No Empty Calories Here - Chia Bagels

It's been on my list to do some healthy bagel nutritimentation for awhile, well today was the day!

Bagels are often said to be "empty calories" and have "no nutritional value" - I beg to differ about my chia bagels. These are made with my best friend, spelt flour.

Why is spelt flour nutritional?

• Spelt contains special carbohydrates called Mucopolysaccharides which possess anti-inflammatory properties. Anti-inflammatories are beneficial to your body inside and out, head to toe. Goodbye achey joints, headaches, and tummy pains.
• Spelt is easily digestible but is still high in fiber. Fiber is essential to a healthy digestive system but can sometimes irritate it if your stomach isn't working at it's full capacity so spelt flour is a more gentle option and allows the absorption of the nutrients your body needs.
• It also has a good amount of protein, thumbs up to that.
• With the issue of everyone OD'ing on sugar spelt flour has the ideal combo of fiber, Vitamin E and magnesium, helping to control your blood sugar levels. Have one of these bagels in the morning and you won't be craving sugar an hour later!
• High cholesterol? Get on the spelt train, it contains Niacin which can help lower your levels.
• anddd it contains many more amino acids, vitamins, etc. I could go on all day! I love spelt!!

The chia seeds help add an even bigger nutritional bang - considered a superfood they have:

Five times the amount of calcium in milk (plus boron which helps you absorb it)

Three times the amount of antioxidants in blueberries

Three times the amount of iron in spinach

Three times the amount of fiber in oatmeal

Two times the amount of protein of any other bean, seed or grain

Two times the amount of potassium in a banana

.....In just two tablespoons! They also absorb water and swell up (which is how we make a chia egg for this recipe) which helps keep you full and satisfied longer.

These bagels are dairy free, (practically) gluten free, & yeast free - no bad bacteria growing in our stomachs here!

No Empty Calories Here - Chia Bagels 

Servings: 4 small bagels

Ingredients:

Dry

2 cups spelt flour

2 tsp flax meal (ground flax seeds)

1/2 tsp baking powder

about 1 Tbsp of arrowroot starch (*I was nervous they wouldn't stick together very well so I added a bit of this to help hold it together - you could add some more flax/chia seeds or omit & see what happens- yikes!)
1/2 tsp of salt

Wet

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup water

1 chia egg (1 tbsp chia seeds + 3 tbsp water - combine and let the chia seeds absorb water until they swell up and take on an egg like texture)

For poaching:

2 Tbsp of brown rice syrup (or molasses)

Large pot of water (full enough for the bagels to be completely submerged)

*This gives the bagels their glaze

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Also, place the pot of water with the rice syrup on the stove and let come to a boil.

Meanwhile, combine the dry ingredients and sift with a fork. Add the wet ingredients and fold together gently with your hands until everything is combined and dough forms.

Form your bagels by splitting the dough into four - then rolling it between your palms to shape a long cylinder. Take the two ends of the cylinder and press them together to form a bagel shape with the hole in the middle.

Once your water is boiling, give it a mix to dissolve all the syrup throughout. Then carefully place your bagels in to poach. They will sink at first but will start to float. Keep them moving so they don't stick! Once they start to float (about 3 minutes) - take them out of the water with a slotted spoon and place on a lined (or greased) baking sheet and place in the oven. Let them bake for 20 minutes - flipping half way through (10 minutes on each side.)

This is a base recipe you could get creative sprinkling with seeds, sugar or adding some cinnamon & raisins to the batter - the dough is your oyster, get that nutritimentation going :)