This easy bagel recipe from Local Village Foods requires no kneading and no bread-making experience. Teff flour is a cereal grain from Ethiopia and Eritrea in Africa and forms a staple of their diets. It is one of the oldest domesticated grains and is the smallest grain in the world. It is a must in this recipe as it gives a deeper, fuller taste you would similarly find in sourdough. 
Local Village Foods was founded on a vision for a network of vibrant, local agri-preneurs across the continent supplying equitably sourced and sustainably grown indigenous African ingredients to the global village. They are an aspirational brand, celebrating shared humanity through culinary diversity.
From World Environment Day 2022, ProVeg South Africa will be sharing weekly authentic African and African-inspired recipes leading up to COP27 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) in November. Taking place in Egypt this year, COP27 is labelled as the “African COP”. Every week we’ll demonstrate that African cuisine is traditionally plant-based, incredibly diverse, and offers an easy way for you to tackle the climate crisis with your fork today.
Gluten-free, no-knead teff bagels
Makes: 4 bagels
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
1 ¼ cups gluten-free flour mix
¼ cup Local Village teff flour
1 cup vegan yoghurt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Seed sprinkle: 1 tbsp poppy seeds or sesame seeds
To serve: Red pickled onions (recipe below), dill, vegan cream cheese or humus, cucumber ribbons
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the gluten-free flour, teff flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and vegan yoghurt.
- Mix well, until fully combined and a ball of dough remains for about 2-3 minutes.
- Slice the dough into four even pieces. Use your hands to roll the dough into a sausage shape. You might need to lightly flour your surface with gluten-free flour. Join both ends of the dough to form a bagel shape. Place on the lined tray and repeat until 4 bagels are formed. Lightly brush the tops of each bagel with either vegan butter or water. Sprinkle the seeds on top.
- Bake the bagels for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Store in the fridge for three days or slice and freeze.
- To assemble, slice the bagel in half, and smear with vegan cream cheese, hummus or any other vegan schmear. Top with cucumber ribbons, pickled red onions, and dill.
Tips & Topping Suggestions
Gluten-free flour, this recipe works best by using flour already containing xanthan gum.
For quick pickled red onions: Finely slice the red onions and place them in an airtight container. Heat 2 tbsp water, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 2 tbsp sugar (or sweetener of choice: honey, xylitol etc), and ½ tsp salt. Pour over the red onion, close the container and allow it to stand for 10 minutes.
Accompanying recipes
If you want to make the perfect vegan breakfast bagel, take a look at this
creamy tofu scramble recipe to add to your bagel.
