Black Sesame Bagel with Sesame Filling

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This black sesame bagel features a grey chewy black sesame exterior that conceals a nutty velvety black sesame filling. Whether you're a black sesame lover or simply curious about exploring new flavors, this bagel is set to transform your breakfast or snack time.

You might also like Sesame Crème Brûlée or Sesame Tuile.

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Why is black sesame more popular in Asia?
How to bake with black sesame seeds, powder and paste?
Ingredients in Black Sesame Bagel
How to make black sesame filling?
How to make Black Sesame Bagel?
A Little Reminder of Timing
Equipment
Storage
Recipe Tips
Recipe FAQ
Recipe Card

Why is black sesame more popular in Asia?

In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), black foods can nourish kidneys (滋陰補腎), which extends beyond the anatomical organs we're familiar with in modern medicine. In TCM, the functions of the kidney include storage of essence, governance of water, development of bone, hair, brain, hearing and reproduction. (If you want to learn more about it, read this article on National Library of Medicine) The most common black foods are black bean, black rice, black wood ear, date and of course, black sesame. The additional health benefits make it a more popular option than white sesame in Asian cuisine.

How to bake with black sesame seeds, powder and paste?

When using black sesame for baking, you can choose from whole seeds, powder, or paste. They are all black sesame, but in different forms. Ground up your black sesame seeds in food processor, and you will get sesame powder. If you continue the process, the powder will start turning into sesame paste.

Whole black sesame seeds is great for decoration, and it also has the texture that adds crunch to your bread, cookie or cake. Black sesame powder is good to mix with dry ingredients or thicker filling, but the down side is that it doesn’t give it the grey hue (Well most of the black sesame powder you can get in Asian supermarket doesn’t, but there’s exception.) Instead, it gives the cake interesting grainy look. Black sesame paste is my favorite one when it comes to black sesame desserts, because it gives the desserts more sesame flavor and grey color. However, black sesame paste is a little tricky. It has about 50% sesame oil, but the texture isn’t as liquid as pure oil. When adding black sesame paste into a recipe, you need to substitute for a part of the wet and a part of the dry ingredients.

If you really really want the color, but your recipe is more sensitive to the oil-base ingredient. Kuki Kuro Goma Latte is the finest black sesame powder I have seen. They have sweetened (black bag) and unsweetened (white bag) version, so you might need to adjust the sugar of the recipe. Beware that Kuki Kuro Goma Latte contains small amount of soybean flour, and salt, which might change you recipe.

Ingredients in Black Sesame Bagel

Black Sesame Powder - The black sesame powder I use here is just the common one you can find in most of Chinese grocery stores. It is 100% ground black sesame seeds. Make sure you don’t get the black sesame blends that is mainly for instant sesame dessert (芝麻糊).
Black Sesame Paste - The black sesame paste I like is in a squeezable pouch. It is easy to scale without making a mass. Make sure you knead the pouch thoroughly before using. If it’s too hard to knead, try soak it in the warm water for 10 minutes first.
Sugar - In this recipe, I mix granulated sugar with unsweetened black sesame paste to make the filling. If you get the sweeten black sesame spread, you can skip the sugar here.
Honey - Honey adds a subtle sweetness to the bagel, and also helps keep the dough moist, resulting in a softer bagel dough.
Water - Water is responsible for forming gluten, activating yeast, and achieving the characteristic chewy texture of bagel.
Yeast - Yeast is a key player in the fermentation process. It works by producing carbon dioxide gas, which becomes trapped within the dough, leading to its expansion and rising. You can find different types of yeast in the market, including fresh yeast, active yeast, and instant yeast. In this recipe, I'm using instant yeast, which is convenient because it doesn't need activation and is ideal for shorter fermentation periods.
Bread Flour - The bread flour I use here is 12.7% gluten-forming protein content. Bread flour contains a higher protein content (gluten), which strengthens the dough, allows the bagels to rise and maintain their shape.
Salt - Salt plays a bigger role than seasoning in bread making. It strengthens the gluten structure, therefore contributes to the bagel's chewy texture.

