Chinese bagels

Drizzle 280 grams of water into 480 grams of bread flour, mix to a rough ball, cover and autolyse in a cool place 45 minutes.

Cut the dough into a couple of pieces, add the salt, honey and the yeast dissolved in 5 grams of water, and knead until combined and no longer sticking to your hands.

Knead by slapping: raise the dough to shoulder height, slap it on the work surface, fold the edge over, rotate 90 degrees and repeat about 150 times, or until it passes the windowpane test.

Divide for eight bagels; for the plain kind take a quarter of the dough and divide it in two.

Shape each into a smooth ball by pinching the craggly surface towards the centre, turn centre side down and rotate to seal, then rest 20 minutes.

Variation, triple cheese: fold 8 grams of shredded Parmesan into the dough, kneading until the cheese stops falling out, then ball and rest the same way.

Roll each ball into a sheet, turning 90 degrees between rolls, until roughly rectangular and about 15 centimetres wide by 18 to 20 long; press the far side down to make sealing easier.

Lay the filling along the near side leaving about two centimetres from the sides, roll into a log, pinch the end closed and rest seam side down, covered, 10 minutes.

Red braised pork filling: fry half a tablespoon of granulated sugar in about two teaspoons of oil over a low flame until slightly melted, then add the pork belly cubes.

Add the ginger and scallion whites and fry until slightly browned, about four to five minutes.

Add three quarters of a cup of hot boiled water, liaojiu, soy sauce, dark soy and five spice powder and cook over the same low flame about fifteen minutes, until the sauce reduces to two or three tablespoons.

Season with an eighth teaspoon each salt and MSG, thicken with a half teaspoon cornstarch slurry and set aside to cool.

Sweet potato filling: microwave 70 grams of purple sweet potato with a tablespoon of water on medium high for four minutes to steam, then mash with sugar, melted butter and sweetened condensed milk.

Roll each log out to about 20 to 25 centimetres, press one end into a fishtail, nuzzle the other end into the fin, fold the fin around and pinch closed underneath.

Proof covered 60 minutes.

Add a tablespoon of granulated sugar to one litre of rapidly bubbling water, drop to a gentle simmer and boil the bagels 30 seconds on each side.

Drip dry on a cloth, set on parchment paper, top if you like, and bake in a preheated 200 centigrade oven for 15 minutes.

For the triple cheese, layer a slice of Kraft American over the bagel right out of the oven.