test.

Yay!

They are ready to cook.

Very pleased.

It's all gonna work out.

I wasn't nervous.

I knew it was gonna be fine.

They look good.

I don't think they're taking on as much color

from the liquid as last time.

Don't mind that.

Human hair.

I think the biggest difference is going to be

once they're in the oven, just not letting them

take on too much color as they bake.

Oh, that one's trying to flip over.

Okay.

[timer beeping]

Let's take another one and look at it.

I feel like they're done.

They're starting to get a little crunchy

and I don't want to overshoot it,

because that would be really bad.

I mean, looks good.

Looks like a bagel.

Chris, will you come look?

Is that what I'm smelling?

Here.

It is what I was smelling.

Give them a feel.

Do you think it's the right amount of done-ness?

I feel like it is.

Yes, oh for sure.

Overall, dimensions,

I think it looks I pretty good.

I mean, they're not all exactly this size,

but I think it's really close.

I'm very happy with the interior.

Fully cooked.

There is some crustiness to it,

but in general it's flexible, it's soft.

They'll actually really benefit from another bake

in the oven to toast.

I'm going to uncover all the toppings

and get them ready to go

for all of our Test Kitchen friends.

Here's what we're doing.

Everyone is assembling their own pizza.

Everyone gets a half of a sheet.

Be sure to label your half,

because then we freeze these.

All of the meats.

[Molly gasping]

That's your mortadella

Is that a hot dog?

That's prosciutto for Gaby.

Okay, mine is fresh ricotta cheese,

mozzarella and Parm, so triple threat,

three cheese, with mortadella mountains,

olive, and garlic.

Yeah mine, half and half.

Little olive, and mushroom.

To start off pretty classic,

but then I'm gonna use that anchovy Calabrian chile

olive oil topper.

My request was black olives mushroom, and pineapple.

Do you have black olives?

[Claire] Yeah.

Yeah, but they're mine.

[Sohla] We can share.

[Claire] No Brad, don't use it all.

[Gaby] Share!

[Sohla] You're not gonna share black olives?

I need my ham on.

Originally, I said [speaking foreign language]

ham and pineapple.

Is this anchovies and chile oil?

[Claire] Yeah, and garlic.

[Gaby] We should have made up a new flavor here, huh?

Gaby, you're going rogue.

Oh Andy, they're so cute and tiny!

I requested sauce, cheese, some kind of spicy

cured meat situation, maybe some chile oil.

All right, did I get everything on mine?

Broccoli, olives, mushroom, onion, green pepper, yup.

With the kind of standard Bagel Bites flavor with pepperoni.

No one labeled theirs, by the way.

[Gaby] You said it like three times.

Thank you.

I'm assembling the clam.

[Dan] Do it!

Variety.

In traditional Italian cooking,

there's kind of a rule about not combining seafood

and cheese, but you know.

These look so good, so colorful.

It's like everyone made their own Christmas ornament

except for they were Bagel Bites.

Kind of put me back into like sleepovers

when you went to your friend's house

but their parents made dinner, and you like,

everyone made their own little pizza,

and ever have one of those little pizza parties?

Usually those were English muffins.

Anyway.

That was fun.

Now all I wanna do is cover these with some plastic

and get them in the freezer,

because we're not actually eating them today.

All right, does no one move anything in here ever?

[upbeat jazzy music]

I love days like today

because the work is already done.

All I have left to do is bake the Bagel Bites,

warm them up, melt the cheese,

and then we eat.

So I'm pretty excited.

[Dan] Was it clear to you what happened?

No.

Oh no!

The freezer went down

and the Bagel Bites thawed

and then you refroze them.

Well, at least there's no meat.

That would really be a problem

if there was meat, but it should be okay.

[Dan] There was plenty of meat.

Oh yeah,

but it was cured.

[Dan] Claire.

It's fine.

[Dan] Mm!

Oh, the clams.

Ooh.

[sighs] Okay, all right.

All right.

Do you think someone's sabotaging Gourmet Makes

from the inside?

What happened to the ice cream?

[Dan] Melted.

Don't worry about it.

Oven.

425.

I think I should just bake them all at the same time.

Just gonna get them on a sheet tray

into the oven.