See recipe card for quantities.

How to make black sesame filling?

Mix black sesame paste and granulated sugar. Set aside.

How to make Black Sesame Bagel?

put all the dough ingredients in the mixing bowl

Put bread flour, instant yeast, black sesame powder, honey, salt, cold water in the mixing bowl. Mix with the hook attachment from slow. Once everything is just combined, turn the speed on to medium.

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic.

the dough double the size after first proof

Cover the dough with damp towel, and rest for 30 minutes or until it doubles in size.

8 balls on the tray with parchment paper

Divid the dough into 8 pieces, and shape each piece into a ball (about 90g). Rest for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into a rectangle(roughly).

Spread the black sesame filling thinly to cover top ⅘ of the rectangle.

Roll the dough up from top into a tube, kinda like making cinnamon roll.

Pinch the ends firmly to make sure the filling is not leaking out.

Roll around the ends of the tube a little bit to make it longer.

Press down one end with the rolling pin.

Cover the other end with the flatten side of the tube. Now you have a bagel.

Place the bagels on the prepared small parchment paper. Proof in the warm and humid place for 30 minutes. (If you don’t have a proofer, like me and most of the homebakers, you can create one. Check Ube Bagel “Recipe FAQ”)

Take out the bagels. Set the oven at 400°F. Prepare the honey water for next step, boiling.

When the water is boiling, boil each bagel for 30 seconds on each side. The paper will peel off by itself during boiling.

Transfer boiled bagels onto a baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes.

A Little Reminder of Timing

After the dough is done, proof for 30 minutes or until it doubles in size.
Divid and roll into balls.
Rest for 30 minutes.
Fill and shape the bagels.
Proof for 30 minutes.
Boil each bagel for 30 seconds on each side.
Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes.

Equipment

You can make this recipe by hand, but your arms will thank you if you have a stand mixer. I have a 6Qt. Kitchenaid lift stand mixer, it is more than enough for a normal household usage.

When shaping the filled bagels, it’s better to use a small rolling pin. It is great for shaping small portions of dough like bagel, dumpling, bao.

A small off set spatula can help you spread the filling easily without bending your wrist too much.

Storage

Freezing is the best way to store these bagels. Freeze them for up to 4 months. Defrost overnight, spray or tap some water on the bagel before you refresh it. The inside will be just as fluffy as it’s fresh.

Recipe Tips

Do not over fill! It can get really messy when you spread the black sesame filling, so start with 1 tablespoon, and you can add more if it’s not enough.

Roll the dough as thin as you can! When rolling out the dough, it is not only for filling, but also for removing the gas pockets in the dough. So you bagel will create more even small holes during baking.

Seal in the filling! The black sesame filling might have a slightly runny or oily consistency, making it a bit challenging to enclose. However, the delectable taste is absolutely worth it. When rolling up the dough with the filling, be sure to firmly pinch the ends of the dough together to prevent any leaks.

The shaping isn’t the same as normal (unfilled) bagel! At the final step of bagel shaping, some people use their palm to roll the dough back and forth on the table to seal the ends (Check King Arthur Baking’s shaping method #2 if you don’t know what I am talking about.) I love this technique, but it doesn’t work for our filled bagels here because you either press so hard that the filling leaks out, or you are too scared to put the pressure and you end up don’t seal the ends, just like me.

Recipe FAQ

What can I do with the leftover filling?

It makes for a perfect toast spread, just like peanut butter or jam. Enjoy it on your toast or any baked goods for breakfast.

Can I use only black sesame powder or black sesame powder for this recipe?

Yes. If you only want to invest in either black sesame powder or black sesame paste, black sesame powder is what you should go for. Making filling with black sesame powder is extremely easy, too. Mix 100g of black sesame powder with 30g granulated sugar and 40g oil. You can adjust to desired texture by adding more oil though the texture won’t be as smooth as filling that’s made of black sesame paste.

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Recipe Card