Jalapeño, honey and cheese bagels
With Maya's bakehouse
Gluten morning! and welcome back to my ‘toast’ series where I interview awesome bakers and create a special bake inspired by them and made for you. If you’re new here, hello! I’m so glad you’ve found Gluten Morning, hope you enjoy it.
This week’s interview is with a baker, who’s Insta page I turn to every time I need flavour inspiration.
With her blood orange, frangipane, chocolate tarts, brisket, cornichon, cheddar buns and stuffing cranberry loaf, Maya Manwaring is possibly one of the most creative bakers I’ve ever met.
The beginning and the now
“I actually used to be in advertising, but I found myself constantly frustrated at the amount of time every project took - I love immediacy”
“I’d always wanted to work with food and maybe open a café. So one day, I quit my job and went to Ballymaloe” - I know, this sounds like something from a Disney movie, but to be honest Ballymaloe, a cookery school on an extraordinary farm in Shanagarry, Ireland, is pretty much straight from a Disney movie. Just with pies instead of princes and cream instead of queens.
“I then came back and staged at a few restaurants….I hated it. Suddenly lockdown came, I had my first baby and was stuck at home. I started making a few loaves here and there and started giving them to neighbours, word spread like soft butter and suddenly our neighbourhood WhatsApp group was flooded with sourdough requests. At first I had 20 challenger bread pans which I would bake the loaves in throughout the day but soon I realised if I wanted to give this little micro bakery a go, i would need a Rofco” - Rofco’s are the mini fridge size version of a deck oven.
“For the next 3 years i ran the bakery out of my living room using the Delli app to sell the loaves. I also had another kid in this time, it was a busy few years”
“Then in the summer of 2023 I realised the bakery was rapidly outgrowing my home and i needed to make a decision. Either shut down or open a bricks and mortar…i’m not sure which felt scarier”.
“I found a space on a beautiful road but with a crippling price tag and set of conditions. I just didn’t know back then was was normal so I put in an offer. Thank god it fell through because a few days later I found a new space, the price was pretty much halved and my kids nursery was 5 minutes down the road”
Maya opened ‘Maya’s bakehouse’ on Tulse Hill, Brixton, in September 2023. “ Now every morning my kids run into the bakery and say hi before heading to school”.
- I think everyone will want to be friends with those kids.
Bucket list bakery?
“Toad! it’s actually pretty close to me and no matter what I get it’s always just incredible- especially their pastries”
“But really my all time forever favourite is Juno” - Juno is a renowned bakery in Copenhagen, they make cardamom buns which are so light they could pretty much just float of the counter.
Favourite thing on toast?
“Ahh, it’s probably so boring but i just love butter, thick it has to be THICK, like a couple tbsp” - i call this ‘tooth butter’ because when you bite into it, you can see your teeth marks.
“Then I like a drizzle of honey, I think it would either be on a classic sourdough or maybe my jalapeño cheese loaf” - Maya’s jalapeño loaf is the stuff of legends.
Most recent bakery disaster?
“Oh god, where to start….so recently I came into the bakery one morning and saw that all my oven lights were off, this usually happens when they get to temp, so I was like ‘Great’. I got everything ready to load in, then i opened the oven door and realised they were stone cold. The fuse had gone. I managed to get one deck up to temp and frantically put out messages on Instagram to let people know there would be a delay. After completely panicking, it all ending up completely fine and I was still able to open with plenty of bread.”
“Almost forgot! we accidentally once used cheesy bechamel instead of custard in our apple buns.. not good!” - I must confess I have also done this, but in reverse (I made ‘cheesy bacon buns’ with vanilla crème pat)
Flavours: Although Maya’s sweet bakes are beautiful, she is the undisputed queen of savoury, combining all 5 tastes (sweet, salty, spicy, savoury and umami) all in one bake.
Ingredients: I love the idea of Maya drizzling honey onto her buttered jalapeño cheese bread…so we gotta try that!
Design: Let’s take a classic and give it a creative (Maya style) twist.
Jalapeño, honey and cheese bagels
Spicy, sweet and salty - fluffy, crisp and chewy, these bagels have all the adjectives. And just like many of maya’s bakes, their a classic with a creative twist.
Ingredients
500g strong white bread flour
7g dried yeast (or 3g and 1 tbsp sourdough starter)
6g salt (1tsp)
2tsp honey
250g water
50g chopped jalapeños
50g grated cheddar cheese
1 tbsp baking soda (used when boiling them)
Method
In a large mixing bowl, pour in your water, honey and yeast then whisk (we like to put liquid at the bottom of the bowl so flour doesn't stick to the sides). Add your flour and salt then either knead by hand for 3 minutes or on a stand mixer for 1 (the dough will be super stiff but you want it that way!). Tip in your cheese and jalapeños and knead for a further 8 minutes by hand or 5 in a mixer. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, pop a cover over the top and prove for 1hr before placing in the fridge for a further 1-2hrs.
Scoop the dough onto a floured surface and divide into 6-8 chunks depending on preference. Pinch the corners of each piece into the middle then use your thumb and index finger to roll into a tight ball. Let sit for 5 minutes (this relaxes the gluten and makes it easier to handle). With your fingers, poke a hole in the centre of each ball. Making a pincer motion gently stretch the inside of the whole. pop your cover back over the top and prove for a further 30 mins or place in the fridge overnight for morning bagels.
Preheat the oven to 240c/220c fan/gas 9.
Find the biggest saucepan you have, fill it half way with water. Bring to the boil, add your bicarb (this makes the bagels shiny and chewy). In batches, drop in your bagels, boil for 30 seconds on each side then drain and plop onto a lined baking tray. Brush with an egg wash (optional) and sprinkle with cheese and jalapeños. Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on how crispy you like them!
Enjoy.