Even frozen it smells really good.

Here are the clam ones.

I think they're fine.

Oh, anchovy's fine.

Or as Chris would say an-chovy,

or as Delaney would say, chovy.

Wait a minute.

We're missing a tray.

The tray had my, the original,

had the ones I made!

Should we go to the empty kitchen, okay.

Don't worry, I brought my cup.

Oh I see it, I see it.

I knew it.

All right.

We got it.

This is my veggie classic,

and then original Bagel Bite, which has

finely diced pepperoni.

Ow, these are so frozen.

We don't have room for the clam.

[Dan] Come on!

I'll put them separate.

The clams can go on their own tray.

Okay.

15 minutes.

I was just over here having a leisurely conversation

and was told I should look at the Bagel Bites,

and I have four minutes left on the timer,

so it's been, oh okay.

Let's take these out.

The sizzle, the sound of the sizzle

is very satisfying.

Hot, hot, hot.

They do smell good.

I'm most disappointed in my veggie.

These guys.

Didn't quite keep its shape.

It got a little sad.

Everything ran off.

I put too much cheese.

I really like how the pepperoni got nice color.

I think it's actually just the fat from the pepperoni.

Maybe we cut them in half and split?

Yeah.

Yeah, let's get a pizza wheel.

A tiny pizza wheel!

Maybe just a knife.

The bagel stayed soft, but the bottoms crisped

really nicely.

Okay, those are for you guys.

That's pepperoni.

And I don't like pepperoni, but I'm doing this for you.

Oh, I think you're gonna be into it.

Classic Bagel Bite, pepperoni mozzarella,

little bit of Parm, little bit of chile,

little bit of olive oil.

I mean, if this is what pepperoni taste like

I would love pepperoni all the time.

It's delicious.

Okay, now this is Chris'.

Calabrian chile, the anchovy, anch-ovy,

and the sliced raw garlic.

And it's fantastic.

Ooh I would eat a couple more of those.

[Gaby] Is that yours?

[Claire] Andy, say what's on yours

[Andy] This one has Sopressata.

[Claire] Sopressata, yeah.

And then mozzarella,

and you fried the little basil leaves,

and the Calabrian chile oil.

The heat.

Oh, because you put the chile oil on.

Yeah.

Oh my god, that one looks like a face.

Should we try?

Ooh, I go for that one. Let's try it.

Let's try Sohla's.

This was my favorite order as a kid.

[Gaby] Pineapple and black olives.

[Sohla] And mushroom.

[Gaby] Nothing else.

Oh, mushrooms.

That's not bad.

Pretty good.

I would eat that.

The pineapple comes a lot more than in mine.

Try mine.

Mine was ham and pineapple.

[Claire] And we got you prosciutto, sorry.

We didn't get you Paris ham.

That's all we had.

I put a bunch of pepper on top.

Mm, that's good.

What about this guy?

Oh yeah, there's a green pie?

No, that's clam.

[Dan] You said it was gonna be the best one

and now you're acting like it never happened.

Wait this is yours?

Yeah.

[Sohla] Oh.

[Claire] This is Dan's.

[Gaby] It's very yummy.

It just doesn't actually give me clam pizza vibe.

A little too salty.

It's not really-- Clam toast.

Yeah, it's clam toast.

It's not really clam pizza.

We all just ate ours but we cut them up

so we could each taste all of them.

Mm!

It's yummy.

Yours, I think, with the amount of ricotta on it,

it doesn't so much read as pizza,

but it just tastes really good.

Mm-hmm.

That's very ricotta forward.

Hey. Sup, dude?

[Claire] Do you want a Bagel Bites?

[Molly] It does smell like fancy pepperoni.

It is fancy pepperoni, look,

because they all ran.

This is good.

In a shock to no one, I feel like they all need salt.

Oh, really? Yeah.

Try the clam.

This is like a clam casino Bagel Bites.

Yeah, it's not really pizza.

Which is tight.

Which one's yours?

Mushroom, pineapple, olive.

What?

I'm very happy.

I'm happy with the bagel in particular.

[Alex] The crisp on it is so nice.

Yeah, they reheat really well.

Please, I insist.

Well, I love making bagels so that part was really fun,

and it actually kind of made me wanna make mini bagels

as a thing.

The topping part was really easy,

it's just like buy good quality ingredients

and put them on top and freeze them.

I'm happy that the reheating went so well,

and there was no part of this that wasn't a success.

I think the Gourmet Makes version

was like orders of magnitude over the original,

and that doesn't always happen.

Not only that, but I'm glad that to get there

I didn't have to pull out some crazy stop

or some kind of trick.

I could make these at home,

and I can't say that for a lot of episodes

of Gourmet Makes, at least for it to turn out this good.

[Dan] Cool.

Okay.

[upbeat jazzy music]

Here's how you make gourmet Pizza Bites.

No, wait.

[Dan] No, we gotta start over now.

Bagel Bites, sorry.

All right.

Here's how you make gourmet Bagel Bites.

To proof the yeast, combine one teaspoon

active dry yeast and two tablespoons lukewarm water

in a small bowl, and stir until the yeast is dissolved.

Set aside until the mixture is foamy.

To make the dough, combine three and a half cups

bread flour and one and a half teaspoons kosher salt

in a large bowl.

Make a well in the center and pour in one tablespoon

barley malt syrup, one cup of room temperature water,

and the yeast mixture.

Mix until a shaggy dough forms, then turn it out

onto the work surface and knead by hand,

adding more flour as necessary to prevent sticking

until you have a smooth, very firm dough

that is only slightly tacky.

Form into a ball, cover, and let sit in a warm spot

until nearly doubled in size.

Uncover the dough and punch down lightly.

Portion the dough into three quarter ounce pieces,

then form each piece into a ball.

Poke a hole in the center of each ball,

and form into a ring about two inches across,

then flatten slightly and place on a cornmeal dusted

parchment lined baking sheet.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, check to see if the bagels

pass the float test by placing one in a bowl of water.

If it floats, return the baking sheet to the refrigerator

while you prepare the boiling liquid.

Fill a large dutch oven with water,

add barley malt syrup to the water by the tablespoon

until it's the color of black tea.

Bring to a boil.

Boil the bagels a few at a time for one minute

turning halfway through, then use a spider to transfer

to a bowl of ice water to cool the bagels.

Pat the bagels dry, place on a cornmeal-dusted peel,

then transfer to a baking stone

preheated in a 450 degree oven.

Bake until the bagels are deep golden brown,

then remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce.

Lightly crush and drain a 28 ounce can

of whole peeled tomatoes, and let sit in a colander

to drain further.

Cook four smashed and peeled garlic cloves

in three tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan

over medium heat until lightly browned,

then stir in a quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes

and three tablespoons tomato paste, and cook,

stirring constantly, until the paste is caramelized.

Add the drained tomatoes and a splash of their juices

to dissolve any brown bits on the bottom of the pot,

and season with salt and a pinch of dried oregano.

Throw in two big sprigs of basil and transfer

to a 300 degree oven.

Cook the sauce, stirring once,

until very thick and concentrated, about 40 minutes.

Let cool completely, then pluck out the basil

and pulse the mixture in a food processor

to smooth it out.

Season with more salt, and let cool.

Halve the bagels and spread with a thin layer

of tomato sauce.

Top with finely-shredded low moisture mozzarella cheese,

a sprinkle of finely grated Parmesan cheese,

finely-diced pepperoni, and a drizzle of olive oil.

Freeze the bagels overnight,

then microwave or bake according to package instructions.

What's your bagel?

Build your bagel.

Everything bagel, scallion cream cheese.

[Claire] And that's it?

That's it. Done.

[Claire] Really?

Pumpernickel, but with scallion cream cheese.

Really?

Because I want everything bagel, cream cheese,

very thinly-sliced red onion,

tomato in summer, and lox,

and a little lemon.

Exact same, except I'll do everything.

Or pumpernickel.

[Claire] I said everything.

Oh, you do.

[Claire] Yeah.

Maybe some capers.

Lox, red onion, caper,

but the capers' gotta be between the lox--

Yes. And the cream cheese.

Yes.

And none of that, like-- And red onion too,

with only lots on top. Rolling around.